Ultimate Spider-Man is a fun game that ends all too quickly.
Gameplay: 8/10
This game does a lot of things right in the gameplay department. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must be to pull off a workable camera for superheroes with movement as dynamic as Spider Man and Venom, but they did a masterful job of keeping the camera just where it should be 99% of the time. There's a little bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be swinging through the city like a pro.
Activision attempts to take the urban sandbox concept of GTA and apply it here: Between missions, you can move through the city to your hearts' content as spider man. There's also side missions you can take on, like races and combat tours, but you don't get any rewards for them other than medals. There are also easter eggs scattered throughout, though all they unlock is the ability to see lots of pictures. The only cool unlockable in this game is the ability to free-roam as venom, which you get for beating the game.
Anyhow, you go to certain locations and take on missions which will move the story forward. Along the way you'll rescue people from burning buildings and cars hanging off of bridges, and have to fight familiar foes such as Rhino and Hobgoblin. My favorite missions were the ones where you got to play as Venom, and he controls differently than Spider Man. And oh man, I felt like a total badass in the parts of the game where I got to be Venom, picking up cars and hurling them, whipping enemies with his long tentacles, jumping hundreds of feet into the air.
The boss fights in this game are just passable, and stay true to conventions of boss fights which have pretty much been standard for the past 8 or so years.
Graphics: 8/10
The cel-shaded characters in this game look absolutely fantastic! They really look just like you would see them in the comic series. The environments look very average for a ps2 game, though.
Sound: 7/10
The voice acting is on-par with a Saturday morning cartoon. Above average for a game, but not great. The music is decent and avoids being annoying, but it's not particularly special or memorable.
Value: 4/10
It took me less than 10 hours to beat this game. Even for a straight-up action game, that's completely unacceptable. They could have broadened the story and included a few more characters in the fold, maybe lengthened it a bit.
Tilt: 7/10
Ultimate Spider-Man is a very fun game and I'd say it's definitely worth a rental. And for any Venom fans out there like myself, you'll definitely want to check this one out just because it's the only game out there that actually lets you play as Venom. The game is damn short, so don't say I didn't warn you!