Spider-Man 3: The Game

By Dave McCarthy Published 20 April, 2007

The king of the (web) swingers is back in town.

You'd almost think the folk at Activision are a bit paranoid to judge by their demo of Spider-Man 3, what with the controller being snatched away at various points and the console getting switched off with a dramatic flourish at the end of the presentation. However, it's not the folk at Activision who are paranoid, but the folk at Sony Pictures, who are at pains to make sure that no grubby games journalist is going to spill the plot secrets of its forthcoming summer blockbuster. That's because Spider-Man 3 is, like its predecessors, based closely upon the events in the film.

It's not just based on the movie though. Nope. Although Spider-Man 3 aims to capture the sublime swinging and decent third-person crime-fighting of the last games, one of the many ways in which it hopes to improve is that it will feature ten different plotlines. Indeed, several of the changes address shortcomings in the previous game, one of which is that Spider-Man 2 was perceived as an essentially linear experience. By contrast, Spider-Man 3's multiple story lines are all open from the start of the game. What that means is that there's a greater emphasis on GTA-style sandbox exploration, and there's less likelihood of coming up against the sort of difficulty spike that, last time around, Kristan described as "one of the most evil quadruple whammies this reviewer has ever had the misfortune to encounter".

'Spider-Man 3: The Game' Screenshot 1

Spidey's new black suit is the star of the show.

One of the other major changes between this game and its predecessor is an improved swinging mechanism thanks to enhanced physics. That means you'll be able to use the arc of your swing to reach greater heights or further distances, depending on when you let go. It's not intrusive enough to require players to learn significant new Spidey-skills, but it certainly boasts enough depth to afford skilled players more freedom for self-expression. It's a point that's demonstrated at the very start of the demo as Spidey plummets off a tall building - and as he swoops down, the demo provides a glimpse of another improvement: the city itself. There are more pedestrians and more detailed buildings, and Manhattan is now 2.5 times larger than it was in the last game, with 20 miles of subways and sewers, and a number of buildings that you can enter.

If that makes you worried you might get lost, rest assured: a new interactive map allows you to rotate and zoom a fully 3D map of the city - so you can work out where you might find those last few skyscraper tokens, for example, or where to go to advance whichever story line you want to work on. Talking of story lines, while the main one follows the plot of the movie the nine others head in different directions. Three of them relate to cleaning up areas of the city and driving out the gangs that control them. Fighting incidental crime in these areas will gradually clean them up and diminish the control of that particular gang (and the incidental challenges have been rethought so they're less intrusive and, because they're randomly generated, less repetitive).

'Spider-Man 3: The Game' Screenshot 2

At the start of the game Bruce Campbell teaches you how to use your basic Spidey-skills. Handy when fighting bosses like Scorpion.

The other seven narrative arcs are accessible from the start, though they do converge about a third of the way through when Peter Parker discovers a spangly new black suit. Then they converge again, another third of the way through, when he decides to remove it in favour of his old red one. Indeed the black suit is in many ways the star of Spider-Man 3. There are about 200,000 animations for Spider-Man in the game, but half of those are exclusive to the black suit, in a bid to make the player feel as drunk with power as Spidey does. You'll also be able to hit harder, take more damage, perform more brutal attacks, swing faster and higher, and perform 40 rage attacks. And your Spidey-Sense reaches further. Just as it would in real life if you were wearing a (SPOILER ALERT) symbiotic alien life form.

The rest of the demo highlights various other tweaks and improvements. A quick tour of the sewers demonstrates one: in order to fix a camera that occasionally went a bit mental in the last game, they've fixed the camera. Literally fixed it, so certain sections will play out from a fixed camera angle. The one in the demo sees Spidey trying to defeat Lizard by pushing him into heavy machinery, and it also serves to highlight the scale of the subways and sewers: not, as you might expect, cramped and restrictive, but open and expansive - although they're also darker in tone, as demonstrated by the packs of lizards eating each other.

'Spider-Man 3: The Game' Screenshot 3

Don't ask what happens after this. Sony and Activision won't say.

