By: Activision

To say the very least, Spiderman on N64 by Activision is the single best video game adaptation about the super hero who got super powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. It would seem that machines are only now powerful enough to do justice to the comic book character who has been reincarnated in several cartoons and soon to be portrayed in a movie.

The game play revolves around battling the villains from the popular franchise. All your favorites are there (except Green Goblin. Whaddup?). You?ll do battle with Scorpion, Rhino, Mysterio and spend multiple levels hunting down Venom. The storyline actually does the comic book justice and is revealed as a slide show in between levels. But who cares anyway? In the end aren?t all story lines just an excuse to kick some villainous hide? Indeed they are and Spidey gets to kick hide in spades.

Graphics are mediocre. Usually they prove adequate in portraying the characters from the comic book, though you may scratch your head when you first see Shadow Cat, Spiderman?s lady friend who looks like she might poke Spidey?s eyes out with her absurdly large and pointy breasts. As fellow Itooper, Tony declared, ?Nice polygons!?

Half the fun of the game comes from the sound. The speech is crystal clear. Venom?s taunts are mean enough to hurt any players feelings. But keep your chin up! If you are successful in retaliating against your foes, Spiderman will reward you by delivering some cheesy one-liners. And if you don?t applaud when Spidey first declares, ?My Spidey sense is tingling,? not only are you not a Spidey fan, you?re not human. Even your rumblepack will reverberate with delight when Spidey sense tingles. Furthermore, many of the levels open with a rather emphatic narration by Stan Lee himself, the creator of Spiderman. One major disappointment with the sound is the opening theme. The Playstation version of the game includes the song from the television show complete with lyrics, while the N64 version contains a very poor instrumental.

Gameplay was the biggest surprise. I never thought it would be possible to imitate Spidey?s incredible acrobatics but in this game it is done rather well. Climbing walls and web swinging are all relatively easy to control once you get the hang of it. Activision makes it seem so easy you might try doing some of these things in real life. (Warning: Players are not advised to climb walls or swing from synthetic webs in real life). Thankfully the game is not just about putting the kaibosh on villains by pummeling them to death. Spidey must free hostages, flee from the cops, and overcome some delightfully contrived obstacles before reaching the end.

The game is full of other neat tidbits. Throughout the game players collect actual Spiderman comic books and all those found are kept in a special archive where the covers can later be viewed. Spidey can also uncover certain secret costumes from old comic books, including Venom?s costume once you finish the game.

Speaking of finishing the game, some players might accomplish this task in a few days. Almost all the bosses are very, very easy. Luckily the game has a great deal of replay value as there are a vast, vast, vast number of secrets to uncover. Vast!

A must have for all Spiderman fans and all fans of original games.

MastaCSG
Queen