Ultimate Spider-Man (video game)

Ultimate Spider-Man
Developer(s) Treyarch[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s) Activision[lower-alpha 2]
Distributor(s) Marvel Entertainment
Director(s) Brian Michael Bendis
Christopher A. Busse
Producer(s) Jonathan Zamkoff
Designer(s) Brian Reed
Programmer(s) Charles Tolman
Joseph I. Valenzuela
Artist(s) Chris Soares
Writer(s) Brian Michael Bendis
Composer(s) Kevin Manthei
Platform(s) Nintendo DS, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)
  • NA September 19, 2005 (DS)
  • NA September 21, 2005 (GC)
  • NA September 22, 2005
  • EU October 14, 2005
  • JP May 25, 2006 (DS)
  • JP June 29, 2006 (GC)
  • JP August 24, 2006 (PS2)
Genre(s) Beat 'em up, Open world
Mode(s) Single-player

Ultimate Spider-Man is a 2005 video game by Activision, based on the comic book of the same name by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. The game was released on most sixth generation consoles, including Nintendo DS, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Advance. Treyarch, who made the console games based on the Spider-Man movies, developed the console game, while Vicarious Visions developed the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions, and Beenox ported the Microsoft Windows version from the consoles.

Plot

The game begins with a recap of Spider-Man (Peter Parker) explaining his and Eddie Brock's fathers worked together for Trask Industries to find a way to cure cancer; however, they died in a plane crash before completing their "Venom" suit, which would heal the wearer. Spidey breaks into the vault containing the Venom substance and is covered by a portion of it, creating his black suit. It enhanced his normal superhuman abilities to new levels, but the suit tried consuming him and ultimately left him drained by the experience. Eddie later finds out what Peter did and takes the rest of the Venom suit for himself, taking the name for himself.

They confront each other on the high school football field on a rainy night, before spanning to the middle of a street where Venom was believed to be killed by a downed, live power line. Three months later, Parker has resumed his normal life and has forgotten about Venom. Spider-Man ends up in a race against the Human Torch. Meanwhile, Eddie, who is actually alive, has been forced to feed on the life energy of people randomly in a Manhattan park lest the suit consume him. He proves his strength in a fight with Wolverine into a bar and then into a next-door building.

After a fight with the R.H.I.N.O., Spider-Man gets his first foreshadowing of Venom returning when his Spider-Sense overloads. That night, Silver Sable and her Wild Pack, having been contracted by Bolivar Trask to retrieve his "property", attack Venom, who easily escapes. During a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Peter gets his "Eddie headaches" again and fights his former friend on the roof. However, Venom is later captured by Silver Sable; Spidey assumes Sable works for S.H.I.E.L.D. Kept imprisoned in an energy cage, Bolivar Trask and Adrian Toomes convince Eddie to test the suit for them as they knew Eddie and Peter's parents. His first test is to battle the recently escaped Electro where they fight over a knocked out Spider-Man in Times Square. Venom will not let Electro kill his prey and ends up fighting and defeating him. Before Venom can eliminate an unconscious Spider-Man, S.H.I.E.L.D. interferes and Venom makes his escape. Nick Fury wakes up Spider-Man as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents arrest Electro. Venom returns to Trask where he reveals he had more control of the suit around Spider-Man, just like when he fought Peter Parker; this leads Trask to discover Peter's secret identity and realise Richard Parker's DNA was use as the base for the Venom suit, which was why Peter managed to use it effectively. Eddie is taken by Silver Sable to hunt Peter down, but he transforms and is chased away by the Wild Pack.

Meanwhile, a mercenary who calls himself the Beetle attacks New York by freeing the Green Goblin from his prison. Spider-Man pursues the Beetle after he steals a vial containing a sample of Sandman. After a brief fight, Spider-Man loses him during the battle. When asking the nearby people if they have seen the Beetle pass by, they point to the Latverian Embassy. Later on, Fury visits Peter at the top of the Daily Bugle warning him not to go to the Latverian Embassy. After Peter leaves, Fury tells Sharon Carter that Peter will do the opposite anyway. When Spider-Man ends up outside of the Latverian Embassy, Green Goblin emerges and Spider-Man pursues him to the U.N. building. After being defeated, Green Goblin is taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody by Sharon Carter and some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Beetle is later dispatched to collect a sample of the Venom suit. Venom eventually pursues, fights, and defeats him.