The final new feature to be introduced is something Activision is calling an 'interactive cut-scene' - better known to the gaming community as a Quick-Time Event. Thus, at key points, players will need to follow on-screen instructions to press particular buttons within a certain time. Obviously it affords a greater degree of interactivity with the inevitable cinematic scenes, and also, apparently, a way of allowing mainstream gamers to access the sort of cinematic fizz that hardcore gamers will be able to create for themselves using the game's deep combo system. The first interactive cut-scene in the demo follows a scene in the movie trailer quite closely, and dramatically, as the new Green Goblin grabs Peter Parker and the two wrestle with each other, high over the streets of New York. Over the course of the battle the action transitions between interactive cut-scenes, regular cut-scenes, and regular combat (which is the first time you'll get to control Peter Parker in a videogame according to Activision, fact fans).

The demo's climax arrives with a similar mix of interactive cut-scene and regular combat, (presumably) depicting the movie's climactic showdown between Spider-Man and Sandman. But that's when the Xbox is switched off, so don't ask me what happens. What will happen for sure is that Spider-Man 3 will be released with better swinging than Spider-Man 2, more stories, a (SPOILER ALERT) symbiotic alien Spidey suit, cinematic interactive cut-scenes, and a host of Marvel characters, ranging from Scorpion to the Mad Bomber.

Picture of Dave.

About Dave McCarthy

Read more articles from Dave by visiting the Dave McCarthy archive page.

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Comments (57) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Nexus_6 #1 5 years ago

    FIRST!!!!

    sorry, never happened before

    /calms down

  • miiiguel #2 5 years ago

    I like "QTE"'s!, They're cool, if not over-used.
    Loved Shenmue's ones.

  • snick #3 5 years ago

    If this is anything like Crackdown with web slinging then I'm in. As long as the web slinging is realistic and you can't sling from the sky.

  • Chris Gardiner #4 5 years ago

    We wants it!

  • TILT #5 5 years ago

    Something I've never understood... if Sony owns the Spiderman licence (they do, don't they?), and it seems to be reasonably popular, why do they allow games to be made for competitors' consoles? Wouldn't they be better off using the licence to push their own stuff? They even used the font for the PS3 logo, FCS! Ok, so it's Sony Pictures, not Sony SCE*, but they belong to the same company... and they do talk to each other, right? Like Sony Pictures supported the PS3 launch with the Casino Royale BD. And if they sold the licence to make games to some third party, they could have made sure for which platforms games would be allowed to appear.

  • glo #6 5 years ago

    @TILT

    I believe that although Sony owns the film rights, Activision owns the game rights for the IP. Therefore Activision just want to maximise their return by producing for all the consoles.

  • Scientist #7 5 years ago

    "web slinging is realistic"

    I have yet to see anyone slinging webs in the real world.

  • espadachin #8 5 years ago

    sounds good, i have high hopes for this....

  • space_ace #9 5 years ago

    tilt was a great french games mag

  • _grumpy #10 5 years ago

    The character models look like plastic action toys. Not nice.

  • TILT #11 5 years ago

    @glo: So, someone else (the actual creator, possibly) owns the Spiderman IP(?) and separately sold the film rights to Sony Pictures and the game rights to Activision? I see. (I think.) Of course, Activision would want to cover as many platforms as possible, and Sony would have no say in that. Thanks for your answer! :-)

  • paulf #12 5 years ago

    enjoyed spiderman 2 game, webslinging around new york was great fun, add next gen graphics to that and it could be quite tasty, film looks good too

  • Shrike #13 5 years ago

    The Spiderman rights belong to Marvel, unsurprisingly. Sony have rights to produce the films, Activision have the rights to produce the games. Marvel supervises both, which extends, I would imagine, to getting Sony to share movie material with Activision - but not to console exclusivity.

  • Steroyd #14 5 years ago

    Unless Sony buys Marvel Sony has no say of what to do with the Spiderman liscence beyond the Movie rights they bought from Marvel as Sony Pictures.

    Although they might be able to influence Activision to giving the PS3 exclusive content.

    Awe man I'm so stoked from the bits and trailers I've seen of the movie, Venom is going to have a bigger role than I thought. :D

    *Fap*
    *Fap*
    *Fap*

  • mattigan #15 5 years ago

    I can't wait for this, with an improved webslinging mechanic and more stuff to do other than the main story arc this will be the game that SM2 should have been.

