Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions is Activision’s latest attempt at making a compelling Spider-Man title. Throughout the game you will visit four different dimensions with “normal” Spider-Man, noir Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099 and Ultimate Spider Man. Each dimension has its own tricks and different techniques that you can use as Spider-Man. The art style for the game is fantastic and it really brings to life the individual dimensions and what they represent. Fortunately this is not a movie based title so the development didn’t have to force in a mundane story to go along with the film. Unfortunately, while this iteration of Spider-Man is fun to play, it does still suffer from some problems that previous titles have had.

One of the things that the development team can never seem to get right with the Spider-Man titles is the camera. The camera misbehaves far too often in this title which will cause you a lot of unnecessary deaths. It also makes things a lot harder to climb if you have to fight with both the camera and the enemies you see on the screen. The controls are pretty responsive but I did run into some instances where the development team was trying to do too many things with one button. To swing around utilizing your webs you have to hold down the right trigger. To perform a zip quick you have to tap the right trigger and if you hold the button down for a second too long you might miss your target. This can become quite annoying during the heat of the moment when you are trying to fight off ten enemies that are rushing you at once.

As you progress through the game you will level up and get the chance to upgrade your character. By doing this you learn some cool new moves as well as boost your health, among other things. There was one boss fight where he was throwing two bombs at me and I had to catch one and throw it back at him. The problem was that if the second one hit me while I was trying to throw the first one then they essentially cancelled either out, damaging me in the process. In that instance I used the power where I was quicker than my enemies (and the projectiles they fired) and then quickly caught one bomb and threw it back as I sidestepped the second one. It was a pretty cool moment when I figured that out and that is only one of the powers.

As you progress in the game you will be finding yourself using your “spider sense” pretty often. The reason for this is that some of the levels weren’t designed all that well and it can be confusing as to which way you are supposed to go next. Utilizing the spider sense it will show you where enemies are waiting as well as the general direction where the boss is waiting so that you know which direction to head towards. Using your spider sense will also help you out in finding hidden spider emblems that are strewn out across the environment as well as hidden spiders. You will also have a myriad of challenges to complete as you get deeper into the game. You will complete some of these challenges just by going through the story and some of them are optional. Those challenges are ones that you really don’t need to do, however, you will want to because it will give you more credits for you to buy upgrades. Going through all of the different dimensions I found Noir Spider-Man to be my favorite so I would make sure that he was always properly leveled up. I really liked being able to use the shadows and sneak up on someone without them realizing I was ever there. The mission structure for the game is pretty much the same throughout and your objectives in any given mission will be dependent on what boss you are going to fight. Once you decide to take a break you can go into the bonus gallery and look at items that fans should love such as alternate suits, figurines, concept art, movies and character bios. The movies will be all of the movies that you have seen up to the point in the game that you are at. Once a movie is unlocked you can view it as many times as you want, at your leisure.

Overall, I had quite a bit of fun with Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions. The game definitely has some annoying aspects as I outlined above. There were some points where I simply had to put the controller down and walk away for a few minutes because something wasn’t working properly. In the end though, when I was done playing, I was satisfied overall with the experience. People that are huge Spider-Man fans should really enjoy this title and will probably overlook the flaws. Utilizing the four different dimensions was a terrific idea as it helped prevent the game from getting too redundant. I would definitely recommend that everyone should give this title a try. If you aren’t a big Spider-Man fan than you might want to rent before you buy so that you know what you are getting into. The holiday gaming season is upon us so be sure not to overlook this title with the avalanche of new releases that we will see over the next few months.

Score: 7/10

Originally posted on Totally Gaming Network