{"id":15214,"date":"2011-11-04T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-11-17T15:22:39","modified_gmt":"2011-11-17T13:22:39","slug":"spiderman-edge-of-time-review-xbox-360","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/reviews\/15214-spiderman-edge-of-time-review-xbox-360","title":{"rendered":"Spiderman: Edge of Time review (Xbox 360)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time travel as a plot device is always a tricky affair.<\/p>\n

Much like in a strokey-beard philosophical debate with your learned friends – the ins and outs, cause and effect of travelling through time are never quite clear-cut, and usually just lead to someone dividing by zero and causing the universe to reset itself.<\/p>\n

Luckily Spiderman: Edge of Time side-steps this conundrum completely by throwing out “quantum this” and “quantum that” at leisure – just to make sure that this is all too complicated for you to understand, so stop thinking about things and keep killing stuff.<\/p>\n

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Spiderman, Spiderman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spiderman: Edge of Time kicks off by throwing you into a cinematic introduction where you play as the Amazing Spiderman, facing off against Anti-venom – and not doing so well.<\/p>\n

After getting your arse kicked something awful; Spiderman 2099 races against time (oh yes) to try and rescue his counter-part from certain doom.<\/p>\n

You see, as it so happens, a mad scientist\/executive from 2099 invented a time-machine, as one does, and decided to travel to the past (our present) to use his future knowledge to establish the company he worked for – but in his own form, to gain control of the future.<\/p>\n

Part of this ploy, is getting rid of present (past) Spidey.<\/p>\n

Did you get all that?<\/p>\n

As you proceed through the story, you alternate between the future and the past – playing as the respective Spidey each time; as things happen in the past, the environment in the future changes – but don’t be too impressed by this; it’s very much a function of the story (i.e. scripted events) rather than a gameplay mechanic.<\/p>\n

This switching does provide some great diverse gameplay, though.<\/p>\n

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Does whatever a spider can<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spiderman Edge of Time is a brawler, or as I like to call them – a button smasher (it seems to be a staple for the Superhero genre); thankfully, unlike X-Men Destiny, there is a little more depth to the mashing.<\/p>\n

Past\/Present Spidey and Spidey 2099 share very similiar attack patterns – while not identical, their moves do essentially the same task; with Peter Parker using web-based attacks (like web-hammers and web punches) and super agility (to avoid lasers and enemy fire).<\/p>\n

2099’s Miguel opts rather for high-tech powered moves and a suit clone that diverts enemy attention away from him, while he flanks them from the side.<\/p>\n

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Spins a web, anytime<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enemies aren’t entirely stupid, either, and on Normal can pose quite a challenge; with tens of enemies bombarding you at once – from various distances with different attacks – you’ll need to do a little more than just hit the same two buttons.<\/p>\n

Collecting blue energy, you’re able to upgrade abilities to make them more powerful – and if you rack up a big enough combo, or deal with baddies in a fantastic way, you’re awarded golden spiders – which are used to upgrade health and stamina.<\/p>\n

Then you can collect the purple energy which fills up your time paradox meter; once activated, the time paradox ability causes all enemies within a certain radious to freeze, allowing you to dispose of them as you see fit.<\/p>\n

Don’t ask how it makes sense, it just does, okay? It’s quantum game coding, you won’t understand.<\/p>\n

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Catches thieves, just like flies<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s great to finally play a game that offers more than two kinds of enemies to face.<\/p>\n

The past\/future jumping means that you get two SETS of enemies to smack around – with the past having humans to smash in the face, and the future opting for a robotic smackdown.<\/p>\n

Graphically, the game is pretty damn decent. You won’t be blown away by stellar looks – but the game is attractive enough to at least classify it as part of the current generation of games – even if lip synching isn’t its strong point.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which – the voice acting is great too, with the acidic Spidey “charm” ever-present; and the actors conveying enough emotion and drama to draw you in to what’s happening – rather than, say, nauseating you with cheese.<\/p>\n

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Watch out, here comes the Spiderman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spiderman: Edge of time is a fun game.<\/p>\n

A lot of it can feel samey and a bit repetitive; but the game offers a lot of variety, if you choose to use it.<\/p>\n

It’s well presented, and challenging enough to warrent a bit of investment into learning the combos and different moves – but is also accessible enough to people who just want to mash buttons; what’s important is that the diversity is there.<\/p>\n

I guess the biggest fault of the game, is the fact that it came out the same month as Batman: Arkham City – so superhero fans will likely give it a skip.<\/p>\n

If you can take the convoluted plot with a pinch of salt (something that the in-game characters do themselves) and can ignore the occassional disorientating camera movement; then you’ll find value in this game.<\/p>\n

With hard mode unlocked upon completion, as well as a set of challenges you’ll find throughout the game – you’re looking at a title that will keep you pretty entertained for hours.<\/p>\n

At least until you start playing Batman: Arkham City again.<\/p>\n

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Spiderman: Edge of Time reviewed<\/strong><\/a> << Comments and views<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t