Spider-Man’s got bugs!

by ERIK LEIJON

Spider-Man 3 (Multi/Activision, Treyarch) is an undesirable double-whammy for curmudgeonly ol’ me. Not only am I poorly-versed in the Spider-Man legend (or any other comic besides Tank McNamara), thereby eliminating any potential appreciation for this game’s commitment to authenticity, but my time spent outside of the gaming room is usually spent outdoors, and not in a movie theatre.

Come to think of it, movie-to-game adaptations typically don’t turn out well anyways, but I must admit the thought of web-slinging around NYC was enough to pique my interest in Peter Parker’s latest (that and my late-’90s obsession with Marvel vs. Capcom). Sadly for this buggy title, swinging from skyscraper to skyscraper is one of the very few genuine pleasures here.

I fully understand the financial necessity of synchronizing the release of both the film and the game, but if Sam Raimi gets carte blanche to create whatever crazy CGI scenes he desires, why can’t Treyarch get the appropriate time to sculpt the next Escape From Butcher Bay? It’s a decent looking game (in still-form), and the real actors provide the voiceovers, but there are a few telltale signs that Spider-Man 3 could have benefited from additional gestation in the lab:

1. Whenever there’s a fight scene between Spider-Man and some generic enemies in an enclosed space, the camera spins around uncontrollably, resulting in numerous missed hits and a nasty case of whiplash for motion-sensitive gamers
2. The best aspects of this title: the swinging, the accurate recreation of Manhattan Island and the voiceover work (especially Bruce Campbell as the acerbic hint-giving narrator), were seen and heard in previous Spidey film-to-game adaptations
3. Although the character models are impressive, the frame-rate is continuously clunky and looks worse than even 30 frames-per-second
4. Spidey’s fists can go right through an opponent, thanks to some questionable collision detection, and enemies frequently get caught on invisible barriers
5. It takes forever to get to the Venom levels, and the mission directions can be ambiguous at best (at one point, my task changed from stopping a train to preventing local toughs from escaping the subway without warning)

Thankfully, not all the fighting is button mashing coupled with jerky animation—timing-based sequences à la God of War (or if you want to go further back, Dragon’s Lair) have been added, and although quite lengthy and unforgiving, do a superior job of accurately capturing the hyperactive action of the films.

In fairness, Spider-Man 3 is close to being a very good game. Minor quibbles like camera angles and frame-rate are easily solvable, but their presence makes this title highly aggravating, even for comic book aficionados. The fighting needs to be rebuilt, and possibly some sort of Spidey web-slinging multiplayer races should be considered to increase shelf life. Note: I played the Xbox 360 version; Treyarch also developed the PS3 version. Vicarious Visions did the Wii and DS Spideys, while Quebec City’s Beenox developed the PC version.

Crafting a sequel

So I was in Seoul, South Korea the other day (disclaimer: I wasn’t) attending the glitzy StarCraft II unveiling, and I couldn’t help but attach PC-saviour as a prefix every time I uttered the game’s name. Gamers, including many non-hardcore types, still regard StarCraft as the best thing your Dell Dimension ever booted up (oh, the ’90s).

Blizzard will take their sweet time, so take any release date news with a grain of salt, but it’s fair to say the PC world (forever in survival-mode) will be stuck in limbo until it finally does come out. Check out their official site for the nice trailer: http://www.starcraft2.com/.