Almost anyone who doesn't hold a grudge against Spiderman would do well to atleast rent this game, but it's definitely a
A lot of people who played and finished Spiderman 2 (the game based on the major motion film also named Spiderman 2) will probably agree that it had a great amount of potential. But because Ultimate Spiderman isn't based on the films, the potential of that game is yet to be realized, however, Ultimate Spiderman has set the standard for Spiderman based games. Spiderman 3 is due out in 2007 and is going to be for the next generation consoles, and hopefully that game can again raise the bar for Spiderman based games, but until then, Ultimate Spiderman will likely stand as the best Spiderman game yet.
Instead of Ultimate Spiderman being based on a movie, it's based on Spiderman comics. This isn't the first comic based game to come out this year though. In August a game named "The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction" was released, and though Ultimate Spiderman isn't as good as Ultimate Destruction, it's probably still one of the better comic based games, not only this year but this generation.
Anyway, onto the actual gameplay of Ultimate Spiderman, a lot of the gameplay has been changed from previous Spiderman games, although the core gameplay remains very similar, though not identical. Overall the gameplay is still fun and solid; there are a few flaws that prevent the game from being something great. In previous Spiderman games, one of the most enjoyable parts of the game was swinging around using Spidy's webs. Now the webs are actually attached to objects, which can effect the direction in which Spidy swings. At first this is really annoying, especially since it'll take around 20 or so minutes to get used to this, and one of the first missions in the game is racing the Fantastic 4's Johnny Flame around the city. Also, you'll notice that it isn't really so easy to control Spidy while he's running around on the ground, or on buildings or whatever he's running one at first, although eventually you will get used to it, and will be able to control him properly, these two control flaws are really annoying at first.
One thing that makes Ultimate Spiderman special is that Venom is a playable character. Unfortunately, the missions aren't split right down the middle, as in, you'll be playing with Spidy a lot more than you will with Venom (around 65% Spidy and 35% Venom). Also a lot of Venom's missions are tedious. In one of his first missions, you'll just be attacking all these military men in the streets, and seeing that the combat system isn't particularly deep, it's not really that fun. Venom is also involved in a few chase missions, where you'll basically just be jumping around after your enemy, and these can be really boring. It's really a big disappointment, because Venom's character is rarely utilized in Spiderman games.
Also, during story missions, you'll be using Spidy and you'll have to complete these lousy city goals, which include checkpoint races which get really boring after the 3rd or 4th race, and Combat Tours, which are even worse. Basically, you'll just have to go out, and defeat about 25 members of a specific gang, and each 5 or so members are split up around the city. Each gang is really only a websling or two away from each other, but as mentioned before the combat isn't really all that exciting, and neither Spidy's or Venom's skills are fully utilized, although each character has his special moves. Fortunately though, for the most part, the story missions can be really fun although there are a few where you don't do anything--at all, you just watch a cut-scene. But most of Spidy's missions are really fun, although some of Venom's aren't all that exciting. You may also notice some of the boss battles are very challenging. It took me about 15 or so retry's to beat Rhino, and he's one of the first bosses. Overall though, the gameplay is still fun, and once you get used to it, slinging around the city turns out to be fun, especially since you can go pretty fast. It does have some shortcomings though, but fortunately there are a bit more positives than negatives.
Although the gameplay is really fun, the feature that really impressed me the most was the graphics. The cut-scenes look like they've just came out of a comic, and the overall graphics style accurately captures the feel of a comic book at all times. The cell-shaded graphics are solid, and aren't sloppy and the game maintains a solid frame rate. Almost the only noticeable flaw in the visual department is the camera, which can get in the way sometimes.
The character models all look great, and there are some interesting appearances, and all of them look as good as Spidy or Venom themselves (and I mean from a detail standpoint). All of your enemy's and also the civilians and traffic all look quite good as well.
At first, the voice overs may sound a little different, especially if you’re used to Tohby Maguire’s voice seeing that his voice was featured in both of the movie based games and of coarse the movies themselves. Spidy will often make some funny remarks while flying around the city, or when battling an enemy, which is a nice treat. The soundtrack isn't really anything memorable, but it is decent, so there really aren’t any complaints in the audio department of the game.
As you may have guest, there are tones of unlockables in the game, but most of which only Spidy and/or comic book fans can truly appreciate, although some of them might interest remote Spidy fans. There are plenty of different unlockables as well, such as characters, comic book covers, and a trailer for X-Men Legends II. The actual story mode, takes about 10-15 hours to complete though, so the game has an overall decent value, and there is a lot of replay value for Spidy fans as well.
Although the gameplay in Ultimate Spiderman isn't exactly perfect, it's good enough to keep you coming back, even if you do come across a boring mission, the game has pretty good value, and some impressive audio, but the highlight of the game lies in the visuals, which are incredible, and do a top notch job of capturing the feel of the comic book style the game is based on. Almost anyone who doesn't hold a grudge against Spiderman would do well to at least rent this game, but it's definitely a must own for Spidy fans.