    Fingers crossed that Bruce Campbell gets a look in on the voice work for the game too, how I laughed at getting owned by the "once you collect all the hint makers, they will all say something different" side quest in Spiderman 2.

    Genius!

  • Fatallyflawed #16 5 years ago

    Loved SM2. I am a bit of a Spider-man geek in general so I really can't wait for this. Is/will the demo be available on Live?

  • Jo0j #17 5 years ago

    1. Day one...sold.(360 vers.)

    2. No plans for a demo any time soon, if ever.

    3. Bruce Campbell has been confirmed. Score.

    4. Since SM3 is Sony's baby, the PS3 version gets an exclusive feature (only available in the collecter's edition...cha ching!). It lets you play as the new Goblin, complete with ''4d'' SIXAXIS control and side missions. The 360 does not because, well...it's Sony's baby.

    Edited by 3 at 20/04/07 @ 13:55

  • mattigan #18 5 years ago

    I'm sure there will be something in there for the 360 also, more than likely in the form of DLC.

    And also more than likely the extra PS3 mode a few weeks down the line, with a more sensible control scheme.

  • JayeM #19 5 years ago

    I'll probably end up buying the PS3 Collector's Edition like the idiot I am.

  • mattigan #20 5 years ago

    What's in the collectors edition?

  • TheSnotGoblin #21 5 years ago

    Quite looking forward to the Wii version of this; there was a good preview of it on Aintitcoolnews of all places. You use the nunchuk and remote to actually 'throw' your webs. If they get it right it could be hella-fun. If not; I'll just pick up the PC version (Assuming it's not a repeat of the Spidey 2 PC debacle).

  • JayeM #22 5 years ago

    Spider-Man 3 Collector's Edition - GAME Exclusive

    Collector's Edition Contains:

    * Exclusive Playable Character: New Goblin (Playable Using SIXAXIS)
    * Spider-Man 3 Movie Behind The Scenes Footage & Trailers
    * Interview With Avi Arad (Spider-Man 3 Producer)
    * B-Roll Footage Of Talent VO Session
    * Collectible Lenticular Card

    £54.99
    Edited by 4 at 20/04/07 @ 14:13

  • dbeamish #23 5 years ago

    Bruce Campbell = God.

  • mattigan #24 5 years ago

    Exclusive Playable Character: New Goblin (Playable Using SIXAXIS)

    Exclusive to the PS3 in general, not just the special edition I take it, don't you just love it when they advertise standard features as part of a "Special Collectors Edition". How's about you just tell us what the new stuff is? Is always my first thought when I see this type of marketing.

    I wouldn't waste your money if I were you, an art card and a couple of behind the scenes featurettes, that will be on youtube approximately 30 seconds after the game hits the shops, just aren't worth it.

    But still, you pays your money, you takes your choice.

  • Russty Cage #25 5 years ago

    Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Activision, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) announced today that the company has signed an agreement with Spider-Man Merchandising L.P., a limited partnership between Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) and Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc., to extend its exclusive worldwide publishing rights to the phenomenally successful Spider-Man(R) motion pictures through 2017. The license grants Activision the right to publish entertainment software products based on subsequent Spider-Man(R) movie sequels or new television series.

    Just to clear things up...

  • JayeM #26 5 years ago

    From what I've read the playable Goblin character is only in the Collector's Edition, which does seem odd.

  • zuljin #27 5 years ago

    JayeM
    "I'll probably end up buying the PS3 Collector's Edition like the idiot I am."
    Yea, you idiot. Oh wait, I ordered last week? Crap.

    @Mattigan - I believe the extra character is special edition PS3 only, but not 100% certain.

    What I find interesting is that searching for spiderman 3 (or spiderman 3 special edition) on Game site didn't show up. I had to specifically search for spiderman - price "over 40 pounds" on PS3.

  • kangarootoo #28 5 years ago

    First off,

    "That's because Spider-Man 3 is, like its predecessors, based closely upon the events in the film."

    Really?! For the most part, the sroty of Spiderman 2 (on XB anyway) had bugger all to do with the film.

    Secondly,

    "If this is anything like Crackdown with web slinging then I'm in. As long as the web slinging is realistic and you can't sling from the sky."

