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(More customer reviews)First of all let me start by saying I haven't finished the game. I have played the intro then the first mission in each dimension and wanted to share my early thoughts with those that are considering whether or not to buy this game. I will edit this review if I find my opinions change after finishing it.
Another word of warning, I am a bit of a spider man fan, grew up with the comics (although I haven't read any for years now) so I'm not sure my review is 100% unbiased. Grain of salt and all that.
STORY
The first thing that I noticed is that there was a lot more care taken with the spider man character than in the previous game (Web of Shadows).He has a lot more personality, his jokes are funnier and, although I wouldn't call the voice acting brilliant, at least he doesn't sound like a constipated teenager anymore. I found myself chuckling at many points in the game from the jokes he throws at his enemies. This has a surprising effect on the heroic feel of the game as well (it's one thing to beat the bad guys up, it is another one entirely to do that while making fun of them).
The overarching story of the game is not all that good to be honest. It feels more like an excuse to check out the different spider man realities than anything else. But it also doesn't take itself too seriously: some of the cutscenes between dimensions are narrated by a voice that I'm pretty sure is Stan Lee using the same type of silver age narrative the old spider man comics had on the 80s. Maybe there will be a plot twist along the way, but I'm not holding my breath. Having said that, the mini stories within each chapter are pretty cool, in the sense that it links together the various events at each stage pretty well and do a good job at keeping you engaged.
GAMEPLAY
If you did your homework you know by now that this is not a sandbox game. You are not given free roam of NYC beating up criminals along the way, which was default the format for spider man games for a long time now. Instead they have chosen a format in which you choose a stage and play that stage from start to finish. So it's less like GTA and more like GoW3.
I think this format works very well with this game. It allows each stage to be more varied, as you are not restricted to being on the same environment all the time. The developers did a good job at making the levels feel varied, so you are never doing the same thing over and over (clear room of bad guys, move to next room, repeat). At one point you are dodging Kraven's sniper rifle, the other you are evading his traps, the next you are falling down a skyscraper canyon in 2099 and a couple hours later figuring out how to get hammerhead from behind his giant gatling gun in the 1930's. That choice is not without a price though, as you lose the thrill of web zipping away into the horizon (although the webzip mechanic is pretty much exactly the same as previous games, the spaces are a bit more constrained). You lose a bit of replay value that the sandbox format tends to have.
Spidey himself handles a lot like Web of Shadows, with a bit less emphasis on wall crawling and aerial combat (although both are still present) and a better combat system overall. One of the new ideas in this game is that you enter a "defensive stance" by holding L2. While doing that Spidey automatically dodges all "regular" attacks, and can only be hit by special moves (which you get advance warning via spider sense to push X and jump out of the way),This is also how you lock the camera on one target.
Another interesting concept is that now you can webzip to specific areas of the stage, like lamp posts or on top of a column. When you face an area that can be targeted this way you will see a small triangle (think the bat hook in Arkham Asylum) and tapping R2 you web zip there automatically. This is handy because it would take a long time (and in some cases pretty precise landing) to get to a these areas that you can now zip to in a second.
The camera is still not 100%, I guess it's always a challenge with spider-man games since you zip around so much and the wall crawling bit is still a bit confusing. But perhaps because there are less emphasis on situations where the camera goes bananas, I haven't felt this to be much of an issue.
I don't agree to say that this is 4 games in 1. The only dimension that really feels totally different in terms of gameplay is the Noir one, which is stealth based. However the other 3 spider man dimensions have enough little things that are different, from the visuals to the speed of the character attacks to some special abilities here and there like the symbiote rage and the 2099 spidey's "bullet time" that each feels unique. The expressions and language used help set the tone as well, particularly in the Noir dimension where the 1930's lingo really helps to flesh out the setting.
The boss battles are really cool too, and they are more like "action puzzles" than real straight up battles, and you always have to figure out how to beat the bad guy, either with simple things like waiting for Kraven to charge before web-zipping in and having at him or zipping the hobgoblin's bombs in the air and throwing them back at him.
Last but not least the upgrading system is pretty nice, you gain points for beating up enemies and breaking crates (sight), but also from completing challenges within each level, like beating 10 enemies by zipping a bench on their head, or doing 5 stealth takedowns in a row without being detected. You also have your mandatory spider tokens scattered around each phase.
GRAPHICS/SOUND
I will admit I'm not a very good judge for that (to me gameplay > graphics), so I'll keep it brief. The game has a cartoonish feel, so you won't see a lot of jaw dropping textures like what you can see in games like Red Dead Redemption or Assassin's Creed. But I think for what they were trying to do the graphics do a pretty good job. What I did notice is that each dimension is a bit different graphics wise, even the Ultimate and Amazing dimensions, which are the most similar, are not exactly the same if you pay attention.
CONTENT
Other than he tutorial, I played 4 mission so far (act I), and on normal they averaged out at ~50 min each to complete. (Amazing and noir took 1 hour, 2099 30 min and 45 for ultimate). If the same can be said about the other acts this should be an 9-12 hour game to beat, which is pretty much in line with other games like GoW, Uncharted 2 etc. After that there's hard mode, and the challenges (which I managed to nail most of them in my first play though each stage, except for the hidden spiders). Again, maybe once I beat the game there will be a surprise for more content, but I'm not expecting this. There are also unlockable concept art, figurines etc.
Basically if you think games like GoW, Heavenly Sword are worth buying (i.e. 9-12 hours of quality entertainement), you won't have a problem justifying this one. If you only buy games that have a lot of replay value, multiplayer etc this will probably leave you wanting for more.
Pros:
-Good action game with, well developed stages
-Great Spider Man characterization
-Nicely delivered acrobatic spider man combat
-Pretty cool boss battles
Cons:
-Replay ability
-Some small camera issues
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Spider-Man: Shattered DimensionsProduct Description: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is an action-packed adventure encompassing four dramatically different parallel universes, each with its own Spider-Man armed with unique strengths. Each stunning universe has its own detailed art design and thrilling gameplay with challenging skill sets to master in order to unlock powerful new moves. Explore dramatic, stunning environments, wield explosive new powers, and face epic boss battles against extraordinary foes. Experience the legendary Super Hero like never before: Four unique worlds. Four distinct Spider-Men. One unparalleled experience!
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