Swings into action... if time doesn't run out.
I haven't covered Spider-man on the 3DS for this Spider-manathon because those games were pretty similar to the home console counterparts, but The Amazing Spider-man 2 is its
own beast. This is a 2-D sidescroller action game, the same as
most previous Nintendo Handheld Spider-man games, and it's a pretty decent game if you're willing to entertain the fact that the game does little to flex the 3DS' muscle.
Do I really have to say the same thing for the
umpteenth time? This game follows a truncated version of the already truncated version of the plot from the movie of the same name. While Spider-man will deal with Electro and Green Goblin, like in the movie, Gwen Stacy and the rest of the plot is gone, exchanged for new subplots with Uncle Ben's killer, Kraven and Carnage... at least no Venom, right?! It's a
poor telling of a rather bland plot.
Spider-man can do
everything you
should expect him to do by this point in time: Punch, shoot web, climb and crawl on walls and ceilings as well as swing on web, everything is accounted for. Most of the game is a simple 'go from one end of the stage to the other',
hassle free. Along the way you'll run across a few different types of enemies, each must be taken down in different ways. Some will counterattack your every move, so you must bind them with web first and then perform two web-takedowns(Special attack), others won't go down with punches so you must knock'em down with web-takedowns, and most enemies must be webbed once they hit the ground
unless you want them to get back up. The combat is pretty simple and bland, but it's alright.
You'll earn experience points, either peppered throughout every stage or by defeating enemies, and by leveling up you'll be allowed to learn new special moves or enhancements to Spidey's strength or stamina. This made exploring levels feel rather
rewarding, plus every level has three costume pieces, collect all three and earn a new costume, which means that there're as many costumes as there're levels, which is a
lot. It makes for a fun game to simply just search for stuff, because it's
worth it.
There's a few rather annoying design choices that keep the game from being as decent as it could've, for instance, before every single stage you have to partake in a poorly explained and poorly designed
timed swinging section in which you must avoid obstacles and grab clock-items in order to receive more time, run out of time and it's back to the start. Midway through these you'll be
forced to play a generic and recycled 'Save the 6 hostages', 'find the 13 bombs', 'defeat the 13 enemies'. They all play out the same way, with things in pretty much the same exact location as before and only exist to
waste your time. And
secondly, while the touchscreen mini-games
aren't pervasive,
some boss battles incorporate the touchscreen into the affair, which is rather
annoying. Kraven's boss battle is particularly bad, since you must avoid bullets on the top-screen as you watch the lower screen to learn where you have to touch for a few seconds on the touchscreen.
Bad boss design.
The Amazing Spider-man 2 on the 3DS is a very mediocre game. It has a simple premise that works decently enough on its own, making everything so rewarding was a very smart move, but the horrible swinging pre-stages really take a
toll on the overall experience.
5.5 out of 10
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