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Platform
Playstation 3
Genre
Action
Publisher
Activision
Developer
Beenox
ESRB
T (Teen)
Released
October 4, 2011
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- Stellar-looking cut-scene
graphics along with good voice-acting performances (including
Val Kilmer)
- Time-traveling/altering storyline has some plot holes a la
Terminator and Back to the Future (a few times, Spider-Man 2099
basically dismisses current-day Spider-Man’s questioning of the
time/universe-altering effects with a “do you really want to
have me spend 2 hours explaining it to you?”)
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- Much of the gameplay becomes
repetitious
- Too many obstacle-filled duct
courses to navigate and relatively easy recurring battles
against nondescript groups of enemies
- Even counting the Web Challenges mode, gameplay doesn’t last
too long – 7 hours single-player, a few more for the Web
Challenges
- Although plenty of brawling encounters with an abundance of
enemies, fighting devolves into a mindless button-masher that
doesn’t use all the impressive Spidey moves that gamers buy with
their collection of blue orbs
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Review: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (360)
Review: Prototype (360)
Review: inFamous 2 (PS3)
Review: Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team (PS3)
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Spider-Man: Edge of Time
Score: 7.5 / 10
Spider-Man is easily one of the most
popular comic book heroes, and has been the star of many videogames over
the years. But those games have featured the protagonist as the original
Spidey, one Peter Parker. However, there’s another web-slinger out there
in the comic realm, and he’s now been given the videogame treatment,
too. From the Spider-Man 2099 comic, Miguel O’Hara swings into
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Spider-Man: Edge of Time on the PS3 as an
equal co-star with the Peter Parker Spider-Man.
To create a storyline that allows both the present and future Spider-Man
to star in the same game, developer Beenox has blended a bit of
Terminator and Back to the Future elements of time-travel theory namely,
what you affect |
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in your time-traveling journeys into the
past can severely affect the future.
Smartly switching from present-day Spider-Man to Spider-Man 2099 action,
Spider-Man: Edge of Time gives gamers the best of both Spideys: one
fighting enemies in the present while the other in the future, both with
the same goal: preventing the genetic research facility Alchemax (under
control of the mysterious CEO, who gamers will find out later in the
game is unexpectedly and shockingly familiar) from rising into a
future-altering force, while also thwarting a battle with Anti-Venom
that results in Peter Parker’s death. Spider-Man 2099, with a little
manipulation of Peter Parker’s genes, creates a “link” with present-day
Spider-Man, allowing communication between the two even through the
distance of time.
Both are aware that what one does in their present can change things in
both realities present and future, or past and present, depending on
what Spider-Man gamers are in control of at the time in this “cause and
effect” storyline. Yes, the plot can get confusing at times, something
that even the developers seemingly are aware of, if the interaction
between both Spideys is any indication. A few times, Spider-Man 2099
basically dismisses current-day Spider-Man’s questioning of the
time/universe-altering effects with a “do you really want to have me
spend 2 hours explaining it to you?”
But if gamers also are dismissive of the
storyline’s sometimes lack of coherency, there is fun action-adventure
gameplay underneath, even if it is a very brief web-slinging adventure.
Average gamers should be able to complete the three-act story mode in
roughly 7 hours, with a few extra hours tacked on with the Web
Challenges (most are time-based challenges that have an objective such
as collecting a certain number of orbs or defeating a certain number of
enemies).
As with other Spider-Man titles, the most difficult aspect to solidify
is the control schematics. Some of the potential issues with effectively
controlling Spider-Man when he’s actually moving around by web traveling
is handled by constricting the gaming environment. All the action takes
place in the Alchemax building, and while both Peter Parker/Spider-Man
2099 will be using that method of web-slinging movement a lot, it isn’t
as much as gamers might think. In fact, much of the web-slinging is
reserved for climbing rather than traveling or battling enemies. When it
is used, the controls are adequate. Most of the action involves the dual
Spider-Men in brawling encounters with an abundance of enemies. However,
fighting devolves into a mindless button-masher that doesn’t
sufficiently use all the impressive Spidey moves that gamers buy with
their collection of blue orbs.
That mindless button-mashing and the restrictive gaming environment have
their own cause and effect: much of the gameplay becomes overly
repetitious – too many obstacle-filled duct courses to navigate and
relatively easy recurring battles against nondescript groups of enemies.
There are a good handful of Boss battles, but none are very difficult at
all.
At least the game looks very good even if the gameplay isn’t as
stimulating as it should be. Visually, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is very
good throughout the gameplay, and features stellar-looking cut-scenes
along with good voice-acting performances (including Val Kilmer).
While certainly a good comic book hero gaming adventure, Spider-Man:
Edge of Time is just too formulaic and too relatively brief to be
anything but middling when compared to the past of Spider-Man gaming
titles.
- Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com
(October 31, 2011)
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