While Peter is walking through town, Silver Sable fires a tranquilizer at Peter and tries to bring him to Trask. Peter awakens and they fight above the Queensboro Bridge before Venom appears and knocks Silver Sable out. Peter ends up changing into Spider-Man and goes after Venom. Spider-Man and Venom fight but both go down due to Spider-Man knocking Eddie out and the tranquilizer that Silver Sable fired at Peter takes effect. Eddie awakens inside Trask Industries hearing Peter screaming as Adrian Toomes injects him with their own makeshift sample of the Venom suit, transforming him into Carnage. After a fight, Venom then absorbs Carnage and spits Peter out. The combination of the Carnage suit and the leftover Venom samples in Peter's blood grants Eddie complete control over the suit; the spider insignia appears on Venom's body. Bolivar Trask finally gives Peter files on their parents but takes them while trying to flee from an angry Venom. Venom is eventually defeated by Spider-Man on the roof of the building but escapes from S.H.I.E.L.D. authorities.

As S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives, Peter reads the files and discovers that the reason for their parents' plane crash was due to Eddie Brock, Sr. trying on the Venom suit on board. There were only three survivors and one of the witnesses was Peter's mother who died in the ambulance. When Peter tells Fury that Eddie must see these files, Fury tells him that Eddie escaped. Later, a cutscene shows Eddie on a small prison island where Boliver Trask has been imprisoned. Eddie claims that he cannot believe that "after all the things you did, all the things you made me do; that after all of that, all you got was three years in a golf course prison." After stating this, Eddie transforms into Venom, and proceeds to kill Boliver Trask. Then, the game cuts to a scene showing Peter and Mary Jane Watson sitting atop a warehouse roof. He tells Mary Jane that he does not know if he is scared of, or for, Eddie, who Peter knows is out there somewhere. She replies by telling him not to worry about it, and that while Eddie was not there, she is. The two move closer to each other, and Peter puts his arm around her.

Gameplay

In Ultimate Spider-Man, the player can experience a free-roaming city environment that covers Manhattan and Queens. The player starts in story-mode where the game automatically switches between Spider-man and Venom. Spider-Man travels by web swinging, but the player must shoot a web at an actual building to swing, much like in the previous game, Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man uses acrobatic attacks. Venom travels by using his symbiote to pull himself and by performing massive jumps. Venom attacks using his claws and tendrils. Venom can also throw cars at targets and perform much more brutal attacks, including eating people in order to gain health.

As the game progresses, Spider-Man and Venom will have certain "City Goals" to accomplish in order to continue the storyline. There are additional activities throughout the game such as finding secret tokens, landmark tokens, comic book covers, and competing in trick races.

Spider-Man plays similarly to his Spider-Man 2 incarnation, using his trademark web shooters as his main method of transportation and combat, while Venom has to resort to jumping for long distances. Spider-Man's attacks are also generally Weaker than Venom's. Venom can also leech life from enemies and civilians. The player has to do this constantly, as Venom's health is continuously depleting, even when he is not being attacked (the suit is feeding on Eddie, so he uses other people to feed it instead). Also, if Venom tries to eat a boss, then the boss would damage him from the inside.

Game Boy Advance version

The Game Boy Advance version of Ultimate Spider-Man is a side-scroller, divided into seven "issues," each containing three chapters. The game allows players to control Spider-Man and Venom. This version features only three boss characters aside from the two leads: Shocker, Silver Sable, and Carnage.

Unlike the console, PC, or Nintendo DS games, this version features a limited supply of Spider-Man's web fluid, it can be refilled only by picking up special markers scattered throughout levels, or dropped by enemies. Additionally, players may choose to collect hidden power-ups to gain more web fluid capacity or gain new moves and abilities for both Spider-Man and Venom.

Nintendo DS version

The Nintendo DS version of Ultimate Spider-Man is a side-scroller with a 3D environment. The game allows players to control Spider-Man and Venom. The gameplay differs greatly between both characters:

The game features a slightly modified storyline. For example, players will face Shocker in a battle that is much more difficult than its console incarnation. The game also features a multi-player mode, where players can unlock different characters and arenas for a head-to-head fight.

Limited edition

There is a limited edition exclusive to the PlayStation 2, which contains four character biographies (Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Venom, Ultimate Carnage, and Ultimate Beetle), an interview with Stan Lee, a G4 special entitled "Making of Ultimate Spider-Man", developer tips and tricks, and a special edition (also called "Activision Edition") Ultimate Spider-Man comic book containing scenes from issues #33-39. One of the concept arts in the special edition shows what happened when Beetle ducked into the Latverian Embassy as it shows him presenting the Sandman vial to Doctor Doom in some plot to develop Latverian super-soldiers.

