To say "Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions is the best Spider-Man game yet for Xbox 360" is to damn it with faint praise; the previous Xbox 360 titles in the franchise haven't set the bar very high. Overall, Shattered Dimensions (provided by the manufacturer for review) is a decent game containing a few moments of greatness. Unfortunately, the program suffers from many of the same problems that give the series a wash of mediocrity. Instead of pushing the boundaries of what a comic book based video game can do (as Spiderman did in print form), the designers slavishly have adhered to a predictable, thread-worn model that lacks imagination and depth.
The biggest problem with the game is that every level follows the same formula. First, a cut scene introduces you to the villain that you will have to take down. Then, a boss fight. Then, the boss runs away and there is filler where you have to rescue citizens and kill the villain’s lackeys. Then, you finally take down the villain in a confrontation where the boss utilizes the mystical properties of the fragment in order to become more powerful. Then it is on to the next level where you do it again. Like film scripts that seem as if churned out by a computer, this uncreative and slavish adherence to structure seems devoid of the imagination that has made the comic book so popular.
Even the story behind Shattered Dimensions seems like a generic, computer-generated rehash: The mystical tablet of order and chaos has been broken and the barriers between dimensions have been shattered. (What a shock!). In order to save the world and restore order you must recover all of the pieces of the tablet. The problem is that the pieces of the tablet have fallen into 4 different dimensions.
In order to retrieve all of the fragments you play as 4 different versions of Spider-Man. Don’t expect any character development or plot twists because that's just about all of the story you will receive throughout the game. However, even though it lacks a compelling storyline, Shattered Dimensions is not an entirely bad game.
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions has a comic-book art style that’s easy on the eyes, great voice acting, funny dialogue, and well-made cut scenes. Because the game does so many things right, it’s disappointing to see it plagued by problems like a wonky camera, technical bugs, and a formulaic design that every level adheres to. Some of the boss battles are amazing, but that alone is not enough to give make this game seem more full of cobwebs than my spidey-sense says it ought.
Perhaps the problem is that if you have a successful super-hero franchise you don't rock the boat from title to title. Too much creativity and you enter Julie Taymor territory with an expensive experiment. Ultimately, however, the "design without inspiration" approach suggests a kind of condescension for the audience: Slap on the Spider-Man license, update the graphics and they'll buy. With no major twists, no innovative game-play one title blurs into the next, not only within the series but between franchises. What distinguishes, for instance, a Batman game from a Spider-Man game except the color of the suit? Innovation in plot and character revolutionized the comic book/graphic novel medium. Why should the video games they "inspire" be so lacking in inspiration?
After you beat the game once there is very little reason to play it again. There is no multiplayer or alternate modes to play. I beat the game in about nine hours and felt no desire to ever pop the CD back in my Xbox 360.
- by Jake Fried
