Spider-Man: Edge of Time (PS3) Review

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 10.20.2011

Spider-Man returns in a new game to team up with Spider-Man 2099. Jeffrey Harris checks in with his review for the PS3 version of Spider-Man: Edge of Time.



Title: Spider-Man: Edge of Time
Publisher: Beenox
Developer: Silicon Knights
Genre: Action-Adventure
Players: Single-player
Rated: T For Teen

Everyone right now is going crazy over Batman: Arkham City, but what about everyone’s favorite wall crawler, Spider-Man? Earlier this month saw the release of Activision’s Spider-Man: Edge of Time, developed by Beenox. The game is follow-up to last year’s Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions also developed by Beenox which was fairly well received. But how does this new game stack up?



Sometimes the newer generations of Spider-Man games don’t get enough credit. While the Arkham series are lauded as the best Batman and comic book superhero games ever, when Spider-Man hit the PSX, it was a game changer. It was developed by Neversoft and featured a Tony Hawk engine and really captured Spider-Man well. It was later followed by Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro. Cue the next generation consoles and Treyarch/Activision stepped it up yet again with the Spider-Man game based on the first live action movie. This was great because it gave you great web swinging and action and you could play as the Green Goblin even. But where Treyarch really nailed it was with the Spider-Man 2 movie game which was also a game-changer and a lot of people have seemed to forget about. To me this game perfectly captured being able to play as Spider-Man and use his vast array of abilities. The game really nailed the web swinging down to a science and you had all of New York City as your playground. Unfortunately it seems like Spider-Man games really peaked here, though I think Ultimate Spider-Man was itself a good game.



Edge of Time does start with an intriguing story. It’s a loose follow-up to shattered dimensions, though there is a voice actor swap. Josh Keaton (formerly of the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series and voice of Ultimate Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions) steps in for Neil Patrick Harris to play 616 Spider-Man in this game. And amazingly, we now get Christopher Daniel Barnes voicing Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara. Barnes previously voiced Spider-Man Noir in Shattered Dimensions but also he was the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the classic 1990’s animated series for Spider-Man. So this game is a nostalgia treat in the sense that you have the more contemporary voice of Spider-Man going against the voice of Spider-Man from the 1990’s. I think both actors fit their roles much better than in Shattered Dimensions, and the swap is an improvement. The game’s original story was composed by writer Peter David. In 2099, Miguel O’Hara’s Spider-Man is investigating the nefarious Alchemax CEO, Walker Sloan (voiced by Val Kilmer). Sloan is intending to travel through time and use his knowledge to start the company in 2011. Spider-Man 2099 attempts to stop him but is too late and sees visions in the time travel vortex of 616 Spidey being killed by Anti-Venom who you get to briefly fight at the beginning of the game. Sloan succeeds in traveling to the past and history is altered into a dystopia controlled by Sloan and Alchemax while in the future, Alchemax is controlled by an enigmatic and unknown figure. Using a type of chronal link, Spidey 2099 now has to guide and help 616 Spidey to correct the time streams and for Peter to avoid certain death as well as doom for Peter’s wife Mary Jane (Laura Vandervoort).



So the game has a solid story and quality voice acting. The cut scenes are nicely rendered and the graphics and models for the Spider-men are really well done, especially Spider-Man 2099. Some of the models though look a little rough and sort of last generation. Unfortunately, gameplay for Spider-Man games has really regressed and taken step backs since the Treyarch games. Web-swinging just isn’t as effective, smooth, and easy as it used to be. You can use web zip-lines in the game, but doing so is a headache such as trying to find the target you want to web zip-line to. In the older games, you could aim and lock onto a target of where you wanted to do the zip-line.

Combat and controls have some nice ideas. Specifically being able to web your enemies and launch them to you in mid-air or web-lining straight to them. The fighting combat and controls however are a little on the rough side though. I miss being able to do the web swing kick more than anything from the old games. Both Spidey’s have their own set of unique moves. 616 Spidey can use his spider sense and hyper senses and Spidey 2099 is able to use physical decoys. Both after they’ve built up a special gauge can unleash a paradox attack which can freeze your enemies and make them vulnerable to attack and makes Spider-Man faster.



I think most disappointing is being stuck in the Alchemax facility in the entire game. The game is really short and the whole time you are stuck traversing through similar rooms. Some are larger than others to give Spidey more room to swing around, but it seems like a mistake to confine Spider-Man into one giant building. The hints of the futuristic New York City and the altered New York looked so much more interesting than the repetitive environments you are stuck in during the game. The other thing the game lacks is boss fights and intriguing Spider-Man and Marvel characters. Black Cat and Anti-Venom both make appearances. Doc Ock makes a small yet minor appearance, but there are only three or four actual boss fights.

The game is also very short. The story mode is only three acts and can be finished in a few hours. Other than that, there is the Web of Challenges mode where you have timed challenges to complete which you can use to unlock new costume skins and other items. Much like X-Men: Destiny, it looks like had there been more time to develop this, it could’ve been a much better game overall.



Pros

-Great voice acting featuring two mainstay Spider-Man voice-over talents.
-Solid original story composed by comics legend Peter David.
-Lots of unlockable costume skins.
-Good graphics and nicely animated cutscenes.

Cons

-Rough controls, combat mechanics, and web-slinging has taken some steps back in recent games.
-Short single player campaign and very few boss fights as well as familiar characters from Spider-Man lore.
-Rather short on replay value other than hunting for unlockable skins and the rather repetitive challenge modes.

The 411

Spider-Man: Edge of Time doesn’t really reach the heights of great Spider-Man games Activision has released in the past. While it has a good story and some solid base ideas, the execution specifically with the setting and controls could’ve been so much more. Limiting Spider-Man in the same place for a whole game does not really work very well and the smooth and perfect science that web –slinging attained for Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2 is gone.

Graphics	8.0	Graphics are solid and the models for Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Anti-Venom, and Mary Jane all look really good. Some of the other character models look a little drab and last generation. The environments of Alchemax get a little disappointing and rep
Gameplay	5.0	Web-slinging and combat has lost a lot of it's smoothness and great free-form of previous Spider-Man games. It's a little underwhelming keeping Spider-Man inside one building for an entire game. Combat gets rather monotonous at times, and web zip-lining
Sound	8.0	There is good music, and getting Keaton's and Barnes' Spider-Man characters interacting and playing against each other is very entertaining.
Lasting Appeal	5.0	There is the Web of Challenges mode and some cool unlockable, alternate costume skins, but besides that there is not much extra replay value here.
Fun Factor	6.0	The game has some strong elements and a good story, but the overall executions plays like it could've been a lot better and so much more.
Overall	6.4   [ Average ]

Screenshots
All 13 Spider-Man: Edge of Time Screenshots