Nukezilla Review: The Amazing Spider-Man (Xbox 360)

Not even a year after the lackluster Spider-Man: Edge of Time was released developer Beenox is back at it with The Amazing Spider-Man movie tie in game. Does this adventure finally give web heads the game they’ve been dreaming about since Spider-Man 2?

Picking up a few months after the Amazing Spider-Man movie. Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy are touring Oscorp’s latest genetic oddities when predictably chaos ensues and Spider-Man must save New York City once again. The story and script are pretty weak but the voice acting does a decent enough job to get you through the long and boring cut scenes.

Once Spider-Man is able to get out of the air ducts and out into the city the game shines with fantastic graphics and fluid controls that will make you depressed each time you have to go indoors for missions. Swinging around the city is effortless and even pinpointing a target is a cinch with the Web Rush ability which slows down time and allows you to choose where to land. Web Rush can even be used in combat for some handy combo work.

Combat has seen a remarkable improvement from the past Beenox Spider-Man games. Combos are fluid and frantic. Dodging attacks will keep the combo meter high and allow for signature takedown moves. It’s clear that lessons were learned from the recent Batman games and they are put to good use here for Peter Parker.

When it comes to boss battles some amazing opportunities are quickly squandered as the they become repetitive and ultimately dull, depending on multiple quick time events that don’t change. Usually after three quick time events that are the same button pushes and moves every time the boss dies. Since each boss battle is a simple rinse, wash, repeat exercise they’re more annoying than exciting.

Story missions are decent but repeat locations like Oscorp way too often. After the relatively short 6-8 hour campaign players can sling around the city collecting the ridiculous amount of comic book pages found on almost every tree/antenna/or building. It is a fun distraction and being able to read the old comics is a treat. Sadly the other side missions are incredibly dull. Chores like stopping muggings and high speed pursuits are nearly the same every time with very little variation.  They’re just pointless filler.

Spider-Man hasn’t had the best outings the last few years but this one is his best since Spider-Man 2 for consoles. It’s clear that developer Beenox just didn’t have enough time with this game so it’s packed with filler and repeated scenarios which is sad became with some more time the game could have been something special. Let’s hope they get all the time they need on the next one. The Amazing Spider-Man is a solid weekend rental or a bargain bin find.