This week we're taking a look at Spider-Man: Edge of Time. The newest Spider-Man game released by Activision, developed by Beenox. Released back on October 4th, 2011, Edge of Time is the follow up to Shattered Dimensions (released in 2010), and it's story was written by comic book writer Peter David, so you know going in that the story will be top notch.
In the game you play as both Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 2099. The gameplay has you playing in the present as Spidey and the future as Spidey 2099, and this switches in game on the fly during each stage. It's a novel concept that has you doing things in the past to help the future and doing things in the future to help the past.
Both Spider-Men can communicate with each other via a chronal link using DNA from Peter Parker. Basically, they can randomly talk to each other at various moments. The two have to work together to stop the company Alchemax from not only killing Spider-Man himself, but keep them from turning New York City into a horrifying dystopia.
One interesting note when it comes to the story telling, is that the cut scenes happen in game, while you're walking around a cut scene will suddenly happen in the bottom right corner, so while the gameplay does slow down, it never just comes to a halt. Plus you're constantly jumping between Spidey and Spidey 2099, so you'll never get stuck playing with just one character for the duration of the game.
The graphics are good, although you'll battle the same henchmen over, and over again. The voice acting is top notch, and the writing is well done. I didn't notice any glitches or frame rate issues during my time with the game.
This is the end of everything good about the game. The first problem, and the biggest, is that the entire game takes place in a large skyscraper. Sure there's plenty of floors to transverse, and at one point you'll free fall through an elevator shaft, but you're constantly boxed in. There's no really good web swinging moments, which is, after all, the main superpower that Spider-Man has. You'll transverse plenty of pits and have to out web-swing an explosion, but that's it. Gone is the open world of Spider-Man 2, a game I still love because you could swing anywhere.
After that issue, next comes the combat. There's plenty of combos to learn, and you have a skill tree to upgrade your fighting skills, but there's no point. Button mashing will do in any fight you'll encounter. Even with the boss fights, all you have to do is dash around, mash the attack button, rinse and repeat. Unlike Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Captain America, there's no flow to your attacks. There's no reason to memorize button patterns and attempt to link combos together. It's a shame considering how graceful someone like Spider-Man can be.
The achievements are a mix, some easy (like finishing levels) and others will take some time (finishing the challenges). It's not a quick one thousand points, that's for sure, but those who are looking for a weekend game to play should be able to knock them all out in a day or so.
Ultimately, Spider-Man fans will be the only ones pleased with the game, but I think even some of them will dislike how much this traps the web swinger. It's a shame that it wasn't an open world game, with just a bit more polish on the combat we could have had another epic Spider-Man game.
Since Spider-Man 2 released in 2004, there really hasn't been a Spider-Man game that made me feel like I was actually in the boots of Spidey himself. Edge of Time has some great ideas, just poor execution.
Overall Rating: 2/5
