I picked this up today as my first PSP game, so felt a review was in order.
Firstly - there's one thing I do love about this game, and that's the pungent reek of Marvel all over it. The Daily Bugle, all the characters (even the Imperfects) - all Marvel'd to the gills.
However that's abouuut it. ^^ Not that I don't like it, I just don't love it.
One thing I despiiiiise about it is the fact they shoved a farking CARD system into it - something which for some odd reason seems to be PSP exclusive. I really, really hate this system. Not just because it's ANOTHER game selling out to Yu-Gay-Oh but also because it's bloody pointless and annoying to use.
You have to assign these cards to the d-pad and use them in battle - which involves removing your thumb from the analog stick and trying to remember what d-button does what. Furthermore, they all seem completely pointless and do nothing for the battles at all.
On the subject of buttons, if you're a button masher you're going to feel completely stifled here. Afterall, you can't really do much mashing if the only attack button is 'X'...
Triangle defends, Circle jumps, Square grabs, L does a 'Mobility Move' which is basically stuff like Spidey's Webslinging or Storm's floating (or sometimes just running) and R activates your super-power - which you then use with..... 'X'.
Needless to say, the game ends up being a case of holding down the R button and hitting 'X' a lot.
A game of combos and strategy this is not - but that doesn't make it a complete walkover. The opponent AI is, in places, quite good. They'll lift crap and throw it at you and will give you a fair challenge if you don't have the manouverability to counter them.
However, considering that all you have to do is just keep trying to hit them until they die - it's still not too hard. The only times i've ever lost in this game so far is from falling off the edge of the arena - often through a misjudged attack of my own.
The character list is impressive, with Spidey, Venom, Wolverine, Cap, Daredevil, Elektra etc all in there but you start off weak with nothing more than The Thing and an Imperfect, Johnny Ohm.
To unlock the other characters you have to plough through an abysmal Campaign mode, consisting of 10 battles and a 'plot' told through a tiny contrived paragraph of rubbish.
If you play as a bad guy, you get a good guy in return at the end - and vice versa. Exclusive to the PSP is Doctor Doom and Captain America, who are unlocked when everyone else is.
One thing to note is that after completing Capaign Mode with The Thing on my very first play through, I was left with 37% of the game completed already. A bad sign if ever there was.
And, despite the Xbox version being online, the PSP one is not. So unless you've got some mates with a PSP (Not likely here since it's less than2 months old in the UK) there'll be no multiplayering.
I reccomend this game only to the Marvel faithful like myself. Even though I see the more or less classic EA faults as clear as day, I do actually still enjoy it. It's certainly better than some titles with a Marvel Character's name attatched to it in the past.
Still, I'd say Spidey 2 is a much better choice for Marvel fans that don't already have it and for all PSP owners there can only be one possible game worth the full cost of your money for this system - and that's Grand Theft Auto.
Firstly - there's one thing I do love about this game, and that's the pungent reek of Marvel all over it. The Daily Bugle, all the characters (even the Imperfects) - all Marvel'd to the gills.
However that's abouuut it. ^^ Not that I don't like it, I just don't love it.
One thing I despiiiiise about it is the fact they shoved a farking CARD system into it - something which for some odd reason seems to be PSP exclusive. I really, really hate this system. Not just because it's ANOTHER game selling out to Yu-Gay-Oh but also because it's bloody pointless and annoying to use.
You have to assign these cards to the d-pad and use them in battle - which involves removing your thumb from the analog stick and trying to remember what d-button does what. Furthermore, they all seem completely pointless and do nothing for the battles at all.
On the subject of buttons, if you're a button masher you're going to feel completely stifled here. Afterall, you can't really do much mashing if the only attack button is 'X'...
Triangle defends, Circle jumps, Square grabs, L does a 'Mobility Move' which is basically stuff like Spidey's Webslinging or Storm's floating (or sometimes just running) and R activates your super-power - which you then use with..... 'X'.
Needless to say, the game ends up being a case of holding down the R button and hitting 'X' a lot.
A game of combos and strategy this is not - but that doesn't make it a complete walkover. The opponent AI is, in places, quite good. They'll lift crap and throw it at you and will give you a fair challenge if you don't have the manouverability to counter them.
However, considering that all you have to do is just keep trying to hit them until they die - it's still not too hard. The only times i've ever lost in this game so far is from falling off the edge of the arena - often through a misjudged attack of my own.
The character list is impressive, with Spidey, Venom, Wolverine, Cap, Daredevil, Elektra etc all in there but you start off weak with nothing more than The Thing and an Imperfect, Johnny Ohm.
To unlock the other characters you have to plough through an abysmal Campaign mode, consisting of 10 battles and a 'plot' told through a tiny contrived paragraph of rubbish.
If you play as a bad guy, you get a good guy in return at the end - and vice versa. Exclusive to the PSP is Doctor Doom and Captain America, who are unlocked when everyone else is.
One thing to note is that after completing Capaign Mode with The Thing on my very first play through, I was left with 37% of the game completed already. A bad sign if ever there was.
And, despite the Xbox version being online, the PSP one is not. So unless you've got some mates with a PSP (Not likely here since it's less than2 months old in the UK) there'll be no multiplayering.
I reccomend this game only to the Marvel faithful like myself. Even though I see the more or less classic EA faults as clear as day, I do actually still enjoy it. It's certainly better than some titles with a Marvel Character's name attatched to it in the past.
Still, I'd say Spidey 2 is a much better choice for Marvel fans that don't already have it and for all PSP owners there can only be one possible game worth the full cost of your money for this system - and that's Grand Theft Auto.