Once you’re out on the streets you’ll get a little more training, this time in the fine art of web-swinging. Web-swinging has got to be just about the coolest thing about the game, and when you’re in a web-swinging groove flying down the concrete canyons of Manhattan you’ll be in gaming bliss. As much fun as web-swinging is it’s not without its issues, as it is a bit too easy to find yourself splattered onto the side of a building, whipping around the wrong corner, or dragging your knees along the pavement. Still, web-swinging is fun in between these moments.

Swinging around Manhattan and checking out the sights is fun, but it can only keep your interest for so long. To see what else is happening nearby you’ll want to make periodic checks of the in-game map. The map is a 3D model of the city with icons indicating the locations that will trigger new story missions, races, etc. Since the game keeps multiple story arcs active at once, it can take a little time to figure out where the next mission for a particular storyline is located or what you need to do to trigger the next mission in a story. Some people will dislike the way this makes it difficult to follow a seamless narrative while others will like the variety and freedom that this multitasking mission structure brings to the game – only you can decide how you feel about this. There’s a decent amount of variety to the story missions, but unfortunately the side missions such as the crime fighting and race missions are painfully repetitive. Beating up yet another random group of thugs or yet again swinging your way through a series of circles quickly grows old, taking most of the excitement out of the game’s free-roaming aspect. If you’re just using the open city to get from one mission to the next, it doesn’t really matter to you if the city supports free-roaming or not.

While most of the in-game graphics are pretty nice, the same can not be said of the cutscenes. They deserve special mention because of their awkward, last-gen look. Actually, referring to them as last-gen would be insulting to games such as God of War 2 which has cutscenes that are several cuts above Spider-Man 3’s despite the fact that they are generated on a PS2. The character models are lumpy and bug-eyed, and many of them bear almost no resemblance to their movie counterparts.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 70%. Spider-Man 3 certainly has its enjoyable moments, but camera issues and repetitive combat keep it from reaching its full potential.

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