    I believe the game mechanic varied in the last edition depending on the platform on which you were playing. The swinging mechanic of Spiderman 2 on XB was sublime. The line only attached to real objects (but attached to absolutely everything) and once you got handy with it you could literally fly across a city, dosging through gaps, leaping over buildings and darting round corners at the last moment. Utterly stunning and very much worth a rental at least if you still have an XB kicking about (or a 360, as its on the BC list).


    P.s. The combat wasn't that good and so some of the boss battles were crap (the last one being a travesty), but just building up your stats and then jumping around the place was a joy all in its own (much like Crackdown really).
    Edited by 1 at 20/04/07 @ 15:04

  • mattigan #29 5 years ago

    Kanga, now I think about it Spiderman 2 is very much the spiritual father to Crackdown, especially in its "verticality".

    As a certain Mr Vader so eloquently put it "Now the circle is complete. . . . "

  • L0cky #30 5 years ago

    'there are about 200,000 animations for Spider-Man in the game'

    Which is publisher speak for '200,000 frames of animation'. C'mon Eurogamer, use some sense man!

    Also, I think putting (SPOILER ALERT) before saying the black suit is a symbiotic alien is a bit like putting (SPOILER ALERT) before saying the ship sinks in Titanic.

  • IAmBatman #31 5 years ago

    20 miles of sewer certainly sounds fun to web-sling down.

    And by "fun" I mean "terrible".

  • Vin #32 5 years ago

    "Since SM3 is Sony's baby, the PS3 version gets an exclusive feature (only available in the collecter's edition...cha ching!). It lets you play as the new Goblin, complete with ''4d'' SIXAXIS control and side missions. The 360 does not because, well...it's Sony's baby."

    Sixaxis. 4D.

    lolz.

  • smoothpete #33 5 years ago

    Loved SM2 with a passion, this will be fucking awesome beyond the scale of awesomeness

  • azwipe #34 5 years ago

    yeah the swinging in SM2 on Xbox was fantastic. I used to boot up the game and do nothing but just swing around for the sake of it. It was really deep and natural-feeling.

  • Cyclone #35 5 years ago

    Over the course of the battle the action transitions between interactive cut-scenes, regular cut-scenes, and regular combat (which is the first time you'll get to control Peter Parker in a videogame according to Activision, fact fans).
    Couldn't you play as Peter Parker in the old PS1 Spider-Man games, once you unlocked the Parker costume, that is.

  • JediMasterMalik #36 5 years ago

    This is sounding pretty good, may well pick it up unless the PS3 version is borked.

  • Bezzy #37 5 years ago

    "The final new feature to be introduced is something Activision is calling an 'interactive cut-scene' - better known to the gaming community as a Quick-Time Event."

    I am the gaming community, and I call it "Jaffe Time". YOU STINKING LAZY DESIGNERS SLASH PRODUCERS WHO FORCE GOOD WHOLESOME DESIGNERS TO FOLLOW THE IDIOT IDIOT TRENDS. YOU JAFFED IT UP!
    Edited by 1 at 20/04/07 @ 19:02

  • dolphan #38 5 years ago

    The symbiotic alien bit is hardly a spoiler if you ever read the comics/watched the cartoons/played the PS1 games.

  • hyperkineticninja #39 5 years ago

    @Jo0j

    Actually you can play as the Green Goblin 2 on 360 aswell...The download is on Partnernet at my work.

  • Steroyd #40 5 years ago

    Also, I think putting (SPOILER ALERT) before saying the black suit is a symbiotic alien is a bit like putting (SPOILER ALERT) before saying the ship sinks in Titanic.

    Yeah i found that wierd especially as this is a gamesite forum, I mean who the **** on any forum wouldn't know what the Venom Symbiote is.

    And i doubt anyone who hasn't been following up on Spiderman wouldn't know either, everybody would have at least one person who would tell them.

    Really?! For the most part, the sroty of Spiderman 2 (on XB anyway) had bugger all to do with the film.

    Spiderman 2 was your typical movie tie in while it did mix with the movie, it went off on it's own tangent because... well if any movie tie followed the movie exactly you'd only have one or 2 boss's to fight in the whole game.

  • BBIAJ #41 5 years ago

    @Bezzy:

    Surely you mean Suzuki'd it up?

