Given the negative reviews Spider-Man: Edge of Time was getting on conventional
gaming sites, I decided to wait for a sale before diving into the latest Spidey
offering from Activison and Beenox. Which
turned out to be much sooner than I expected; when I walked into my local GameStop
this week, Spider-Man: Edge of Time was on sale for half price! So is the game really as bad as the internet
says?
The
Story
Spider-Man:
Edge of Time features a story made in collaboration
with legendary Spider-Scribe (and creator of Spider-Man 2099) Peter David. In 2099, a scientist from the Alchemax
Corporation named Walter Sloan travels back to the present day and starts the
Alchemax Corporation several years before it was originally founded. Spider-Man 2099 attempts to follow Sloan through
time but instead gets caught between time periods. Because of this, he is unaffected by the
changes Sloan makes to the past and is able to see a vision of the future in
which Anti Venom kills the original Spider-Man.
Sloan uses his knowledge to make Alchemax into a powerful corporation,
with his actions changing certain aspects of the Marvel Universe (Peter Parker
now works for Alchemax instead of the Daily Bugle, Otto Octavius never becomes
Doctor Octopus, Adrian Toomes owns a fast food chain that serves chicken) while leaving
other aspects intact (Peter Parker is still Spider-Man, Anti Venom is still
around). When Spider-Man 2099 gets back
to his time period, he is able to create a link between himself and Peter
Parker. The two agree to work together
to stop Sloan.
The most disappointing aspect of Edge of Time’s story as compared to
previous Spider-Man games was how few Spider-Man characters actually show
up. Anti Venom, Black Cat and Doc Ock
are the only villains who make an appearance.
Compare that to how many characters we got to see in Beenox’s previous
game, Shattered Dimensions, and it’s
fairly disappointing. Mary Jane also
appears in the game, but only in a typical “damsel in distress” role.
The highlight of the game’s story was the
banter between the two Spider-Men. I
liked how the youthful energy of the present Spidey contrasted the more cynical
Spider-Man of 2099. Watching these two
get on each other’s nerves and eventually develop a friendship as the game
progresses keeps you invested despite the sometimes tedious gameplay. In addition, the story does throw you a cool
twist at the end of act II, one that will make you want to play through to the
end.
As a nice touch, Daily Bugle headlines will
appear on the corner of the screen showing the changes being made to the time stream
as you play.
Gameplay
The biggest drawback to Edge of Time is that the entire game
takes place inside one large building, meaning neither Spider-Man ever gets to
step outside. Gameplay consists of:
entering a room, beating up all the baddies in the room, finding the key or
console that unlocks the door to the next room, repeat. Each level also has a set of optional
challenges, which if met will allow you to unlock alternate costumes. As Spider-Man 2099, you’ll sometimes have to
navigate through a free fall sequence, but the imprecise controls make these sequences a chore.
Boss battles are few and far between and
are far less impressive than they were in Shattered
Dimensions. With the exception of
the final boss fight, there’s not much to distinguish the bosses from regular
enemies except for their much larger health bars.
Graphics
The character models in Edge of Time look great, with Spider-Man 2099 being the standout;
his suit exhibits a very sleek, futuristic glow. Everything else however, looks
unremarkable. Again, the game takes
place in one giant building, and a fairly uninteresting one at that. Arkham Asylum this is not.
The voice acting in the game is superb,
with the highlights obviously being Josh Keaton (of the tragically short lived Spectacular Spider-Man animated series)
as the present day Spider-Man and Christopher Daniel Barnes (of Spider-Man: TAS, and who will always be
Spider-Man for me) as Spidey 2099.
Although it’s great to hear Barnes again, Keaton really steals the show
here, playing not only Spidey but another character who I won’t mention here to
avoid spoilers. Suffice to say, Keaton
has a lot of range as a voice actor and was a brilliant choice to play
Spider-Man.
The rest of the audio, from the sound
effects to the score, gets the job done nicely.
Overall
Spider-Man:
Edge of Time fails to live up to the greatness of
its predecessor. One level of Shattered Dimensions packs more variety
and content then the entirety of Edge of
Time. The terrific voice acting and
solid story make the game worth picking up for Spider-Man fans, but only if
they can find it on sale. Despite my
complaints, I still stayed up until 4 in the morning to beat the game, which says
something. Thanks Beenox!Rating: 3/5
This underrated sequel may not have made many improvements over the first game, but it really didn't have to. Enter Electro was just as fun as the first game. But what made it truly stand out was the unlockables. Almost every alternate outfit that Spidey wore at that point could be unlocked in the game. Dusk? Prodigy? Spider-Phoenix? They were all there. If that weren't enough, the create-a-spider feature allowed you to pick a costume and customize what enhanced abilities your Spider-Man would have.
My brother and I played this extremely fun side scroller to death in a hotel arcade during a family trip. You got could play as Spidey, the Black Cat and... er... Namor and Hawkeye for some reason. I'm still hoping this game will show up on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network.
It will be interesting to see what direction Activision takes the new Spidey game. CEO Bobby Kotick recently stated in an interview that "our Spider-Man games have sucked for the last five years." While this has been true in some cases, like the Spider-Man 3 movie tie-in; Spider-Man: Friend or Foe was a decent kid's game, and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was an underrated game with an impressive combat system.
