The Amazing Spider-Man Stan Lee - GAME Exclusive Xbox 360

Released on 29-Jun-2012

Do whatever a spider can in The Amazing Spider-Man on Xbox 360!

Spinning out of this summer's smash movie from Columbia Pictures, The Amazing Spider-Man video game picks up the action where the movie left off, with Peter parker continuing to swing and climb his way around New York City as their friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

As Spider-Man, you'll continue to discover that with great power comes great responsibility as you take on a wave of classic Marvel Comics super-villains, including Rhino and the Black Cat in a an open-world adventure filled with exciting side-missions.

The game's new Web Rush mechanic makes swinging around New York more exciting than in any previous Spider-Man game, leaving you feeling more like Spidey than ever before!

Key Features of The Amazing Spider-Man

• Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man - New York is Spider-Man's home and his playground, and this game sees a return to the free-roaming, web-spinning gameplay across a dynamic and visually stunning Manhattan where adventure is found around (almost) every corner.
• My Spider-Sense Is Tingling - The new Web Rush mechanic will revolutionise Spider-Man gameplay, giving you real-time navigation and combat choices whenever you need it. Web Rush can be triggered at any time and will give you a host of choices to help you get out of any situation, and will let you feel like you're pulling off Spidey's moves yourself!
• Amazing Fantasy - Continue the action from this summer's The Amazing Spider-Man movie, with an all-new adventure from Battlestar Galactica writer Seamus Kevin Fahey. As young Peter Parker, you'll uncover more of his untold story.
• Rogue's Gallery - Face some of Spidey's most dastardly foes, redesigned to fit into the world of the movie and the game. Take on the unstoppable might of the Rhino! Tangle with the venomous Scorpion! Cross paths with the Black Cat! Face the pest of Vermin! And just who is the mysterious Iguana?
• Four-Colour Fun - As you progress throughout the game, you can collect vintage Spider-Man comic books, including his first ever appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15.

• Unlock classic comic books in The Amazing Spider-Man

  Superhero games have long allowed players to unlock real life comic book covers as collectibles, but the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man game, a spin-off from this summer's blockbuster movie reboot, will be the first to offer complete comic strips.

  "For the first time ever Marvel has allowed us to put full comic book issues in the game," Dee Brown, founder of Spidey developer Beenox, explained to Australian games site Ausgamers. "So you're gong to see comic book pages flying in the city or lying on the floor, you're going to see that is actually ridiculously addictive and you'll want to collect them all. And as you collect a certain number you unlock full issues."

  Spider-Man's first ever appearance, from Amazing Fantasy #15, is in the game along with other seminal webslinging tales. All will be viewable in a specially designed comics reader, which uses the full TV screen and allows you to zoom in and move seamlessly from panel to panel.

  Brown also revealed that the openworld game will feature a constantly evolving virtual Manhattan, and that you'll be able to use Peter Parker's apartment as a home base. You'll also have a camera, which will be used for certain missions, but can also be used to take in-game snapshots at any time, saving them to a digital album.

  It sounds like this is shaping up to be the best Spidey game yet, and it'll swing into action on June 29th for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, 3DS and PC.
  

• The Amazing Spider-Man - Review

  
  

  

  2004 was a brilliant year for Spider-Man. He was top of the movie charts with the summer blockbuster Spider-Man 2, courtesy of Tobey Maguire's web-slinger. And in the gaming world, Activision's spin-off console game had just revolutionised superhero gaming by blending open-world adventuring with awesome web-slinging powers. But those days have long gone. Now it's Batman that has the best games and it's up to old 'web-head' to catch up.

  The Amazing Spider-Man ties-in with the new film starring Andrew Garfield as the eponymous Spider-Sensed do-gooder, continuing the story where the big-screen version leaves off. Here you're fighting against genetic oddities Rhino, Scorpion and The Lizard, while also protecting New York City from backstreet thugs and bag-snatchers. This is the third Spider-Man video game from developer Beenox (after Shattered Dimensions and Edge Of Time), but given the success of the Batman adventures Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, it's not so surprising to see the developer borrow some of the breathtaking gameplay from its DC Comics rival.

  

  King Of The Swingers

  As a result, The Amazing Spider-Man feels bigger and more ambitious. It also looks more like a film as you flit between one thug punch-up to another. There's a cinematic new third-person camera that gets right up-close-and-personal to our hero, often shaking and blurring whenever something dramatic happens. But more noticeable is the way that the web-slinging ability has been redesigned from scratch. After all, the first thing anyone wants to do as Spider-Man is swing to the top of the tallest skyscraper, admire the beautiful skyline, and then fling yourself through the rest of the city at breakneck speed. So getting across town now involves a rhythmic use of the right-trigger button, with an intelligent physics system accounting for all different heights of skyscraper, speeds and angles. It looks truly amazing as you literally ping between buildings and clouds, but it won't do much to appease vertigo sufferers!

  To stop the controls from being complicated, though, there's also a new Web Rush technique, which allows you to traverse massive distances in the most spectacular way possible. You freeze time, select a point in the distance, and then sit back and watch as Spidey pirouettes round radio masts, skips over car bonnets and airborne-rolls down long avenues until he reaches his destination. This may seem like cheating in the sense that you're not fully controlling him, but visually it will drop jaws onto floors, while allowing you to still behave like a superhero, even if your own reflexes aren't quite so superhuman.

