Ultimate Spider-Man: Hands-On Preview

TVG first caught a glimpse of Activision's web-crawling title earlier in the year, and we have to admit that we were suitably impressed, especially with the visual style taken by the developers. A few months on and we're back in Marvel's version of New York swinging on spider thread and saving the city from destruction; but how is development progressing on the title?

First of all, an explanation; the developers of Ultimate Spider-Man are certainly not being arrogant when they called the game 'Ultimate' it's merely to show that the title is based in Marvel's Ultimate universe that takes the company's classic superheroes (Fantastic 4, X-Men, and of course, Spider-Man) and resets their early days to contemporary times. In Ultimate Spiderman, Peter Parker is a 15-year old teenager who besides his studies and his job as a web designer at the Daily Bugle newspaper is the web crawling, spider-sense tingling Spider-Man. Taking the comic-book origins to heart the designers have spent time developing what has to be the most impressive looking super-hero title yet; the technique (known as 3D comic inking) has left the game looking like the moving pages of a graphic novel. The visually impressive technique is not only used throughout the gameplay itself but links neatly with the comic strip cut-scenes that only help to solidify the game as an interactive comic-book.

Players are left with a duality in the game having to play as both Spider-Man and archenemy Venom at different points in the game with both characters enjoying subtle differences in gameplay. As youâ??d expect, Spidey travels around on web-lines, swinging through the streets and crawling vertical faces. His nemesis Venom meanwhile bounds across the city causing damage wherever he goes in a similar way to VUGâ??s Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. The character is constantly seeking to replenish lost energy and does this by literally absorbing people into the suit and sucking the life-force from them before â??spitting outâ?? the remains. With players given the opportunity to do this energy replenishment, the game throws in a moral issue to the player right at the beginning of game â?“ a small child stands on the corner of the sidewalk immediately ahead of Venom, but do you absorb part of the kidâ??s life-force or all of it and therefore killing him?

Like last year's Spider-Man 2 and VU Games' recently released Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Ultimate offers gamers an open-ended environment for swinging, exploring, completing story missions, and side-missions. One of the main criticisms of Spider-Man 2 was the repetitive nature of the game that degenerated into a series of capturing criminals using a woeful combat system, yet somewhat surprisingly the developers of last year's Spidey title did manage to create a smooth and flowing web-swinging. The main concern hanging over the head of Ultimate is therefore naturally whether the gameplay has been expanded to keep the interest of the player, and whether a solid combat system has been integrated into flow of the game. One noticeable concern of the game occurs when Spidey or Venom climbs up to the top of some of the game's skyscrapers. In last yearâ??s title, the view down and across Manhattan revealed a level of detail and an impression of height so strong that it could on occasion create a real sense of vertigo. Whilst doing the same thing in Ultimate Spider-Man however, it was a bit of a disappointment to see that the draw distances and the details of buildings was significantly lost; even some of the closest buildings lack any sort of detail - including windows - leaving New York seem at time nothing more than a series of upstanding boxes. Hopefully this was because of the preview build of the game, and has been tidied up by the developers ahead of the gameâ??s release.

Obviously combat forms a part of the gameplay and itâ??s good to see that the combat system in Ultimate Spider-Man does seem to be far more solid than Spider-Man 2 with fluid movement and a range of moves open to the player, including the ability to secure criminals to lampposts. The camera system also appears to be consistent in battle, which acts as a foundation for the redesigned combat system to work smoothly. The first piece of combat in the game is a fight between the two playable characters, with gamers controlling Parker as he tries to dodge the attacks from Venom by using his spider-sense shown ironically on screen, and its this system that follows the player controlled Spider-Man throughout the game he faces his enemies. Pressing a button when Spideyâ??s spider-sense is â??tinglingâ?? enables the character to dodge the path of a fist or a car or mutant power and is certainly one of the more useful moves open to players in the game.

As with the previous Marvel videogame adaptations there is still the worry that the bulk of the actual gameplay proper will be lost to players having far too much fun just swinging through the streets of NYC. Story progression is obviously one of the key goals of the developers and if there's a lack of attraction to said missions then their objectives will have to some extent failed. To combat this the various development teams have created the game so that story progression is accomplished through the completion of several city missions that give players the chance to zip across the city as well as sticking to the wish of the producers. Side-missions and races against Johnny Storm form part of a supportive structure to the game, prospectively offering gamers a level of depth missing from previous Spider-Man titles. Nevertheless the concern remains that the game will still retain a certain amount of repetitive gameplay; we'll see how that unfolds in the coming weeks.

Besides characters from the Spider-Man comics, several other familiar faces from the Marvel Universe make appearances, most notably Johnny Storm of the Fantastic 4, and a civvies-clad Wolverine. Johnny Storm (as his alter ego the Human Torch) challenges gamers to a series of racers across the city, which coupled with the sort of banter youâ??d expect two teenagers to throw at each other, makes for a fun mini-game. Venomâ??s encounter with Wolverine however is one of the gameâ??s boss fights, and takes place in a New York bar. Though he may try his best, Venom canâ??t absorb Wolverineâ??s life-force ad spits him out unharmed (perhaps an explanation for this would be something to do with the characterâ??s Adamantium skeletal systemâ?¦email us to let us know what you think!) and itâ??s left to the black suits tentacles to beat the wandering X-Man around the drinking hole.

Though Venom has a largely straightforward â??bossâ?? battle against Logan (Wolverine) Spideyâ??s initial fight against Rhino takes place across several situations. Following a trail of destruction through the streets of New York (and saving members of the public along the way), Spider-Man tracks down this giant villain to a building site where he manages to knock a hole through Rhinoâ??s armour thanks to a vat of concrete and a crane mounted swing ball. The action then continues to a car dealership with Rhino throwing cars and unleashing some powerful moves against Spidey; the whole battle against the super-villain probably lasts for at least five or more minutes and you definitely feel that Spider-Man is being pushed to the limit. Other battles see Venom and Electro fight it out for the right to crush an unconscious Spider-Man in Times Square and youâ??d have to expect that other noted villains from the Spider-Man story will make an appearance in the gameâ?¦

Besides the Story Missions and rescuing the odd civilian, the game does try to involve players in a few more game types dotted around the city. For the travel conscious player, â??Combat Toursâ?? allow players to travel across the city and battle against lowly human criminals in a manner similar to Spider-Man 2, and as weâ??ve already mentioned, Johnny Stormâ??s races around the boroughs are also thrown in to add some extra depth to the game. Another interesting idea sees Spidey track down carjackers. These in-transit criminals can be stopped by landing on top of the stolen vehicle and pummelling the car roof, dodging the bullets fired by the felons; it may not be the most indepth of side-missions but it does compliment the other secondary goals set by the developers. One game mechanic that we first saw at E3 showed Spider-Man saving people in different situations and using the trigger/shoulder buttons to power a gauge and release the trapped civilians. During the course of the hands-on TVG can across this sequence again during the build up to the Rhino confrontation, and although the mechanic was used in the saving of other civilians it didnâ??tâ?? seem to be put to as strong a use â?“ hopefully the game will revisit the technique throughout the course of the story as it certainly added the necessary depth the gameplay.

A favourite of Ultimate Spider-Man's peers, token collection features throughout the game enabling players to unlock a range of bonus items including a complete character list, concept art, costumes, landmarks, and Ultimate comic-book covers. Once again it seems that the developers acknowledge that gamers will be drawn to just swinging around the city that they've created and given them motivation behind such actions.