Swinging into action
The superhero genre is one of the most popular in all of entertainment. There has been a pletera of adaptations through various media outlets. All the way back in the 40s we had movie serials of Batman and Superman, in the 70s and 80s we had feature adaptations of live action tv shows such as Hulk and Spider-Man. When videogames found its way to the mainstream, it seemed only natural that superheroes would find their way to the cartridge and digital screen. Fast Forward a bit, in 1999. The world would be graced with one of the worst, if not THE worst superhero games of all time. Superman 64 was a mess, an ugly, clunky, disjointed wreck. A year later, Marvel decided to try their hand at it and low and behold, they actually pulled it off. Spiderman for the ps1 was not only a good adaptation, it was a good game in general.
Narrated by Stan “the man” Lee himself, the story is typical comic book fare, a supposedly reformed Dr Octopus has created a new machine to bring forth a new age in technology. Peter Parker, ever so skeptical watches from the audience. A fight breaks out on stage, when the assailant shows his face, it turns out to be…..Spiderman? ! An imposter has stolen Dr. Octopus’ device and flees. The device in question is used to blanket NY with a dense fog. A framed Peter Parker needs to get to the bottom of this and uncover who is behind all this.
The gameplay of this title is essentially a platformer beat-em-up. Everything you would expect in a Spiderman game is here, smooth combat, wall crawling, and of course web slinging. While most of the game takes place in linear level, there are a few levels where you actually get to swing around ( which was at the time) a decently open-ended city. While there aren’t really any side missions, there are certainly a few funny easter eggs to uncover. The fog aspect of the plot was an ingenious way to cover up the hardware limitations of creating a full city and move the narrative along. The game also has a surprisingly decent amount of replayability, each time you finish the game you get a new Spiderman suit with new abilities. These include unlimited webbing and invisibility to literally just walk past every enemy in hilarious fashion. “What if” mode is also a fun and hilarious secret mode that turns things real topsy turvy.
The main attraction of any Spiderman game is its roster, and this game does not disappoint. A smorgasbord of all your favorite villains are here, Rhino, Venom, Dr Octopus, Scorpion and cameos from various heroes such as the Human Torch, Daredevil and Punisher. The boss fights in this game, while not groundbreaking, are solid, fun and pretty varied. Facing off against a charging Rhino, a teleporting Venom or a giant Mysterio all keep things fresh.
Spiderman is everything Superman 64 wishes it could have been. With smooth gameplay, fun boss fights, and a banging early 2000s soundtrack, this is a complete package right here. I dare say it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the masterful Insomniac Spiderman games owe the formula to this. This is probably one of the best if not the best superhero games on the PS1. Load up your web-cartridges, listen to your spidey sense, and catch those bad guys just like flies.
We love ya web-head
Fil
Verdict: 8.5/10