In this new and exciting adventure, a Spider-man dies, and another saves. Its a time traveling quest that was riddled in a classic Spidey tale from several years ago. Where one generation was lost, and another was born. However it also bends the rules of a classic "What If" tale that makes it worthwhile.
Enter the two Spidey's you'll get to play. Amazing = Peter Parker, photographer works for the Daily Bugle, and takes on the mantle of everyone's favorite webhead. But from the future in 2099, Miguel O'Hara is fighting to save a lost part of time, his former job at Alchemex is held by a thread from someone tying loose ends in the past. So Miguel goes to find the culprit, only through a wormhole, and foresees Peter's death at the hands (or I should say tentacles of Anti-Venom). For current readers of the comics, Eddy Brock was touched by Mr. Negative and it changed his abilities with the former symbiote making him an Anti-Venom that takes away anyone's pains (or in Spidey's case, life force).
All of this takes place right after Shattered Dimensions, thankfully both Spider-men remember the crazy time quest before. And this is where the review begins...
Gameplay - Platformers dream. For anyone that loved Sands of Time, this is your game. Filled to the brim with vast environments (sadly most of the levels you get to explore are within a laboratory that is locked within time and space). However, it is so insanely vast, it feels more towards the level of the design with Metroid and PN03. Thankfully your Spider sense acts as your compass, letting you know where to go and who to take down. Its done by an A+B system, mission + bad guys + lost items + sometimes a timer = the usual routine.
Added for some variety is the new freefall missions. These were introduced in the Spider-man 3 movie based game, as a mini-game where you literally fall through rings to obtain points for some weird reason. It was bizarre, yet it it was leaning towards something.. Enter Edge of Time, (Shattered Dimensions had short segments where you were shot through obstacles to escape the clutches of villains, or getting to one). EOT now has this element as an entity of its own, a complete mission where you dodge a variety of obstacles (which gave me recalling nightmares of Panzer Dragoon Orta). Upon completion, you are able to move onward to the next area. Later on, there is a mission that requires you to vault back where you came from via a gravity generator.
Within EOT is an easier fighting scheme, which oddly reminds me of Sands of Time (minus the slowdown of time). No wait, that's actually there with 2099. Amazing Spidey also has a neat feature, Hyper Sense. An ability of giving the wallcrawler enhanced speed and agility, and some extra health in case its low.
Design = Within EOT, all of the events in the story take place inside of the head HQ Alchemax lab. Even with the time jump between present and future. Including the environment also changes, depending on each mission. Where one may portray a colorful past, to a desolate future where things are shifted. However throughout the journey time and space are beginning to collide, and the inter played world begins to crack almost taking both spiders with it.
Level based missions happen one after the other. When part A (say its recovering keys from a guard to enter a specific area). To B, the entry point that was blocked now open. Or C, a pathway only 2099 can jettison by freefalling to enter the next passageway / portal. EOT keeps the same combo fighting system with an array of both offensive and defensive moves. Some are accessible at the start, with a variety of others that can be unlocked by collecting portal points. Spiders are collected as another payment for health and shielding. And red energy is collected for health replenishing, or can be swapped for portal energy.
Collecting portal energy resembles Pac-Man. Think of power pallets sprawled all over an area, and avoiding obstacles nearby. It seems a bit off-beat, the idea actually works. Energy can also be collected by knocking down foes, whether it be a boss or goons. Plus there are some hidden spiders that can be obtained by taking down all of the enemies within the battle zone.
Sub-missions are arranged in the Web of Challenges. When each mission is completed, they unlock challenges for either Spider to explore. There are various types: A) Time based energy collecting, B) Arena survival, and C) Special missions when others are cleared, and they give you extra skills + a new suit.
Webheads - From two generations of Spider-men come friends, and foes. But the boss behind the scenes? That is a mystery 2099 Spidey finds along the way, and finds out the consequences of what it is to be a hero.
I have to be honest, this game surprised me. Even though I enjoyed Shattered Dimensions. I was surprised by how short both titles were. However there is a ton of extra missions and gameplay modes to explore. I am curious if there is a "What If" mode in the game that can only be unlocked by a code just like the PSX game. Loved the game, and I definitely recommend it to any other webhead fans.
Sites you should visit:
http://www.herohq.com/
http://www.beenox.com/en
http://spiderfan.org/
http://www.herohq.com/spidermanedgeoftime/
No comments:
Post a Comment