Spinning Webs With Spider-Man 3

As with many others, I’ve always been a huge Spider-Man fan, and look forward to watching the releases on opening day and then viewing them multiple times. So, when the Spider-Man 3 movie came out last month, I was disappointed that I was unable to catch it on opening day because I was sitting on a plane, on the way across the country for a weeklong work trip. Although he had already seen it while I was gone, thankfully my husband took me to see it the day I flew back home, otherwise he’d be in big trouble.

Anyway, with a big movie like this, there’s usually a video game to go hand-in-hand with it. Based on Sony Pictures’ creation, Spider-Man 3 (the game) was developed by Treyarch and published by Activision Inc., and hit the shelves the same day the movie graced the theaters. This is the fourth Spider-Man game, but the very first to be playable on today’s next generation consoles.

Throughout the game you’ll hear the same familiar voices you hear in the movie. You’ll see some of the same villains as in the movie as well: Sandman, the New Goblin and Venom. You’ll also encounter The Lizard, Scorpion, Mad Bomber, The Kingpin, The Arsenic Candles, The Apocalypse Gang, Kraven the Hunter, Calypso and The Dragon Tails. Most importantly, you as Peter Parker will eventually see yourself obtain the infamous black Spider-Man suit (in reality, a living alien symbiote).


If you’ve played any of the previous Spider-Man games, this one is very similar, so you’ll feel right at home. Swinging through New York City is probably the most entertaining part of the game, and your swinging around is what helps you find missions as well. There’s a city map that displays the mission icons, and unlike the previous games, you don’t have to complete random side missions (i.e. crime-fighting tasks) to unlock story missions. In other words, the story and side missions are completely separate from each other.

Going through some of these missions reminded me of the game God of War with the different button combinations you have to use (i.e. trying to stop the speeding subway with your webs). I thought it was weird that Spider-Man would be tasked with disarming bombs. This was a very small part of the game, but a really cute side mission was carrying Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Man’s girlfriend) on your back and swinging her through the city to her appointment while you collect a bunch of hearts.

Or as Peter Parker, you can be sent off on photography assignments for various things. Regardless if you’re on assignment or not, you’ll always have the ability to take pictures with your camera.

Overall, the best thing about the game is being able to swing around New York City with your webs and climb all over walls, ceilings and the sides of buildings. Plus, the graphics are nice and detailed. On the downside, the counterattacks can become frustrating to use at times, the people in the game have strange-looking buggy eyes, you’ll hear the same phrases repeated frequently, and sometimes the frames are glitchy. There were a few times I was stuck in a gray screen with the music going, or I was trapped in a wall, and I had to restart the game. Despite that, I enjoyed Spider-Man 3 because I’m just a huge Spidey fan. I do recommend this for other Spidey fans out there because it’s definitely fun to play.

I played it on my PS3, but it’s available for just about all platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, PSP or PC. Depending on the platform, prices range from $29.99 (PC, DS, Game Boy Advance) to $69.99 (PS3 Collector’s Edition).

Note: If you do buy the Collector’s Edition, you can play as the New Goblin! The game is one-player, and is rated T for Teen and you can find it at your nearest GameStop (www.gamestop.com) or CompUSA (www.compusa.com).