Kirby Reviews: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

[Kirby]

Oh, hey. Never noticed this board.
Anyways, I'm gonna review a personal favorite.
So I guess, here we go.



The game starts up as the main antagonist, Mysterio, breaks into a museum to attempt to make off with the "Tablet of Order and Chaos," to attain legendary power and control over time. Spider-Man, being the hero he is, swoops in and attempts to recover the tablet only to end up shattering it. Which also tears a rift in the very fabric of reality. Spider-Man, along with 3 Spider-Men from alternate universes  set out on a quest to subdue their respective timeline's villains, collect the fragmented tablet pieces, and stop Mysterio from becoming a bigger threat.
Sound's sorta cliche'...


Alrighty, onwards to the gameplay.
This game strays from the free-roaming gameplay we've come to know in many Spidey games, and replaces it with a level-based , beat-em-up adventure, which disappointed quite a few people. The levels are of medium to long length, depending on how far along you are in the game. Each level differs in look and feel with each Spider-Man. The original, or Amazing Spider-Man features classic Spider-Man action, with a twist in combat. Aside from the usual punches and kicks, Spider-Man is able to wield weapons made of his trademark webbing, such as maces and mallets. This Spidey is pretty fun to play as.


Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of the year 2099, utilizes his "Accelerated Vision" to get a quick edge over his foes. It enables him to temporarily slow down the motion of people and objects around him. There are also certain levels in which 2099 enters a "freefall" battle, in which, if it wasn't obvious, you have to fight your foe while falling a few thousand miles.
This Spider-Man is decent, and his gimmick can be very useful if executed properly.


Peter Parker of the Ultimate universe is next up. Using the alien symbiote costume, this Spider-Man attacks with tendrils, tentacles, and the like. His gimmick is in my opinion a very broken one. Rage Mode. Beating up enemies fills the rage meter, and when it's full, he goes into a 1-hit KO frenzy. The meter drains stupidly quick, but hitting stuff and getting hit fills it up.  It's good for when you want to rack up combos for some in-game achievements, though. Ultimate's fun to play, even if rage mode is broken as all hell.


Now we're on to my favorite Spidey in the entire game: Spider-Man Noir. A Spider-Man who uses stealth and the shadows to his advantage. His gimmick is sneaking up on his foes and taking them down silently, Meaning if you get caught or take down in a place crowded with enemies, you'll get shot at on site. Which isn't a very good thing because Noir's health drains quick. One way around this is his Health Regeneration. Standing in the shadows with recover your health at a steady pace.
This, at times makes him a broken character, but a very fun one to play as.



The game's currency takes up the name of Spider Essence, which can be collected from the numerous amounts of Spider Tokens in the levels, Hidden Spiders, completing challenges and by defeating foes. Using Spider Essence, you can purchase new combat moves, upgrades to your health/gimmick meters, and alternate costumes for the Spider-Men.


A new addition, the Web of Destiny, acts like a personal checklist, displaying numerous challenges for each level. Challenges range from "Defeating __ many enemies in a row", to "__ of Consecutive Web Swings/Zips", to "Defeating a set amount of foes withing a time limit." There are 180 challenges in the game, so anything can happen.

Midway through a level, you'll encounter the level's villain. You'll fight them normally, but then you'll get up close and personal into a 1st person view mode. You have to punch, hook, jab, and dodge in order to win. It's pretty cool.


Sometimes the controls will get all wonky and unresponsive, but it doesn't happen often.




Not really much to say. Amazing's universe uses classic comic book style shading and visuals, Noir's is a dark and gritty 1930's esque world, 2099's is a futuristic, high tech city which looks pretty good, and Ultimate's uses it's own take of comic book shading.




This game has replay value, and tons of it. There are 3 difficulty modes, and each mode unlocks different content like character bios and concept art. There's also the costumes, which'll start to get expensive later on.



All in all, if your looking for a different Spider-Man game, here it is.
It's a unique game, a nice attempt for Beenox's try to change the formula.
The voice work and music were phenomenal. There were some things that needed tweaking, like occasional glitches with the controls, the levels will get repetitive, and overall, it's kind of a short game. It's a nice change of pace, though. I recommend it if you haven't played superhero games before.

Plot - 8.5/10
Gameplay - 8/10
Graphics - 9/10
Replay Value - 8.5/10

FINAL SCORE - B+

[Hakudamashi]

Now when you say the levels range from medium to long lenggths, what do you mean? Likke, 5mins?30mins?

[Kirby]

The levels tend to get longer as you progress. Act 1's levels, for me, ranged from 7-12mins, Act 2's 15-20, and Act 3's 20-25.

[Hakudamashi]

Hmm, how does the checkpoint/autosave system work?

[Kirby]

The game uses cutscenes to mark your progress, so if you died, or failed to use a web recover from a pit (very handy), then you start from where the last cutscene left you.

As for the save feature, the game autosaves throughout the level, or when you consult the Web of Destiny.

[Hakudamashi]

How spaced are these cutscenes and are they skippable?

[Kirby]

Cutscenes occur after you clear the main challenge of a level, I'd say 4 minutes apart? Depends on whether you choose to explore or go through normally. And yes, they are skippable.
I should probably mention that most of the cutscenes are in 1st person view, which is cool.
Post Merge: July 22, 2013, 03:05:29 PM
Just played the 1st level. The game let's you know when a checkpoint has been reached, which occurs before a in-game cutscene plays.

[Hakudamashi]

Cool, maybe I will get this afterall...
Waaaaaaaaay into the future.