Reviews VideoGame / Spider Man Shattered Dimensions

Definitely Underrated

Spider-Man is awesome. His video games are not. Other than a few rare gems, most range from passable to just plain awful. This one, however, stands apart, if only for the large risks it took. Since most video games have the player controlling only one character, a game where you can control four in four different worlds with four different styles of gameplay is very fresh, and helps relieve the monotony several Spidey games have suffered in the past. Even if it is a gimmick, it's the kind that makes the game more fun, and that saves it. All the Spider-Men are fun to play, each with their own rhythms and personalities. Speaking of which, the voice acting in this game is phenomenal. Each Spider-Man sounds very different from the others, and each has their own fun take on the character. This also brings the writing in, as it has as much to do with the characters as the voice acting. The dialogue is great, with the highlight being the Ultimate Spider-Man levels. Deadpool's pause screen commentary is hilarious, and the banter between him and Spider-Man is a real treat. The graphics are also really good, with each world looking incredibly well-detailed, but different from the others. Amazing looked a lot like the old 80s pen-and-ink comics, Ultimate the cel-shaded graphics of its era, Noir lived up to its name, and 2099 was a sprawling, neon lit city. The plot of the game is somewhat light, but it helps tie the worlds together in a creative way, and it gives room for the levels to have their own mini-plots, and some of the worlds as well. It doesn't break any new grounds on that front, but it wasn't meant to. As for the exclusion of open-world, I was actually pretty okay with it. Open-world is starting to become a bit of a gimmick for Spidey games. And while I know that a lot of people like it, when it's not well-done, it feels very jarring and out of place. Plus, there's more than enough room to explore the sprawling maps the game has, and some cool environments we don't normally get to see Spidey in. That makes a lot up for it. Overall it's a very fun game, and one every Spider-Fan should give a try.