Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Shattered Dimensions marked a return to the linear level-based style of Spider-Man game after the open world games from Spider-Man 2 to Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, which makes sense given its concept.
Shattered Dimensions stars four different Spider-Mans, each with their own gameplay mechanics and aesthetic. Two are cel-shaded, and two are meant to look more realistic.

The Amazing Spider-Man is voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, who voiced Spider-Man in the 2003 TV series. Of all of the Spider-Mans in this game, Amazing is the most standard. Classic red suit, web-based attacks.
Ultimate Spider-Man is voiced by Josh Keaton, who voiced Spider-Man in the 2008 series, The Spectacular Spider-Man. This Spider-Man wears the black suit, and has symbiote-based attacks.
Spider-Man 2099 is voiced by Dan Gilvezan, who voiced Spider-Man in the 1981 series, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. The gameplay for 2099 is pretty standard, but it's set in the future, so it naturally feels very different than other Spider-Man games.
Spider-Man Noir is voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes, who voiced Spider-Man in the 1994 TV series. This Spider-Man primarily uses stealth., basically Batman: Arkham-lite. Very lite.


The game has ten villains; three per Spider-Man, then the final boss.
Three of these villains were classic Spider-Man villains adapted for a Spider-Man universe they hadn't yet appeared in; these being Hobgoblin 2099, Hammerhead Noir, and Doc Ock 2099.
Two of these villains are traditionally X-Men characters; Deadpool and Juggernaut.
The rest of the villains are nothing new, but players may be unfamiliar with the other two Noir versions of classic Spider-Man villains.


The reason this game is better than the other Beenox Spider-Man games is hard to put into words. The gameplay itself isn't worlds different than the next game they made, Spider-Man: Edge of Time. Edge of Time does what the majority of superhero games try to do, which is make a large-scale story where everything is connected.
Shattered Dimensions' nine levels are mostly unconnected, with the exception of Noir's levels, which have, like, foreshadowing. This gives you a kind of "monthly comicbook" experience, where villains don't have to fit into the puzzle. It's kind of refreshing after so many games of large-scale villain team-ups. Ultimate Spider-Man's second and third stages especially illustrate what I mean.


I think the game could have done with another act of levels (but that's mostly just me wanting more of a good thing), but what the game truly needed was more costumes for the Spider-Mans. Spider-Man has always had a large wardrobe with his various incarnations and suits, and it's a shame to see so few here. I also don't think the choices they made, on the whole, were very good. I get that maybe 2099 and Noir don't have the same depth of costumes to choose from, but it sucks that that gimped Amazing's selection.
I also don't understand the first-person "punch the boss" sections. It adds nothing, and gets really old by the middle of the game.