By Gary Kearney

Sure, I know Spider-Man. I've seen the movies, and even used to read the comic books back in the day. But this isn't the Spidey I grew up with or the one from the recent movies. Nope this Spider-Man should probably be called Spider-Boy, or maybe Spider-Dude, and he is from the comic book series called Ultimate Spider-Man. You see, Ultimate Spider-Man is a series that looks at a slightly different Spider-Man. It does have Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spidey) as a regular guy bitten by a super spider, but this series takes place while Peter is only 15 and the comic has a very different look than the traditional Spider-Man. So it makes perfect sense that the PS2 game Ultimate Spider-Man is based off the comic series of the same name. As we all know too well video games based off comic books can lead to some uninspired gaming. Does Ultimate fall prey to this or is it able to leap into greatness? Let's see shall we...

Ultimate Spider-Man can do whatever an ultimate spider can.

As I mentioned Ultimate Spider-Man (USM) is based on a slightly different vision of the Spider-Man universe. So for those expecting to see something more along the lines of the past games or movies, you will be in for a little surprise. I suppose that since the next movie isn't due until the summer of 2007 the developers decided it would be a good idea to base the game on the Ultimate comic but use the same basic engine of the previous games and to make sure the writing and character style are consistent with the comic why not bring in writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley? Sounds reasonable enough to me. In USM Peter is a 15 year old high school Internet web designer...yea, yea, I know. Anyhoo, Mary Jane Watson is also here and she is fully in on Peter's secret identity even so much as being Spidey's seamstress.

The story of USM is one of the game’s stronger areas though there are some confusing bits. For those familiar with the comic they will feel right at home while those new will get a quick update. What we learn is that Peter and his friend Eddie Brock were left behind a „living“suit that their deceased scientist dads were designing as a cure for cancer. Unfortunately this was not the best inhertiance every given. Peter tries on the suit and for a few moments he feels great, but very soon he realizes that the suit is trying to control him. He is able to remove the suit but Eddie is not so lucky when he dons the outfit and is overcome by the power and becomes Venom, and voila, a bad guy is born.

With that out of the way we now start getting into the detail of USM. What we have is a game with some similarities to the two previous games but in a new coat of paint and some control modifications. Spidey is still able to swing around New York skyscrapers but the city has a much less realistic look and is a lot smaller. While the smaller city is a letdown, the look and style of the landscape fits exactly the feel of the Ultimate comic books. USM is very much like playing a live action comic book and may come the closest to any game thus far to letting the gamer feel that they are really in a comic book. The way the game is presented with great cut-scenes and using comic book frames that the characters jump to and from really convey the feeling. The game uses cell-shading effects extremely effectively to the point where the characters seem to leap off the screen.

USM presents a fairly straight forward attack system that consists of a punch and a kick and some throws. If you are looking for complicated Mortal Kombat-style combo attacks, do not look in this direction. A typical fight is Spidey throwing a couple of very quick punches, bouncing off a wall to avoid being hit, throwing another punch or kick, and then leaping out of harms way again. You do this until the bad guy in knocked out when you then can shoot your web and put the guy in a cocoon. About the only thing that varies is the number of bad guys and the fighting system does make it easy to fend off multiple baddies with directional attacks. Naturally the boss battles are more intense.

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