    See Shenmue/II.

    And as for being the first time you can play as Peter Parker? Balls! Have Activision forgotten about Ultimate Spider-Man already?

    I wouldn't be surprised if there are other games too where you could also...

  • gtrmp #42 5 years ago

    You could play as Peter Parker (very briefly) in the Sega Master System/Mega Drive/CD Spider-Man game. For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if you could play as Parker in Questprobe.

  • Daikon #43 5 years ago

    @Nexus 6

    Go piss off to Ain't it Cool News you idiot.

  • kangarootoo #44 5 years ago

    @Daikon

    Calm down you nob.

    Why do some people get so riled by "first" comments? They don't matter. Go get laid and cheer up ffs.

  • Shinblade #45 5 years ago

    i'm totally looking forward to this... never really liked the first one though.

    http://ga mers.eurogamer.net/groups.php?g...

  • kangarootoo #46 5 years ago

    The Spiderman 1 game wasn't all that. That was the one where your web just attached offscreen to the sky right? I would definitely give SM2 a blast, as it looks like 3 is much closer to that experience.

  • Eighthours #47 5 years ago

    Unusually for an EG preview, there's virtually no opinion in this article at all.

    What's the game actually LIKE, Dave?

  • Dave_Taurus #48 5 years ago

    It's a bit too early to tell, and it's a bit too difficult to judge from a single well-managed hour with the game.

  • dextress #49 5 years ago

    Does anyone else love the irony of a game appearing on the Wii and the Xbox 360 that prominently showcases the PS3 branding? It even places an emphasis on the '3' specifically! How on Earth did Sony manage to destroy ten years of fantastic, consistent branding (the sort that Microsoft would kill for in terms of the Xbox legacy)? It's just unfathomable. Did the company's marketing managers all suddenly forget how to do their jobs? I work in games and in marketing, so I guess I'm particularly sensitive, but my 22 year old female friend who has never played a game in her life asked me why the PS3 had "Spider-Man writing on it" when she came over recently...

  • kangarootoo #50 5 years ago

    @dextress

    I'm not sure I would agree that the branding has been "destroyed". You assume the connection is a bad thing, but I'm not so sure.

    Seems to me that if two hugely successful franchises are being connected in people's minds, that is a good thing is it not? Spiderman fans see the PS logo and immediately there is something that connects them with another brand that may not otherwise be present. Not saying it a benefit in all cases, but I don't think the effect is as clear cut as you suggest.

  • elstoof #51 5 years ago

    Yay, 20 miles of sewers, varied and diverse sewers! :)))))

  • Jo0j #52 5 years ago

    @dextress

    It's sad, I love it too.

  • SomaticSense #53 5 years ago

    For Christsake, it's a font. Who cares.....

  • smelly #54 5 years ago

    (geek mode)

    Point 1 : Fuck you all. The first 2 spidey games were multi-platform and were fucking great. (IMHO)

    Point 2 : Both the previous films have (imho) been shite. And the director has REALLY fucked up what i consider to be the best comic book franchise out there (with batman being a close 2nd). Ironically the games of the movies have come closer to the comic books than the movies have The movies just seem to end up in non-stop blur-o-vision.

    Point 3 : As long as the GAMEPLAY is the same, i dont care what system its on. Graphics mean as much to me as special effects do in movies. I.e. I care when they're done badly, but i dont care if it's not noticeable. The fact that consoles seemed to feel the need to go "hi-def" to make the difference noticable says a lot to me.. (but then i cant say that as it'll piss off a lot of fan-kids)

  • Meho #55 5 years ago

    I am quite surprised that Ultimate Spider-man is not being mentioned here, save for the one post. It actually improved on some points of the Spider-man 2 game. The web swinging was a tad simpler but the combat and the story were notably better. Boss battles were pretty great, IMHO....

  • Goban #56 5 years ago

    If they bother to really perfect the wii controls this could be a must buy.

  • JedEvangelion #57 5 years ago

    Spiderman 2 let you walk around the Bugle Offices as Peter Parker, too. WTF are Activision on about? Just makes it sound like they're scraping for things to say about the game, which on the face of it seems like it's already got everything going for it.

    Wierd thing to brag about.