Ultimate Spider-Man

this game adapts brian michael bendis' "ultimate spider-man" series. this game's story actually became canon as the series went along. because it's actually based on a comic-book, it is one of the sickest attempts at a game w/ a cape shit aesthetic. everything from the cut-scenes, new york city itself, and action fights is imbued with 00's comic vibrancy. as for how spidey controls, it's definitely more restrictive than raimi-man 2's web-swinging. this is only going to happen in a world in which jamie fristrom creates a masterwork of an engine for an overall shitty movie tie-in in 2004. that said, the world itself is infinitely more immersive. the johnny storm trials made me rage. mowing down criminal gangs of fodder with this acrobatic combat is the best. i'm pretty sure the move spidey does on the ps4 where he hops on a wall and jumps off punching is from this. the most iconic thing about this game is venom snapping spines. the music is composed by david manthei, who also scored invader zim. p.s. i took the time to submit the ost to rym.

I remember playing this game sometime during my Freshman year in high school. I honestly don't remember it too well outside that the graphics were cell shaded to make it look like a comic book. I don't remember the game being too bad, it had Venom and Carnage in it, who are my 2 favorite villains. But it still was nowhere near as good as Spider-Man 2 the movie game and at best it was just a competent Spider-Man game. This game had a handful of decent moments but ultimately falls short and ends up being a bit forgettable and doesn't do anything unique.

Difficult to put my finger on why this falls short compared to Spidey 2, Venom makes for a great playable character in his own right, but the story fails to properly pace these moments and fragments the open world even further, and with combat even further simplified, it does make for a somewhat less fulfilling experience even with the backbone of a good Spider-Man game all the same.