Product Information. Sling, swing, and fling around Manhattan and Queens as the friendly neighborhood web crawler in 'Ultimate Spider-Man' for the PS2. Based on the similarly named comic book by Brian Michael Bendis, play as both Spider-Man and his perennial nemesis, Venom.
This game departs from previous games based on the movie series to include many more characters from the popular comic. Developer Treyarch and publisher Activision collaborated on this groundbreaking PlayStation 2 video game release featuring a beautiful cel-shaded style. This was achieved with 3-D Comic Inking Technology, a feature that actually makes you feel like you are living out the story. The cel-shaded video art style works beautifully with the free-roaming nature of the game. It set a new standard for how good a free-roaming game could be on consoles like the PlayStation.
In Story mode of 'Ultimate Spider-Man,' you automatically switch between controlling Spidey and his friend, who's gained abilities from wearing the Venom suit. As our hero, Spider-Man cheats the law of gravity by swinging from buildings and performing acrobatic maneuvers and fluid combat. Various collectible items around the open-world map unlock new costumes, and side missions offer ways to keep things interesting as you complete the main storyline in the game. Random events, like muggings and civilian rescues, create unexpected opportunities to uphold the Hero's Code by helping out the helpless. As Venom, the player relies on huge jumps and sharp claws to propel the massive villain from building to building. Absorbing life from enemies and civilians alike, the player cheats a demise, despite their suit continuously draining their health level.
Instead of fluid and agile combat, the villain smashes and slams with brute force while rampaging through the open map. The unique, original storyline gets fully fleshed out from multiple perspectives when Spider-Man's spider sense reacts to Venom's presence. The expository videos between chapters blend seamlessly with the player-controlled action, which benefits from the unique cel-shading animation style in this PlayStation 2 title.The 2005 release date of this PS2 game marked a breakthrough for comic book games. The random-events mechanic of 'Ultimate Spider-Man' was ahead of its time, creating an unending quality rarely seen on PS2. The multiple-narrator mechanic is also a rare feature implemented early here, punctuating heroism with the brutal violence of Venom. All of these features created the ultimate combination of advanced dynamics needed for a PS2 game with high replay value.Playing from multiple points of view, from both hero and villain perspectives, adds an interesting and robust feeling to the storyline. The fact that the symbiote Venom costume feeds on the wearer contextualizes the brutality of the character with ambivalent empathy.
As you explore the vast open map in all three dimensions, encounters and collectibles hold interest well after completing the main missions. From both sides of the divide between right and wrong, the living city offers plenty of continuous and enjoyable action.
Limited Edition of Ultimate Spider-Man ReviewThe Limited Edition of Ultimate Spider-Man (PS2 only) is the only way to go. Th limited edition of the game includes four character biographies (Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Venom, Ultimate Carnage, and Ultimate Beetle), an interview with Stan Lee, a G4 special called 'Making of Ultimate Spider-Man', developer tips and tricks, and a special edition (also called 'Activision Edition') Ultimate Spider-Man comic book containing scenes from issues #33-39.Verified purchase: Yes Condition: Pre-owned. Fine game, but you should probably rent it, firstAs someone who's spent hundreds of hours across half a dozen or so different Spider-Man games, I've got a lot to say here.'
Ultimate Spider-Man' adapts from the Marvel's 'Ultimate' comics continuity, allowing it to showcase character dynamics and interpretations that are different from what many Spidey fans might be used to from most other sources.The voice acting is excellent, overflowing with the wisecracks and wit expected from a Spider-Man production.The gameplay, however, is a bit of a mixed bag. On the upside, 'Ultimate Spider-Man' grants you control over both Spider-Man and his archenemy Venom. The two characters have very appreciably different controls and styles of play, as well as having mutually exclusive minigames after the main story has concluded. For example, a new and interesting gameplay concept introduced when playing as Spider-Man is that normal enemies must be captured with webbing when they are defeated, or else they will eventually regain consciousness and resume fighting at full health. While playing as Venom, however, the character's health gauge will continually decrease over time, and the only way to replenish Venom's health is by draining the life-force out of New York's hapless civilian population. These kinds of mechanics can drive the player to put a bit more thought into their battle strategies than in other 'Spider-Man' games, providing an extra layer of depth beyond most other Spidey games.That said, a major downside is that the main story comes across as feeling very short.
Of particular concern is that despite how short the story is, the missions have an increasingly sharp difficulty curve as you progress through them, with a few of the later levels or bosses being dependent on brutally intense button-mashing sequences.' Ultimate Spider-Man' is definitely worth giving a fair shake, but I can't promise that it's for everyone. Unless you're a die-hard Spider-Fan, I'd probably sooner suggest that you first rent the game via a service like Gamefly, BEFORE you decide whether or not to purchase your own copy.Verified purchase: Yes Condition: Pre-owned. Review of Ultimate Spider-Man PS2 Ver.This is a wonderful game. It has a very good control system for swinging around NYC and Queens. Simultaneously, it is not an overbearing control to where it has a high learning curve. The graphics are very inline with the Ultimate Spider-man comic, as well as the majority of the story (which is considered as Canon in the USM comics).
My only complaint is that it is a fairly short game. Plowing through the story only takes aproximately 10 to 15 hours. However, taking the time to find all of the extra tokens could take well up to 40-80 depending on how keen you are in seeing them. Great, but not perfectI had looked forward to this game for months.
When it came out, I excitedly went to rent it. I found it very fun and decided to, once the game was due back to the store, purchase the game.I continued to enjoy the game as I had before, but, to my disappointment, beat the story mode within 3 or 4 days.
Although incredibly enjoyable, the game was simply too short and easy. Lost.dir on flash drive. Luckily, once the story was complete, I was pleased to find that I could continue free-roaming and that I could now switch between Venom and Spider-Man at will. Still, though, the story was much too short.Another problem was that with every boss, there came a chase level. Although a few of these are not too bad, they became very boring and repetitive.All in all, quite fun and worth the money, but nowhere near per fect.
If you are a comic-book fan, it is a must-have. If you're not, it's worth a rental. Although the game is not perfect, the structure of the game (including playable Venom and comic-book-type visuals) is quite cool, and will, in my opinion, open many doors for super hero games. I am expecting excellent sequels to come out of this game.