  

  Hero Worship

  But while great, it's still not quite in the same league as Batman - yet. For a start, while everything looks great in the air, it's less convincing at ground-level. The streets look a tad samey and some of the pedestrians behave in rather comical manner, occasionally screaming in horror, and then returning to normality seconds later. And some of the skirmishes perhaps lack the tension of the martial arts fight-fests that Arkham City has to offer.

  Not that Spider-Man or Marvel fans will be too bothered, though. This is still an excellent and varied adventure that ranks as the best Spider-Man game for years. The missions are thrilling and the visuals sweet, and it also expands the Marvel universe with cool new enemies and locations. Beenox has done a grand job of bringing the character's bone-bending agility to gaming screens. Just be careful if you play it before seeing the film: the fact that it's plot kicks off at the end of the movie could be something of a spoiler. You have been warned!

  GAME's Verdict

  The Good:

  • Web Rush Mechanic is very cool
  • Swinging through the open-world New York
  • Great choice and variety of villains

  The Bad:

  • Spoils the movie if you haven't seen it yet
  • Fights are a bit repetitive
  • Street scenery is a bit disappointing

  Published: 03/07/2012

• The Amazing Spider-Man - Review

  
  

  

  King of the swingers

  Ever since GTA3 first gave us an entire city to play with, developers have been coming up with new ways to turn urban navigation into a thrill ride. Clambering up buildings and then lobbing yourself off the top soon became the distraction of choice in games such as Crackdown and Prototype. They're all pretenders to the throne, however. Only one character understands that the plummet to the ground is nothing without a triumphant upswing to safety at the end. He's Spider-Man, and he's back, baby!

  Web 2.0

  The latest game from Beenox - the studio which previously revived Spidey's gaming fortunes with the rather good Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time - follows on from the new blockbuster movie reboot. We join Peter Parker with his life as a superhero already underway, and Gwen Stacy by his side. The rampage of the monstrous Lizard forms the finale of the movie, and the game picks up straight afterwards, with Oscorp continuing the research of Dr Connors and creating an army of hybrid cross-species creatures in the process. Long-time Spidey fans may well recognise some of them, and a rhino and a scorpion are just two of the species spliced into human form.

  Before you can say "sloppy safeguarding", there's been a breakout and monsters are roaming Manhattan. Worse, they're spreading a virus that causes people to mutate and die. When Gwen becomes infected, it's a race against time for Spidey to work out a cure and save the day. And to do that, he may need some help from an old enemy...

  

  Wall crawlers

  It's only been four years since Spidey last graced an open-world game - 2008's Web of Shadows, to be exact - but the first time you swing into action in The Amazing Spider-Man you'll wonder how you ever lived without this freedom.

  Brought to life with superb graphics, just moving through this game is a cinematic experience. As Spidey swings and yelps, the camera stays close to make every daredevil plunge feel even more terrifying. Seriously, if you have vertigo, this game will make you dizzy.

  It's great to control as well, with the introduction of Web Rush making it easy to navigate with absolute precision. Hold down the right bumper and time slows to a crawl. Now just look around, point yourself at where you want to go, and let go of the button. Spidey ricochets off and lands perfectly. This also works with objects and enemies, so even in the middle of a fight you can pause, locate something to throw and be springing into action while the bad guys swing their fists at empty air.

  Even without those flourishes, combat is always a blast thanks to a simple yet effective fighting system. One button to attack, one to dodge and one to trigger special moves - with your Spider Sense warning you of danger, it's possible to take on five or more foes at once, as the animation seamlessly links your moves into a dizzying, bone-crunching ballet. And if things should get too heated, a tap on the Web Retreat button pulls you to a safe spot while you recharge your health and rethink your strategy.

  

  Collector's addition

  This is the meat of the game's story missions, which also feature ceiling-sticking stealth, some decent puzzles and blockbuster boss fights, but while those can be polished off in around six hours, it's Manhattan itself that will keep you coming back.

  Between each story mission, more optional objectives will spawn in the city. You'll chase down getaway cars, help the police by taking down gangs of armed thugs in deadlocked siege situations and beat up muggers. You'll infiltrate secret labs to earn new gadgets and upgrades for your suit, and help a local reporter by snapping shots with your camera. Spider-Man game veteran Bruce Campbell returns as a sleazy TV producer who challenges you with checkpoint races. There are even some additional story levels, with extra characters like Black Cat.

  For the truly dedicated, there are 700 comic book pages scattered around the city, and collecting them unlocks full digital copies of classic Spidey stories that can be enjoyed using the game's superb comic reader. Much like Crackdown's agility orbs, grabbing these becomes incredibly addictive, and the game is clever enough not to make the job too much of a grind.

  Parker life

  If there's a criticism to be made of The Amazing Spider-Man, it's that despite so many things going on, there's not much to it. The story is fairly short, Spidey's powers make it pretty easy, and the tasks in the city soon repeat themselves. You'll have completed the game to 100% before long, but thankfully the thrill of swinging through New York never grows dull. Even when you've done everything there is to do, this is the sort of game you'll keep in your collection purely for the pleasure of throwing yourself into space with only a strand of silk to save your neck. Amazing? Not quite, but still enormous fun.

  Our rating: 7/10

  What's Good?:

  • Visuals are absolutely phenomenal
  • Web Rush removes the frustration from web-swinging
  • Lots of fun references and extras for fans

  What's Bad?:

  • Not the hardest game you'll ever play
  • Optional objectives are too repetitive
  • The movie cast don't supply the voices

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