Comic-book timelines and character iterations are complex at the best of times, but, although I'm not speaking from a position of any great knowledge, Spider-Man, Marvel's almost 60-year-old web-slinger, seems to gravitate more than most towards alternative versions; with many plot elements that are cannon to some arcs, but not to others.
Moreover, Spider-Man's fictional convolutions have manifested themselves into the 'real life' story of the IP, with the machinations around rights ownership between Sony and Disney being only the most recent in a long and twisted history.
On the plus side, this gave us the fantastic 'Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-verse' movie, perhaps the best animated superhero film ever. On the downside, as a member of a very casual audience, trying to figure out where this Spider-Man (No number, no subtitle) fits into the great scheme of things is a bit of a head-scratcher.
'Spider-Man' for the PlayStation was released in 2000, meaning that it definiyely can't have anything to do with the Sam Raimi trilogy that started in '02. That much, at least, is clear.
It features voice cast members from both the 'Spider-Man: The Animated Series' and 'Spider-Man: Unlimited' TV shows... but research tells me the game has no official links to either project.
So I'm thinking: "Hey, I have 'Spider-Man 2' on the PS2, I should do a double header."
But the sequel to 'Spider-Man' on the PS1 is not 'Spider-Man 2' on the PS2... I'm just going to go right ahead and quote wikipedia at this point because... y'know...
The plot begins with a Spider-Man look-alike (DoppleSpider?) stealing some tech thing that Dr Octavious was working on.
It appears this all part of a bigger plan that also involves invoking Venom and, luckily for the humble PlayStation's processing power, filling the streets of New York with an opaque fog up to about the 15th floor of most buildings. Convenient.
A good chunk of what I've played so far has involved chasing down everyone's favourite symbiote, but the game has still had time for boss fights against Scorpion and Rhino, and cameos from Black Cat, Daredevil, and the Human Torch.
Despite some of the environments being fairly small, Spider-Man has almost complete freedom within them. Not unexpected in a 2000 game, but the ability to zip to any ceiling or stick upside-down on any wall is still good fun.
Everything is a bit basic graphically, but there's enough detail to get by, and the levels are pretty varied too, with battles against helicopter gunships, chase missions across rooftops, extensive puzzle stages, and decent boss fights - all serving to stop things getting stale.
It's also great to hear the voice of Stan Lee as an occasional narrator; The boundless enthusiasm for his (co)creation ensures that the tone is kept light, and the energy high - and his involvement adds a whole layer of class to this project as it did to so many others.
Going just on level count, I'm about two thirds of the way through the game at time of writing which indicates that it's quite short. More importantly it indicates that the game is great fun as that time has flown by. There are some typical PS1 era frustrations with a few of the controls (no camera control here) but these only manifest occasionally and failure due to them is uncommon.
I remember when 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' came out there was a lot of noise along the lines 'Finally, a good comic book game!'
This was always nonsense. Just because a bafflingly popular Youtube channel turns 'Superman 64' into a meme doesn't mean that all games of this ilk are suddenly terrible.
I wish I'd played this 'Spider-Man' back then, as it reinforces the argument that there have been great comic book games released regularly for more than forty years.
Moreover, Spider-Man's fictional convolutions have manifested themselves into the 'real life' story of the IP, with the machinations around rights ownership between Sony and Disney being only the most recent in a long and twisted history.
On the plus side, this gave us the fantastic 'Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-verse' movie, perhaps the best animated superhero film ever. On the downside, as a member of a very casual audience, trying to figure out where this Spider-Man (No number, no subtitle) fits into the great scheme of things is a bit of a head-scratcher.
'Spider-Man' for the PlayStation was released in 2000, meaning that it definiyely can't have anything to do with the Sam Raimi trilogy that started in '02. That much, at least, is clear.
It features voice cast members from both the 'Spider-Man: The Animated Series' and 'Spider-Man: Unlimited' TV shows... but research tells me the game has no official links to either project.
So I'm thinking: "Hey, I have 'Spider-Man 2' on the PS2, I should do a double header."
But the sequel to 'Spider-Man' on the PS1 is not 'Spider-Man 2' on the PS2... I'm just going to go right ahead and quote wikipedia at this point because... y'know...
The game spawned three sequels in 2001: 'Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six' served as an alternative continuation that followed the events of the Game Boy Color version instead. The game eventually got a true sequel titled 'Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro', released exclusively for the PlayStation, and a standalone sequel 'Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace' (also serving as a spin-off game to 'Spider-Man 2: The Sinister Six') for the Game Boy Advance.So there you are. Clear now? Me neither. Onwards.
The plot begins with a Spider-Man look-alike (DoppleSpider?) stealing some tech thing that Dr Octavious was working on.
It appears this all part of a bigger plan that also involves invoking Venom and, luckily for the humble PlayStation's processing power, filling the streets of New York with an opaque fog up to about the 15th floor of most buildings. Convenient.
A good chunk of what I've played so far has involved chasing down everyone's favourite symbiote, but the game has still had time for boss fights against Scorpion and Rhino, and cameos from Black Cat, Daredevil, and the Human Torch.
Despite some of the environments being fairly small, Spider-Man has almost complete freedom within them. Not unexpected in a 2000 game, but the ability to zip to any ceiling or stick upside-down on any wall is still good fun.
Everything is a bit basic graphically, but there's enough detail to get by, and the levels are pretty varied too, with battles against helicopter gunships, chase missions across rooftops, extensive puzzle stages, and decent boss fights - all serving to stop things getting stale.
It's also great to hear the voice of Stan Lee as an occasional narrator; The boundless enthusiasm for his (co)creation ensures that the tone is kept light, and the energy high - and his involvement adds a whole layer of class to this project as it did to so many others.
Going just on level count, I'm about two thirds of the way through the game at time of writing which indicates that it's quite short. More importantly it indicates that the game is great fun as that time has flown by. There are some typical PS1 era frustrations with a few of the controls (no camera control here) but these only manifest occasionally and failure due to them is uncommon.
I remember when 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' came out there was a lot of noise along the lines 'Finally, a good comic book game!'
This was always nonsense. Just because a bafflingly popular Youtube channel turns 'Superman 64' into a meme doesn't mean that all games of this ilk are suddenly terrible.
I wish I'd played this 'Spider-Man' back then, as it reinforces the argument that there have been great comic book games released regularly for more than forty years.
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