Spider-Man 3

Rating Teen Genre action Publisher Activision External Links Official Activision Website

After a lengthy wait, PSP fanboys can finally run off to their favorite store to pick up Spider-Man 3. As is the tendency of movie-to-videogame releases, Treyarch and Activision have provided a 3D platformer that uses the movie plot as a hole-filled umbrella for the game. Much like the version that hit shelves back around the time of the movie’s release, Spider-Man 3 for PSP lacks any big changes. It’s not entirely bad, it’s just not anything special.

In the vein of previous Spidey titles, the game begins with quick training to get you accustomed to your new environment. At this point you’ll make two realizations: first, this is a definite button-masher, and second, the camera is going to drive you crazy. This is unfortunately the case the entire time you play. There are a few nice elements that make up for minor annoyances, particularly the God of War-like contextual actions. These involve short scripted events where you press a few buttons when icons on the screen tell you to, helping you throw bombs off of buildings or jump through crazy strings of laser beams. This is a nice new twist, but can be easy to miss or mess up in the midst of a busy battle.

Pretty much every other game aspect can be found in any review of the earlier release. The side missions of Spider-Man 3 have more weight to them than in previous titles, where Spidey cleans up the streets by taking out gangs and returning control to the police. The more work you do to clear out gangs, the higher your approval rating will become. The open-world version of NYC is still present, complete with web-slinging and wall-climbing fun everywhere you turn. Graphically, the PSP does a nice job of rendering the environments during game time with little-to-no slowdown. The interiors are still expanded to allow more space for zany acrobatics and wall crawling. However, sequences occurring indoors are plagued with camera issues.

Treyarch still did not bless the game’s camera with the ability to snap behind you, which I can guarantee will cause failed missions and much frustration. As far as character graphics are concerned, Spider-Man continues to look nice but every other character is bug-eyed and has awkward movements. The sound leaves something to be desired, with predictable background music and buggy sound effects. As far as voicing is concerned, Bruce Campbell is back as The Narrator (awesome!), and nearly the entire main cast of the film provides voice-overs with the exception of Kirsten Dunst (which I personally see as a major plus).

Worth mentioning is Conquest Mode, which is unique to the PSP port, but it’s only worth mentioning because it exists. Conquest Mode only involves short missions that have no direct correlation to the plot of the game. This is essentially a direct port of the earlier version of the game. With no major improvements or changes since May, I can’t help but wonder why we had to wait so long.