It was literally a difference of night and day when the Noir stage started, as the colorful jungle was replaced with the gritty, poorly-lit streets of the urban jungle. And the darkness is put to good use, as the core mechanic of Noir is stealth. This Spider-Man lurks in the shadows and silently takes down the hired goons covering said area. To say it reminded us a little of Batman: Arkham Asylum is an understatement, especially as Spidey stood on top of a lamp post and did an inverted tie up just like Bats in AA. But if you’re going to take inspiration from a superhero game, we can’t think of a better one.
The coloring of the level was great too, as Spider-Man in the shadows looked very different than the one in the light. It really fit with the idea of a spider stalking his prey, and once the light is shined on him he must slink back to the shadows or face a barrage of bullets. Even the boss fight we witnessed centered on staying out of Hammerhead’s sight and catching him off guard while avoiding his giant machine gun. It looked like a great response to the fast fun of the Amazing world.
Weaving the web
Shattered Dimensions developer Beenox, who’s biggest work with Activision has been a spate of movie tie-ins, seems to be stepping it up for this game, which is easily their biggest to date. They have some good help behind the scenes though, as one of the best current writers on Spider-Man, Dan Slott, wrote the plot for the title, so that gives it a good shot on getting the spirit of the Webbed One right. For proof of his expertise, please read one of the best Spider comics of the last ten years,Spider-Man/Human Torch: I’m With Stupid, to get some idea of his talent.
But even without a great story bringing it together, we think the concept alone behind Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions shows tons of promise. You’ll never see a whole game based on just one alternate Spider-Man, so just think of it as four smaller Spider-Man games in one that will hopefully lead to some great experimentation and new ideas from the devs. It may be a little while before we find out what the remaining worlds are, but we wait with baited breath to know before the planned September launch date.
Mar 31, 2010
