Spider-Man 3
Preview
Spidey moves in mysterious ways
by Marko Susimetsä
previewed on PC
Spiders in every corner
Spider-man 3 is perhaps the most hyped movie of this summer with trailers and sneak peaks offered behind every corner. And like its predecessors, Spider-man 3 will also be accompanied with a plethora of tie-in products, including, of course, a console game. Spider-man 3 The Game will be featured on practically every console out there at the moment, including the big ones, PC, PlayStation 2 & 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. The game will be published by one of the oldest in business, Activision, while their own studio, Treyarch, will handle the development. You might recognise that name also from Call of Duty 3. (By the way, despite me being a European, I'll spell Spiderman with the dash in this preview since that's how Activision spells it.)
Do we even need the backstory here?
Well, perhaps we can recap a bit of it for those who don't know who Spider-man is or that there's a third movie coming out about him (riiight...). Basically, Spider-man is one of the few superheroes who's really just an everyday guy with everyday problems, who just happens to receive superpowers from a 1) radioactive spider or 2) genetically manipulated spider, depending on whichever story you choose to believe in. These superpowers do not take away his everyday problems, though, and not only is Spider-man required to battle super-baddies, but he also still has to live his private life and find some money to pay the rent and time to date his girlfriend.
In the two first movies, as well as games, Spider-man confronted two of his arch-enemies: Doc Ock and the Green Goblin. Not quite happy with the challenge of his past experiences, in the third rehash Spider-man will be facing as many as three opponents: Harry Osborn, the Sandman and Venom. Whereas the first two enemies are from classic Spider-man stories, Venom is something that the producers of the latest movie pretty much forced the Director Sam Raimi to include (who, like me, would have preferred to stay with the classic bad guys). Luckily for us, even though the game will bring in even more villains, Treyarch will draw them from amongst the classic cast. For example, how would you like to battle the Scorpion?
Just swinging
The great thing about Spider-man, as a game protagonist, is the fact that he offers a fantastic opportunity to show off aerial acrobatics, fast action and slick graphics. And Treyarch seems to be making good use of all those chances by making sure that the player will have full control of what Spider-man does and when he does it. If you so choose, you can just swing around the magnificently modelled Manhattan cityscape and admire the fantastic views from the heights of the tallest buildings, jump down into the deep chasms between the towering buildings and wait until the very last moment to save yourself from an ugly stop by using one of your web-slingers. Or you can hunt down criminals and other trouble-makers all over the city and bring them to justice. Or you can choose to follow the main plot and forget about the smaller criminals as you chase down Harry Osborn and the Sandman.
