Spider-Man 3 is a game with little effort put into and is overrun by the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions.
As far as the storyline goes, about 20% of the storyline is related to the film story arc, like Peter and the Black Suit, Sandman and Uncle Ben's death and so on. The beginning is set inside a skyscraper that's rigged for detonation by a gang called the Hi-Bombers. You go through beating up thugs and saving lives whatnot, after that however the game brings in some of the villians from the comics and tries to tie them into the main story arc which is supposed to be the film storyline. Goons such as Kraven the Hunter, The Lizard, Morbius and Shriek make appearances but they don't tie into the film what's so ever. The film storyline is just brief cut-scenes of the events of Peter’s life with Mary Jane Watson and the rivalry between Eddie Brock the new Daily Bugle photographer and Peter Parker. You see how Harry transforms into a super-baddass "New Goblin" and how Eddie Brock is turned into the Symbiote "Venom". But, what's really dumb is how these reasons of transformation occur. In the film, the Symbiote specimen crash lands from a meteorite and then latches onto Peter’s scooter. In the game, it appears out of nowhere in Central park and hides on peters leg! Then later on he's in bed having a bad dream and then transforms. But after that scene in the film he faces Sandman, no, no, he faces a bunch of Apocalypse gang members instead. And that's just the beginning.
The core gameplay in Spider-Man 3 is of course the web-swinging and how thrilling it is to swing through NYC at break-neck speed only to splat into a car window. The swinging handles as good as it ever has done, you hold the R2 button to attach a web line to a building and then hold the X button to boost and release and you use the Left Thumb-stick to maneuver in the air. Once the web-swinging is out of the way, now introduces the combat and good god how simple it really is. Use the Square button to soften up a foe with quick attacks, then finish him with a strong attack with the Triangle button, they should rename it the finishing attack since it actually does most of the time. The combat may look exiting but it really isn't. There are plenty of upgrades or Hero Upgrades as they call them to make your Spider-Man a wrecking machine but indeed they do cost you dearly.
Hero Points! Remember them from Spider-Man 2? Well this time there not used to get to the next mission, this time there earned by beating in some justice into those wrong-doers. This time though you get a Hero Point one at a time, not a whole dose of Points like in Spidey 2. But, you've got to unlock the upgrades for the category you want and that's done by playing through the story missions and the new moves or categories of things you can do will be introduced. You can also taken on Challenges that are found throughout the city, luckily these vary, one has you racing through the World Financial Centre, another has you climbing the Empire State Building while probably the highest Challenge is on top of the Empire State Building and you have to freefall all the way down to the surface. Also if you enjoy exploring (and who doesn't?) you can find Meteorite particles (probably left from the meteor that crashes into NYC in the film but never in the game!?) and you get Hero Points that way, and once you've beaten the game you can find Spider Emblems to boost up your Hero Points too- what a bonus!
Spider-Man 3's problems is what really stands out, and the most of is the camera and the graphics, apparently the camera is rather dodgy on all platforms and I have played the Xbox 360 version and it does stand out there too. When your fighting crime, the camera never switches back behind you, things constantly get in your way you have to keep circling around your foes to get a good perspective of what's happening, and it does get annoying and occasionally frustrating. When your swinging around New York City though the camera is always following you and doesn't get in the way, so the camera obviously has been tweaked so it can follow the web-swinging which handy. When you’re crawling on walls however, the camera is usually at the wrong angle and occasionally inverts the controls so if you push the Left Stick down you'll go up and that is seriously annoying.
The second major problem is the graphics, for the Playstation 2 this game is defiantly underwhelming. The draw distance is impressive no doubt but the buildings look pastal coloured, murky and lifeless. It's depressing and is very disappointing, the character models in-game look pretty good but not great. When in big fights against a horde of enemies and a bunch of police are fighting with you, you'll notice the enemies are moving horribly, the animation is massively choppy and it looks like something from a 1993 arcade game. This is 2007 and animation shouldn’t look like that, hell no! In high-resolution cut-scenes the game looks very nice, every character looks like the real deal. They say New York City is one of the busiest cities in the world and a population of millions, 100% true, but on a disc it isn't. When you land on the street, take a look at the surroundings, there's a lot of cars but about twenty people walking on the pathway, nobody crossing the streets or any car-jackings. In the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions it's exactly what you'd think NYC would look in a videogame. Building supplies on the building walls, steaming manholes and sewage work on the streets with pathways cornered off. THAT'S NYC, not in the PS2 version.
The sound work in the game also lacks, during missions you'll hear the same music all the time, not the energetic orchestra soundtrack in the other versions or in the film. The voice work is terrible! Key characters sound great though, sorry no Kirsten Dunst for MJ but the replacement sounds not bad but your stuck with her anyway. The enemies sound awful, cheesy accents for the Dragon Tail gang who are meant to be the New York Triad. Also the enemies say lines that have been outdated for years, like "Nice suit mister Big shot Hero!" and "You can talk the talk Spider-Man but now it's time to walk the walk!" seriously, when you hear that in the game from a hard-nut gang member, you must question "Is this pixel for real?" The background sound is alright but could be better, especially for New York City. The people walking the streets also have speech problems and this is a very basic and silly error that should make the developers hang there head in shame and give themselves a slap. When you save the lives of fellow citizens, they'll say something in that person's scripted speech, but when you take him or her to their designated area or building, they may say something else in an entirely different voice! Once I rescued a guy wearing a tank top and jeans (your average slacker I'm guessing) who was apparently a Federal Agent (Quote WTF) said "I can't believe you saved me!" in a female Asian voice... Enough said about that.
So, to sum it up, that was a pretty negative review, but under all the problems, there passable at best apart from the sluggish frame rate at times there is a good and solid game here. But, if you have any Next-Generation console or a good fast running PC, ditch the PS2 version and go for the Next-Generation versions. You'll save yourself a whole lot of hassle. Rent this is you must, but the problems and glitches may make pass the PS2 version.