The limited edition version comes in a different case sporting plain purple and red holographic sides (with a Venom symbol and Spider-Man symbol on each, respectively). The case also comes with a cardboard sleeve with a picture of Venom on it. The DVD surface itself has a new picture on it: purple instead of red, once again with Venom. The instruction manual matches this trend with the cover being a fight scene between the two. The limited edition features are accessed from a new menu titled "Limited Edition" via the unlockables screen.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings(Xbox) 76.61%[1]
(PS2) 75.74%[2]
(GC) 75.41%[3]
(DS) 75.11%[4]
(GBA) 74.58%[5]
(PC) 62.67%[6]
Metacritic(PS2) 78/100[7]
(Xbox) 77/100[8]
(GC) 76/100[9]
(DS) 75/100[10]
(GBA) 74/100[11]
(PC) 62/100[12]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Edge5/10[13]
Eurogamer6/10[14]
Game Informer8/10[15]
GamePro[16]
Game RevolutionC[17]
GameSpot7.1/10[18]
(PC) 7/10[19]
GameSpy[20]
(PC) [21]
GameTrailers8.9/10[22]
GameZone(PS2) 8.4/10[23]
(DS) 8.3/10[24]
(GC) 8/10[25]
(PC) 7.8/10[26]
(Xbox) 7.4/10[27]
IGN8.4/10[28]
(PS2) 8.3/10[29]
(DS) 8/10[30]
Nintendo Power(GC) 9/10[31]
(DS) 6.5/10[32]
(GBA) 6/10[33]
OPM (US)[34]
OXM6.4/10[35]
PC Gamer (US)81%[36]
CiN Weekly88/100[37]
The Sydney Morning Herald[38]

Ultimate Spider-Man was met with positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox version 76.61% and 77/100,[1][8] the PlayStation 2 version 75.74% and 78/100[2][12] the GameCube version 75.41% and 76/100,[3][9] the Nintendo DS version 75.11% and 75/100,[4][7] the Game Boy Advance version 74.58% and 74/100,[5][10] and the PC version 62.67% and 62/100.[6][11]

CiN Weekly gave it a score of 88 out of 100 and stated that "The true letdown... is that the master villains can still be supremely frustrating to defeat, requiring several replays and exhaustive bouts of highly patterned attacks."[37] The New York Times gave it a positive-to-average review and said that the game was "very entertaining, and the addition of Nemesis creates some interesting new situations, but over all there isn't a lot of variety; you fight, you race, you ramble around the city, and then you do it all again."[39] The Sydney Morning Herald gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five and stated that "Combat against dim-witted goons can become repetitive but missions offer diversity."[38]

Notes

  1. ↑ Vicarious Visions developed the game for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance and Beenox developed the game for Microsoft Windows.
  2. ↑ The game was published in Japan by Taito Corporation.

References

  1. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  2. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  3. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for GameCube". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  4. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  5. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for DS". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  6. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for Game Boy Advance". GameRankings. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  7. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  8. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  9. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  10. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for DS Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  11. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  12. 1 2 "Ultimate Spider-Man for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  13. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man". Edge: 108. December 2005.
  14. ↑ Coxall, Martin (October 19, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man Review (PS2)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  15. ↑ Zoss, Jeremy (November 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man". Game Informer (151): 142. Archived from the original on 2008-08-02. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  16. ↑ Bones (October 5, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
  17. ↑ Dodson, Joe (October 10, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  18. ↑ Navarro, Alex (September 26, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  19. ↑ Navarro, Alex (September 30, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man Review (PC)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  20. ↑ Vasconcellos, Eduardo (September 23, 2005). "GameSpy: Ultimate Spider-Man". GameSpy. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  21. ↑ Rausch, Allen "Delsyn" (October 11, 2005). "GameSpy: Ultimate Spider-Man (PC)". GameSpy. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  22. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man, Review". GameTrailers. September 30, 2005. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  23. ↑ Knutson, Michael (October 11, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-man - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  24. ↑ Lafferty, Michael (September 19, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-man - NDS - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  25. ↑ Aceinet (October 10, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-man - GC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  26. ↑ Grabowski, Dakota (October 12, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-man - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2008-10-05. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  27. ↑ Wrentmore, John (October 11, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-man - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2009-05-24. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  28. ↑ Goldstein, Hilary (September 30, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man". IGN. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  29. ↑ Goldstein, Hilary (September 27, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man: Limited Edition (PS2)". IGN. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  30. ↑ Harris, Craig (September 20, 2005). "Ultimate Spider-Man (NDS)". IGN. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  31. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man (GC)". Nintendo Power 199: 108. December 2005.
  32. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man (DS)". Nintendo Power 199: 121. December 2005.
  33. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man (GBA)". Nintendo Power 199: 111. December 2005.
  34. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 109. December 2005.
  35. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man". Official Xbox Magazine: 100. December 2005.
  36. ↑ "Ultimate Spider-Man". PC Gamer: 78. December 25, 2005.
  37. 1 2 Hruschak, PJ (November 2, 2005). "A Marvel double kapow". CiN Weekly. Archived from the original on 2006-03-08. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  38. 1 2 Hill, Jason (October 13, 2005). "Superhero caper". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  39. ↑ Herold, Charles (October 15, 2005). "Battling Trouble on Both Sides of the Law". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-01-21.

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