Spiderman: Shattered dimensions review

Spidey is back!

Spiderman: Shattered dimensions follow our web-swinging hero in a multitude of dimensions, where he has to do battle with a vast array of famous foes to claim pieces of a magical tablet.

The plot!

General all round bad guy Mysterio raids a museum to grab a magical tablet, which, as always, grants the holder unlimited power. However, our wall-crawling friend intervenes and in the ensuing battle Spidy manages to smash the tablet, scattering it's pieces in several other dimentions. Spidy is then contacted by Madam Web, who informs old web head that he, and other Spidermen in other dimensions, must track down these missing pieces before Mysterio can get his hands on them, as they have enopugh power to destroy the universe as we know it!

What I liked:

Well, for one, it's Spiderman. He's there in all his wisecracking glory. Voiced by a different actor from different animated series, each Spiderman feels different from the other one. Four different Spidermen are featured. Firstly you have Amazing Spiderman, follwed by Spiderman Noir, then we shoot into the future for Spiderman 2099, and then to the re-invisioned Ultimate Spiderman universe. All of the different Spidermen pretty much play the same, the exception being the Noir levels. Played out in a very nice black and white (with hints of brown) style, the noir levels play out in more of a stealth mode....think Spiderman: Arkham Asylum and you're pretty much there.

What some people may complain about is something I actually enjoyed, and that is that the game is slightly linear. You don't have the freedom to swing around all over the place like you did in past Spiderman games....on no. You tend to find you use the web more like a grappling hook, to shoot up to high vantage points, and to zip around levels quickly. I actually found this a whole lot more enjoyable to play then the other games, which bored me to tears with constant race missions and saving bloody civilians.

The villans cast is also first rate, Hammerhead, Hobgoblin, Electro, Scorpion, they all make a showing. A stand out level for me was the Sandman level, having to battle him as he turns into a 500 ft high sand tornado, webswinging around using all the debris he kicks into the air was pretty much as good as gaming gets!

And of course....Stan Lee narration!

What I loathed:

The repetitive nature of the levels. For the first few levels it's all new and fresh, but as soon as you get through a couple of levels things start to repeat. The same "save 5 civilians and take them back to the save point" is ok to start with, but after the 3rd-4th time you just want to leave the idiots to die. The game trys to stay fresh with different level challenges that you can go through to unlock upgrades, but even these challenges start to repeat, with challenges such as "defeat X in under two minutes".

And yes, you guessed it....the camera. Sometimes it's the greatest villan in the game. It almost makes the wall crawling completely unbearable, and in a game featuring Spiderman well...you would think that players may want to wall crawl....possibly.....maybe?? I just tended not to wall crawl at all, but sometimes the game forces you to do so, which is just a ball-ache.

The verdict?

I was pleasantly surprised by Spiderman: Shattered dimensions. It's a first class comic book game, well written, sometimes very, VERY funny, with fantastic combat and boss fights. Camera problems and repetitive nature aside, it's probably the best Spideman game since Spiderman 2, and if you're a fan of Spiderman and Marvel comics you really do owe it to yourself to pick up this game.

Rating: 8/10
(Xbox 360 version reviewed)

Available now.