Ultimate Spider-man

Long before Peter Parker was bitten by a certain radioactive spider, and had his DNA altered, he was a young man with loving parents and an older, best friend named Eddie Brock. Both Eddie’s and Peter’s fathers were engaged in bio-research, working on a ‘suit’ that would encase people for a short time and help the body produce the chemicals needed to destroy cancer cells.

But then, as with any mythical tale worth its salt, tragedy struck. Both sets of parents were killed in a plane crash and Eddie moved away. Peter’s life moved forward and then along came a spider, which altered both Peter’s DNA and life in dramatic fashion.

Years later, Peter finds transcripts of the work both his father and the elder Brock were engaged in, finds Eddie, discovers a vial of the compound, has a drop fall on his skin and becomes wrapped within the vile, sentient armor of Venom. Only through use of his incredible powers is Peter able to break free of the suit. He thinks he has destroyed it, but Eddie had a second vial of the compound and upset that Peter stole some and tested it, willingly allows the suit to encase him. Unfortunately, Eddie does not have the strength or personality, nor the super powers of Spider-man, and the suit overwhelms him. Venom is born as a terror and threat in the Spider-man universe.

Ok, that is the back story, and sets the stage for this adventure, courtesy of and drawing from an original story by Ultimate Spider-man’s own Brian Michael Bendis. And lest one thing that Bendis’ story gets a graphical boost by the penciling of  Mark Bagley, never fear – that is used in the DS version as well.

Ultimate Spider-man (developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision) on the Nintendo DS may share the storyline and some of the graphical qualities of its bigger console kin, but instead of being a free-form title, allowing players to roam all over Spidey’s stomping grounds, this is a rather linear adventure, which works off timers for the most part. Save one person, get to the next before the timer runs out, or you fail the level and must restart. Fortunately, the game only requires you restart the level, not the entire game.

Much like the story, the gameplay is also double feature. The first part is the Spider-man phases, which play out on the top screen, use the standard array of controls. The bottom screen uses some of the motion graphics panels, allows players to select which attack Spidey will use, and monitors the power bar that will tell players when that special attack can be used. Certain actions do employ the touch screen, and players get a sense of that early on in the tutorial level. Lift a car with the Y button (this is the general action button), and then use the touch screen, moving the stylus or your finger in the direction indicated to throw it off the victim.

Venom, of course, is a different matter. The Venom suit feeds off Eddie’s energy, and in order for Eddie to survive, he must give the suit another source of life energy – which is where other people come into play. But the Venom suit is more than that – it can produce tentacles that can whip about, grab items in the environment and heave them about. That is where the touch screen comes into play. Players can grab people and pull them into the suit to feed, or grab environmental items and toss them about. Tapping the screen in front of Venom unleashes a short flurry of claw attacks.

Vicarious Visions has done a very good job of using the left shoulder button and the D-pad in concert with the touch screen to give players control of the super villain, and all without requiring players to grow a third hand to manage it all.

However, there are drawbacks in this game. The levels are very short and have elements that players must accomplish in order to advance. A typical example is a Spidey run-through of a level featuring box cars and bad guys. You have to get from one side of the level to the other, but before the blue portal opens to move you to the next level, you have to defeat a certain amount of bad guys. The first run-through will not do that. You will have to run through and beat up all the bad guys, and then backtrack and do it again. Of course, even though this is generally a side-scroller that does not mean all the action is either left or right. With Spider-man, sometimes the right way is straight up. The missions are generally on timers, but you will trigger when that timer goes off. And not every mission is a simple run-through, beat ‘em up. Sometimes you have to be stealthy and use your webbing at range.

The control scheme is well designed, with only a minor learning curve. The audio can sound a bit tinny at times, but the game boasts some witty one-liners and the graphical cutscenes are almost like they were culled from the comic books and really do an excellent job of propelling the story alone.

Ultimate Spider-man is a bit short in both scope and level design, but still manages to pull off a solid NDS experience, in large part to the graphics, story and alternating character modes. Extended usage of the touch screen for the Spider-man sequences would have been nice, but Venom is handled very well.

This is definitely a platformer hat should be checked out.

Gameplay: 8.3
A tad linear, but still the game does a solid job of utilizing both screens, particularly the touch screen during the Venom sequences.

Graphics: 8.6
The motion graphics panels do not have the punch that they do on the bigger console versions, but Vicarious Visions did a very good job of integrating the comic book style of Mark Bagley into the static shots used to advance the storyline.

Sound: 8.3
The game sounds a little tinny at times, but the spirit is there with the witty dialogue – albeit in small doses.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.5
The story line is a parallel telling of the conflict between Venom and Spidey, with players taking on both roles in alternating missions as they advance through the levels. This game has a nice variety of ‘cameos’ from other Spidey villains and Marvel heroes, and the use of the touchscreen particularly comes into play during the Venom sequences.

Multiplayer: N/A
While there will be multiplayer available, according to the main menu, this feature was not available with the code sent for review simply because the game is not in retail release yet.

Overall: 8.3
The game is essentially a two-dimensional side-scrolling action platformer, propelled by an original Brian Michael Bendis storyline with all the trimmings of the Marvel Ultimate Universe. The touchscreen sequences for Venom are well done and use that feature of the DS to the gamer’s advantage. But the Spidey sequences under-use the touch screen, and the sound can be a little tinny at times, when heard through the DS speaker. Still, this is solid platformer, with an engaging story and told with a graphical style that is certainly appealing.