Spider-Man 3

Conclusions

Spider-Man 3 isn’t a very good game, to put it bluntly. There’s a lot to be done in the PC version, from collecting tokens to thwarting super villains, but a lot of it feels too hamfisted to be enjoyable.

The camera issues that plague the PC version aren’t such a big problem for the Wii, but there are still massive issues hampering the gameplay on either platform. The two versions offer different pros and cons, so it's only fair to judge the two versions separately despite the almost identical plot and engine.

PC Version

The PC version is a very weak game. The amount of graphical glitches we spotted alone, whether in the form of camera-crazies or Z-clipping, would normally have been enough to make us cast a dubious eye over the game.

The fact that these graphical problems are the just the tip of the iceberg isn't a very good sign either.

The difficult combat, the landmark lacking environment and the awful models and voice acting; all of these mount up against Spider-Man 3 and weigh very heavily on its score. The on-rails sections of the game, which are mainly used to navigate Spider-Man through difficult corridors, could have proved to be a highlight of the game. Instead, they are ruined by being too unforgiving, and are left feeling very out of place in this badly put together game.

Wii version

The Wii version of the game suffers from different problems. The way in which missions are chosen is one of the biggest flaws, mainly involving waiting for a seemingly random prompt to occur before the mission can be chosen.

The on-rails areas of the game are better in the Wii though, and the motion sensitive controls make them feel more akin to the fight scenes of Fahrenheit than anything else. That they are reduced in how often they occur is also a plus. The RPG-lite method of upgrading combat skills is also far better than the PC versions method of upgrading skills at certain parts of the game as it makes the whole game feel more dynamic, even if only on the most shallow of levels.

Swinging about Manhattan is fun on the Wii, but this has more to do with the innovative design choices Nintendo made with the Wii than it does with game itself. The choice of how these control were taken advantage of didn't require any ingenuity or imagination after all.

Ultimately though the Wii version, like the PC version, still falls short of being an acceptable part of any gamers library, though it falls short by a slightly smaller margin. Though both games are only really must-have for die-hard Marvel fans, the Wii version is the one with the most 'must' attached to it.