Videogame Review: "Spider-man: Edge Of Time"

Videogame Review: Spider-man: Edge Of Time

Available on: X-Box 360, Playstation 3, Wii

As a life-long fan of Marvel’s wall-crawler, I have played nearly every single Spider-man videogame since I could hold a controller. From Spider-man on the Sega Genesis to Friend or Foe on X Box 360, I’ve played the all (with the exception of the Sega CD game). As such, I look forward to each new videogame adventure, but something was different about Edge Of Time. It seemed like I hadn’t heard anything about the game for quite some time, and to be honest, I didn’t even know the game was coming out until I saw a commercial for X-Men: Destiny that mentioned this game as well. Needless to say, my spider-sense was tingling as I put the game into my 360.

Spider-man: Edge Of Time was developed by Beenox, the same game designer team that created last year’s Shattered Dimensions, a surprisingly fun (if repetitive) game that showcased The Amazing Spider-man and his three other alternate reality counterparts: Ultimate Spider-man, Noir Spider-man, and the Spider-man from 2099. For this follow-up, the only non-Amazing Spidey is Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-man of 2099, and while there are some cool moments between the two Spider-men, the game is much, much weaker when compared to the previous game.

Anti-Venom: One of Three(?) Villains In The Game

Edge Of Time begins when Warren Sloane, a mad scientist from the future who alters the past (and Anti-Venom) and kills Spider-man. This causes a major rift in not only O’Hara’s time, but Peter Parker’s as well. Gone is the Daily Bugle; in its place is Alchemax, the company from the year 2099. Somehow killing Peter Parker allows the company to exist in the modern day, and one of its star employees is none other than Parker himself. 2099 Spidey is able to converse with Parker, and the two begin to fix both of their time periods, NEVER LEAVING THE ALCHEMAX BUILDING. This game play choice may not seem too big of deal at first, but when seemingly every Spider-man game that has appeared on the current-gen consoles (and past gen ones) has been open-world. You were able to swing wherever you wanted to. Locked doors that required passkeys didn’t hold you back, or weird vent systems that make the camera go nuts, or drab, boring white hallways that seem to stretch on forever.

You also weren’t stuck battling endless robot drones. Of course, the enemies in the previous games weren’t all that different from one another, but holy crap. The enemies in Edge Of Time include a thug with electric fists, thug with sniper rifle and jetpack, and big thug that looks like a reject from Arkham Asylum. Oh, I forgot about the alien mutant things that attack you for one level. Yep, that’s the only amount of variety in the enemies in this game.

Since When Could Spidey Do THIS With His Webbing?

Not only are the enemies and locations boring in EoT, the combat is insanely tedious as well. You have the two heavy and light attacks, and the ability to shoot webs at the robot/thug clones, which does absolutely NOTHING. Seriously Beenox, why would you put that in the game if it doesn’t add anything to the combat? Hitting the left trigger will allow Spider-man to either enter his “spider-speed” mode (for Amazing), or produce a decoy to confuse enemies (2099).  However, that’s it and that’s all when it comes to combat. You can upgrade your abilities, but to be completely honest I didn’t notice a difference between the Spider-men at the beginning of the game and the ones at the end.

Spider-Man 2099: Stealing Girlfriends since 1992

It’s a real shame that Edge Of Time is such a disappointment, as the story is actually halfway decent. Despite the fact that the only villains in the game are Anti-Venom, Black Cat 2099, and Walker Sloane,voiced by Val Kilmer (how the mighty have fallen). Doctor Octopus also has a "blink and you'll miss it" cameo.  There is a pretty cool twist halfway through the game, but by that point it’s too little, too late.  After the surprisingly fun Shattered Dimensions last year, I think it’s safe to say that we Spidey fans were expecting another fun, or at least competent, game. Unfortunately what we got is little more than a downloadable add-on packaged as a full-length game. Unless it’s super cheap on Black Friday, even the most die-hard Spider-man fans should avoid this one. 

Final Verdict: 5 Spider-webs out of 10