Reviewer Demitirus at our office reviews Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions for the Xbox 360 from Activision. This game features The Amazing Spider-Man, NOIR Spider-Man, 2099 Spider-Man and The Ultimate Spider-Man. Can this cross dimensioned Spider-Man game swing into your living room safely, or will the linear gameplay make this game snap it’s web and fall straight to the ground?

Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions is a beat ‘em up, action platformer developed by Beenox Studios and published by Activision. The premise of the game is that 4 Spider-Men from different dimensions must work together through Madam Web to collect the fragments of a very powerful tablet that The Amazing Spider-Man broke while attempting to stop Mysterio from stealing it. Each version of Spider-Man plays differently and adds variety to the game-play; they include The Amazing Spider-Man, NOIR Spider-Man, 2099 Spider-Man and The Ultimate Spider-Man. The game consists of three main acts and each act has 4 levels, one for each Spider-Man. This game is different from previous Spider-Man games since it is very linear and there is no open city to explore. While some people will miss that, the level select system they have now allows them to take place at many different locations which will be recognized by fans of the comics and more than makes up for the lack of open worldness.

Moving around in the game is pretty simple, there’s a jump and double jump to get around most things and in certain areas you can swing on your web to get across bigger gaps. There is also a web zip move used for quickly moving from perch to perch and zipping from flying debris to other debris in certain levels. In the same areas that can be swung around in there is also a web jump which can be used after a double jump that send Spider-Man straight up into the air if more height is needed. Spider-Man can also crawl on walls and the ceiling but this is perhaps one of the most frustrating parts of the game since the camera jerks around so much, especially when trying to crawl over a pillar or lip on the wall or ceiling you end up spinning back and forth and it’s almost impossible to get over them. Another big issue I had with getting around is while jumping the game sort of has an assist to help you land on certain spots but a lot of the time that feature ended up just being annoying and not actually let me land on floor when I wanted to.
Combat in the game consist of the basic light and heavy attacks, grapples, throwing items and enemies and some quicktime events. The game starts you out with some basic combos but you can purchase new moves and combos with essence you collect from spider emblems, defeating enemies and completing challenges. Character upgrades, which are increased health, health regeneration, and increased rage and acceleration bars, and alternate suits, can also be purchased with essence.

The first Spider-Man you’ll play as is The Amazing Spider-Man who is the one most people will know and recognize. His combat skills are pretty basic with punches and kicks being his light attacks and his heavy attacks are him flailing around two large balls of web and concrete at his enemies sort of like God of War’s combat. His levels normally consist of finding a fragment but a villain has it so he must chase them around, beat them up, chase them around some more, save some people and then finally really defeat them. This is what happens with every dimension though so Amazing Spider-Man is pretty much the plain character in that sense.

The second Spider-Man is the most unique of the bunch, NOIR Spider-Man. He is much weaker than his alternate universe counter parts but he relies heavily on stealth to take out his enemies. As long as he stays in the shadows he’s completely invisible to enemies and when he gets close enough to enemies without being spotted he can silently and sometimes extremely violently take out his enemies. While most of the time the take downs worked well there were more than a few times where I would be trying to take down an enemy but the prompt wouldn’t come up or would only pop up for a second even though I was more than close enough. Even though he is weaker than the other Spider-Men there are parts where he fights but he doesn’t use any of the flashy web heavy attacks that The Amazing version of him uses.
The next Spider-Man up is the one from the future, 2099 Spider-Man. His specialty is speed and because he’s so fast he has a special power called accelerated vision. The Accelerated Vision ability has a bar that recharges over time and allows him to move very fast while everything else is slowed down just like bullet time and this allows him to dodge missiles and enemies attacks much easier. This Spider-Man also enjoys free falling from great heights and many times the player will have to dodge obstacles while trying to catch villains falling at high speeds. The controls for these parts aren’t the best but with the accelerated vision power that sort of makes up for it.

The final Spider-Man you’ll play as is the Ultimate universe version who is using the black suit. This one is youngest Spider-Man but is also the strongest thanks to the power of the black suit madam web gave him. He has the best reach and was personally my favorite Spider-Man to fight with because of his combos and attacks. He has a second ability bar like 2099 Spider-Man but this is for his rage meter which builds up whenever he attacks something and when activated makes his attacks a lot more powerful. This Spider-Man doesn’t really have any special level designs so they’re pretty basic like The Amazing Spider-Man.
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions is an overall enjoyable experience. Between the different Spider-Men’s fight styles and level design and the amazing cast of villains such as Mysterio, Juggernaut and Deadpool the game keeps you coming back for more. With three different difficulties, 180 challenges and extras such as alternate suits, concept art, and figurines the replay value is also very high. The positives far outweigh the few annoying things here and there and this game should be enjoyed by Spider-Man fans and general action game fans alike.

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Buy Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions online for the Xbox 360 from EBGames.com

Click here to buy Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions online for the Xbox 360 from EBGames.com

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