Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. Guess it's too bad a developer can't do everything in its power it can to make sure that they don't produce the stand-by bad movie to videogame transition. Spider-Man 2 was actually a pretty good game, though it got repetitive near the end. So with the new Spider-Man 3 movie just out, it was only natural to see a sequel to the game, but how do you take a step back in quality and not forward? Is Spider-Man 3 worth anybody's time, or will the loyal fans still find some quality entertainment?

THE STORY SO FAR
Not wanting to stick straight to the story of the movie, which features Sandman, the new Green Goblin, and the fan favorite Venom, the Spider-Man 3 game actually features story elements that you won't be able to see in the film. Sure, the main draw will still be playing through the story moments of the film as that is the real draw, but at least you are getting more bang for your buck with the game than just that.

For the most part, mission stories seemed to be built around generic gangs, such as the Arsenic Candy, bubbly goth girls with teddy bear bombs, killer umbrellas, and over-sized mallets. You've also got your Asian martial artists, mad bombers, and other such one-note villains.

Thankfully, the game does include some reworked villains from the comics, which are approached much like the villains have so far been done in the movies, meaning they are treated as if these are possibilities, though only tweaked a bit to give them more of a chance to be happening in the real world. You'll get to see such classic villains as The Lizard (who better be the villain in Spider-Man 4!), Rhino, and Scorpion. The moments with the classic Spider-Man rogue gallery are the best, and the ones you'll be enjoying more than the others.

The sad thing is that you can't fully tackle one story at one time. For example, if all you want to play is the movie's story, tough luck. Instead, you'll have to pick and choose what missions you want, and then usually after a certain requisite number is reached, then a new movie story mission will be unlocked.

GAMEPLAY
The game is broken down into three categories: missions, activities, and crime fighting. The missions are the story centered moments of the game, with cutscenes and actual narrative detailing Spider-Man's journey through the different story elements, like the movie, that involving the Scorpion, and so on and so on. The activities are various time based challenged events, with things such as bomb diffusing runs, races, etc. Crime fighting is the random events like in the last game, where upon going into a zone, you're likely to hear sirens or see markers, telling you some crime is going down. Here you'll run the crime down, stop it, and save the day.

The missions will be the driving force of the game, because they are the most interesting and most varied. You'll track giant lizards by using your spider senses to see footprints hidden to the naked eye. You'll infiltrate hidden bases to free people. Rescue people from burning fireworks factories. The problem is that not every mission is golden. For example, in the infiltrate mission, you aren't supposed to be seen by guards. You fail if you get caught…right? Nope, instead you'll just have to battle every goon until doors unlock. Other particularly boring and tedious affair has you giving Mary Jane a ride; we learn in these moments Mary Jane is a picky woman, and you have to please her by following her rules, such as swinging low to the ground, swinging high, and swinging fast. Pushy, pushy, pushy if you ask me.

Activities are less varied, with run after run of bomb runs getting boring rather quickly. The main problem is bombs all generally behave the same, though the mechanics are a bit different. Left and right shoulder button alternating here, button tapping in time here, and some easy puzzle solving problem here – nothing big. Crime fighting is pretty much core for the course as the last game out, as you'll stop police chases and other heroic moments.

Given it's Spider-Man we are talking about here, two big mechanics make up the game: swinging and fighting. Swinging is pretty much also like last time. The only problem with the swinging comes in the form that it sticks to real world mechanics (like men with spider powers is a real world thing) so you'll need to actually be near a building to attach and swing. If, for instance, you find yourself in a park or falling towards low level buildings from a higher story, don't expect to find anything to grapple and swing from. More realistic? Yes, but not necessarily better or more fun.

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