This review was written for www.amazon.com.

 

 

It's been a fairly long time since I've played a Spider-Man game. In fact, the last Spider-Man game I've played was Spider-Man 2! As a major fan of the character, and hearing that there were a few other notable titles under his name, I wanted to change that. When I heard that the Wii U version featured all of the bonuses that the other versions require you to purchase, I decided to get that version.

I can't explain much about the story, due to my skipping most of the cinematics. I turned the voices off to avoid the harsh language and lousy replacement voices, so all I know about the story is what Wikipedia told me. To give a general idea, Oscorp is creating mutant creatures based off of the formula Doctor Conners created in the first film. However, an accident occurs, infecting the citizens of New York. Spider-Man teams up with Doctor Conners to find a cure to the disease while beating up bad guys along the way. Yet none of this really matters since it all ended up being non-canon. Too many things in the game contradict The Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie, which is the true successor to the film.

The gameplay is really fun. From what I've heard, it's very similar to the Batman Arkham games. You get to free roam around the city and take out bad guys with either the direct or stealthy approach. It works well for this particular version of Spider-Man, being as this one is darker than other incarnations. I also really appreciate how you can level up your attacks and stats like an RPG. I should also add that, once again, the Wii U gamepad enhances the gameplay. In this version, you use the gamepad as a map instead of pulling it up over and over again on the pause menu.

However, there are some stability issues with the game. There are some minor screen tearing, some frame-rate drops, glitchy graphics, and some times where enemies can go through walls. Perhaps the worst glitch in the game is when you're performing a reaction command on a giant snake robot, the robot can freeze if you don't activate the command properly. But as bad as all of this sounds, none of it (other than the tearing and frame-rate drops) appeared very often.

One of my favorite parts about this game is the inclusion of multiple costume choices such as the Amazing suit, the Big Time suit, the Future suit, and even the Raimi suit! The multiple costume choices make this game even more in depth than most of the other Spider-Man games. Most of these costumes have to be unlocked, but this adds to the fact that there are many different things to do in the game.

There's actually quite a bit to do in the city. I haven't actually done everything yet, but I can confirm that this game lasts quite a bit longer than just the story. It's especially helpful being as the story mode is only about seven hours long. The Wii U version also comes with multiple different DLC bonus levels. The only one I think is that interesting is the Stan Lee pack, which allows you to play as the webhead's creator. I have also tried the Lizard Rampage pack, but it felt very buggy.

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As stated earlier, there is some pretty bad cursing in the game (words such as H*ll and B*****d), but it can be avoided by turning off the voices. There is also some suggestive dialogue, but that too can be fixed the same way. Otherwise, the game is pretty violent in a stylized, though still somewhat realistic, way. The several different combos Spider-Man performs are fairly violent, though he never kills anyone. Finally, the whole game is about the infection of an entire city, which might come across as too intense for younger players.

Despite its short comings, The Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Edition is a really cool game. It's definitely one of the most cinematic games I've played in a while and easily one of the best licensed games out there. I definitely recommend this game to fans of the movie and of Spider-Man in general. 

Final Score: 8.4/10