Ultimate Spider-Man Review (8/10)

Given how imminent a new Spider-Man game is, and that one of the four "dimensions" included in it is the Ultimate universe, whilst round a mate's I decided it was a good time to go back to one of my favourite superhero PlayStation 2 games: Ultimate Spider-Man. The plot here is set a fair way into the 2005 revamped comic saga, briefly recapping how Peter Parker became the hero he is today, and his past with colleague Eddie Brock. All this leads to an unspectacular fight against Venom which teaches you the controls...for Spidey. What I had almost forgotten of this classic free-roamer was that at times you'll switch to Venom, consuming people and using your tentacles to stay alive in missions with hordes of cops and Silver Sable troops. Personally, having gone through what must have been a fifth or a quarter of the main storyline at my mate's, I'd still maintain that it's more fun to play as the webbed wonder than it is a menacing creature not unlike The Incredible Hulk. Graphically, Ultimate Spider-Man stays very close to its comic heritage, with many of the cut-scenes using comic panels to broaden the illusion you're inside the pages of a drawn book, however it still doesn't look amazing, though that's to be expected given the four or so years that have passed since release day. The voice acting for Peter and Mary Jane is incredibly tiresome, as are the rest of the cast, but this can be lived with in a still impressive, and possibly the best, Spider-Man game so far.