The Nintendo 64 had a strong library with a ton of different games. Sports, platformers, kart racers, even some RPGs. But looking at the North American release list, you don't see very many superhero games released for the system. In fact, there are three based on popular superhero licenses, and two of them... well... when one of them is Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and the other is the infamous Superman, then you know you're in for some big globs of dung. But surprisingly, there was one game based on a Super Hero that turned out pretty good. And it's the subject of our review this week, Spider-Man, released by Activision in 2000.
Activision had been on a major roll with the successful Tony Hawk franchise and managed to acquire the rights from Marvel to publish games featuring their library of characters. But to wet the whistles of gamers, they added Spider-Man as a hidden character for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. THPS developers Neversoft would use their engine from the Tony games in the development of Spider-Man. The game would see release on multiple consoles throughout 2000. Of the three consoles to receive ports, it was the Nintendo 64 that would get the game last on November 21st, 2000. Much like the Tony games on the N64, Spider-Man was developed by Edge of Reality, who tried their best to convert the game to cartridge format.
The story sees Peter Parker at a demonstration by the reformed Dr. Otto Octavius, when suddenly an impostor Spider-Man causes mayhem and steals the experiment. While the police believe Spider-Man to be a criminal, New York becomes shrouded in a poisonous green fog. it's up to the real Spider-Man to find out what's really going on, while taking on his regular rogues gallery. Mostly Venom at first, who is stupid enough to believe that it was the real Spider-Man involved in the theft.
Spider-Man is a one player game. You control the titular wall crawler through multiple levels as you swing, web and fight your way through thugs and classic foes to find out just who's behind the wave of terror in New York. Spidey moves with either the D-Pad or the Analog stick, jumps with A, punches with Left-C, kicks with Right-C, can shoot web with Up-C and can web swing by jumping and pressing the R button.
Among the moves Spidey can pull are jumping strikes and combos. With his webs he can do multiple moves depending on the direction you press along with the web button. Spidey can create web gloves to improve his punch, create a web shield that can cause a powerful blast when broken, and shoot web balls at his foes. And just like a spider can, he can crawl walls and even target and control where he shoots his web. What this game does better than any game before it is give you a far better sense of immersion in being Spider-Man and it works pretty good.
But Spidey can't just spam his web moves as he can run out of fluid easily. You can thankfully find more throughout every level along with health, metal spider-man outfits that increase your defense and the many hidden comic book covers that will add to your collection. Not to mention extra costumes and other hidden items you'll unlock throughout your adventure. So there is a good amount of things to keep you around for a completer run.
What makes Spider-Man work is the amount of levels and the variety within. For the most part it is your basic web swing, wall crawling, enemy brawling stuff, but the game does keep you on your toes with what you have to face off with next. From being on the run from attack helicopters, culminating in a section where you have to precariously climb a building and avoiding missile fire. To later having to chase after Venom from building to building. And of course the game's many boss battles from Scorpion to Rhyno to even the last boss, The Carnage Fused Monster Ock.
And while the game is fun and offers enough content for the price paid, there are still some issues. The game can be hard, often from easy deaths. More often than not from the slippery controls or the bad camera. The camera in particular can cost Spidey the most in bosses like the Venom fight where he can teleport around the area and get a good sneak up on you because you can't fix in on him just right. I also find you end up getting stuck to walls a bit too easy at times and sometimes the web swinging is unresponsive. Though the latter feels a lot less possible.
And while the game is long, I do admit that the long slog of sewer/subway levels in the middle of the game do slog the experience a bit, as there are far too many and most of them are extremely annoying with easy death spots. One segment requires you lowering water by pulling levels with your web. But due to the wonky camera, you might not notice when it's safe to jump, leading to an easy death. And even if you take too long, the water will rise, adding to yet another death. Infinite continues and restarting in certain checkpoints do help, but in longer areas where you can get killed quickly by the simplest things make for frustration out of fun quickly. Especially when you get to the symbiotes who can be hard to get strikes on and have a spit attack that automatically hits you.
Graphically the game looks pretty solid. Better in some aspects than the PS1 version, but a massive step down compared to the Dreamcast. Also, due to the cart size, the game had to remove the FMV cutscenes and replace them with comic inspired text boxes instead. On the audio, it's a bit mixed too. The voice work that remains is all good, and features voice actors from both Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Spider-Man Unlimited. The music however feels like it takes a bit of a hit and the strong Tommy Tallarico audio comes off half cocked in this occasion. It's not as bad a hatchet job as the Tony Hawk games, but it's still noticeable.
Overall, Spider-Man for the N64 is a solid action platformer that plays well and makes the best of its console shortcomings. Compared to a lot of games that really don't make the 64 conversion quite well, this is one that holds its own very good. It has some hiccups in difficulty and its controls can be a bit off at times, but there is enough variety in levels and a fun adventure that will keep you coming back for more. Overall, I'd say this is the weaker port, but if you want a version with no load times, that's a plus. While it doesn't hold up as well as the superior Spider-Man 2 game on the later systems that was based on the movie, it's still a decent game to play and it worth a pick up in your collection.
RATING: B-
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