Spider-Man 3 Preview

Nintendo

The Nintendo variants of the game have quite a bit going for them. Though the graphics on the Wii are clearly closer to Spider-Man 2 than anything else, the nunchuck controller makes combat more involved than simply hitting the right keys. Like the next-gen games, the interactive cinematic sequences liven things up, but more important is the use of the controllers. I'm not a Wii owner myself but combat wasn't too difficult to learn.

Swinging is where the nunchucks make the real difference though and it's much more engaging than the gamepad style of swinging, but rather more difficult. In the brief time I tried swinging, there were several moments where I managed to get a good rhythm going, but there was no shortage of mis-steps as well. Trying to alternate swings involves alternating controllers and buttons, which, for a Wii neophyte like myself, was not the simplest of tasks. However, if pulled off, a swinging sequence is very satisfactory.

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The Wii version has several cool features not related to the Wii controller either. For starters, the black suit can be worn at any time – as opposed to specific periods as in the next-generation games. However, there's a penalty for wearing it. The more you use it, the harder it is to get off. Also, while it gets more powerful as Spider-Man gains rage, it's possible to hit a rage limit, at which point Spidey blacks out and the game resets. The advantages to a high rage are fairly significant, as Spider-Man hits much harder near rage peak than he does when he just put on the Venom suit, but the balancing act is tricky.

One especially promising feature of the Wii is the idea of gang control of the city. Gangs and the police compete for areas of the city, and their influence is visible on the map with a number of markers. Spider-Man can head to these markers and do missions or beat up gang members to restore control to the police. The system is at least semi-dynamic, with fights among gangs, and between gangs and police determining who controls what area.

Finally, Spider-Man's skill upgrades are in a skill “web”, where one skill leads to another and they branch out. Whether this is all that different from the next-generation system is debatable, but the presentation is pretty slick and there's at least the promise of something new.

DS

Spider-Man 3 on the DS is a slick little side-scroller with a pseudo-3D world. Spidey can swing quite high and jump down towards his enemies, and attacks are controlled with the touch-pad. It's not particularly complex, but surprisingly rewarding. Webbing a foe and using the touch-pad to swing them around is surprisingly fun. The game should rock with younger audiences while providing leisurely entertainment for older gamers.