Ultimate Spider-Man

Though the game isn’t perfect, the addicting story line and amazing presentation are definitely welcomed. If Treyarch had kept the bigger city and more advanced web swinging techniques, Ultimate Spider-Man would have been the definitive Spider-Man game.

It brings the comic book to life right in front of your eyes.

The true letdown, though, is that the master villains can still be supremely frustrating to defeat, requiring several replays and exhaustive bouts of highly patterned attacks.

Combines dazzling graphics, rambunctious gameplay, and an intriguing story that does justice for this Marvel icon Did I mention it’s $30? Yeah, that ain’t so bad either.

Unlike "Spider-Man 2," which has a total joke on the PC, Ultimate Spider-Man is a perfect translation of the console version. Only it looks a whole lot better on a PC.

If you aren’t a big Spidey fan you might want to skip this because of the repetitive nature of things, but fans of the comics can’t go wrong picking Ultimate Spider-Man up.

The best in Activision's Spidey lineup, packed with comic-book excitement. [Holiday 2005, p.78]

The voice acting is very solid, and the too-few story based missions make the game completely worthwhile.

Crippled in the transport over to the mouse and keyboard control, Ultimate Spider-Man just doesn't hit par. However, hook up a gamepad and swinging around New York as Spider-Man becomes a fantastic experience.

It’s an improvement over the two movie adaptations as it is unquestionably faithful to the comic series. I haven’t seen another comic book video game this faithful to its license.

I really wish that when companies port console titles that they put some effort into understanding the PC gamer perspective.

Easy to pick up and play and immediately enjoyable.

While it undoubtedly falls short in certain key areas – the imperfect controls, the repetitive side missions, the slightly bland engine... – it will certainly be more than adequate for any Spidey fan feeling the need for some web-slinging.

Despite its noticeable drawbacks, however, Ultimate Spider-Man does manage to offer a thrilling blend of comic book and video game action. The way that the game utilizes modern technology to bring comic book characters to life is superb, and so is the fantasy world created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley.

Ultimate is very entertaining, and the addition of Nemesis creates some interesting new situations, but over all there isn't a lot of variety; you fight, you race, you ramble around the city, and then you do it all again.

The PC version of Ultimate Spider-Man finally gives Activision a chance to make up for Spider-Man 2, but it doesn’t quite live up to it’s ‘Ultimate’ moniker.

The blockbuster production values make this one of the best comic book to videogame adaptations ever made. The control is equally as impressive which may not be apparent initially as I mentioned. The only things holding this game back from absolute greatness are basically the same flaws that held SM2 back from greatness: repetitive random missions, relentless chase missions, relatively short story mode and the lack of imagination in terms of game structure.

Serious webheads will get something positive out of Ultimate Spider-Man, but they should do so with one of the console versions, as the PC version of the game isn't the ideal one.

It’s best to go at these extra missions and goals in moderation though, as playing them for an extended amount of time can get boring.

Fans of the comic-book series certainly won't want to miss it as the game's brilliant art design and voiceover work come as close as any game ever has to putting the player inside a comic-book world.

The controls become significantly easier when there is a gamepad installed, as opposed to strictly using the keyboard and mouse. The camera issues can be frustrating at times, but do not ruin the game.

It's too easy, it's too short, and the overall gameplay is repetitive and highly derivative from what had come before.

So, there are short bursts of charm, interspersed with long sections of tedium. [Dec 2005 p.89]

Did a purse-holder at Activision one day grapple fruitlessly with the last game's control system and scrawl in their subsequent notes “Make the next one so that I can play it”? Speculation aside, someone sure messed-up Spider-Man. [Dec 2005, p.108]