Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions review.

Developer Beenox have been given full control of the Spider-Man licence and have so far created two games and are working on a third. The first of these is Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. A game which changes a few things for the genre and removes many of the problems of past games. However, it fails to reach Arkham City greatness thanks to a few issues.

To begin, the story is a little uninspired. Basically, in a fight between Spidery and Mysterio, the tablet of Order and Chaos is shattered, causing dimensions to fall apart. The fragments of the tablet must be recovered by four different Spider-Men. There's the Amazing Spider-Man, who's got some pretty handy web attacks and specializes in acrobatic combat. Spider-Man Noir, who is a stealthy wall-crawler that uses the shadows to his advantage. Spider-Man 2099 has the fastest combat, some free falling sections and a handy ability which slows down time called spider-reflexes...I mean accelerated vision. And last but not least, there's Ultimate Spider-Man, who is the tank of the four. He dishes out the most damage and has flailing tentacles thanks to the black suit. Expect to be swarmed in the Ultimate universe. All these Spider-Men remove the repetitive gameplay that plagued many of the web-slinger's adventures thanks to the sheer variety in combat styles. However, the story is dull. Here it is summed up in one sentence: Spider-Man fights chases a villain throughout the level to retrieve the tablet. Luckily, the graphics make up for the lackluster story. Each world looks different from the other and really suits the style of Spider.

Gameplay is strong. You fight as the Amazing Spider-Man using acrobatic, web-based attacks, 2099 using extremely fast paced brawling, launching and jumping attacks and Ultimate by hitting everything in sight. Ultimate makes you feel like a powerhouse, smashing everything, hitting hard and yet still being a small, lanky teenager with surprising agility. The immense power you feel makes up for the lack of strategy involved. Noir is the Spider-Man that feels different from the rest. Guns to a lot of damage in the Noir universe, so remaining in the shadows is imperative. You spend a lot of time assessing when and where to do takedowns, which bring an enemy down in one hit. Try charging in all macho and buff, you will take too much damage and go down. This is cool, but it not fully fleshed out. For one, the thugs have set patrol paths, so it's not as strategic as Arkham Asylum/City and it also exposes the game's major problem. The camera. It is especially tricky to move on the wall. But, it isn't game destroying, just really, really, really irritating. When fighting with the other universes, you string together light and heavy attacks. It is possible to button mash your way through, but this game it about making your own fun with the combat. You can buy upgrades to the combo's by completing challenges, which unlock more upgrades and give you points. You can beat up the bad guys with merely using the same button, or you can choose to hit him with a tentacle, launch him into the air, hit him again, throw him into the ground and then land a kick into him and oh, so much more. 
The boss battles are also really fun and have a feeling of epicness. Each boss is fun to engage and battle, but this two opens up another problem. The game is just too easy. Overall, it is fun, just not hugely challenging. There is one other thing I would like to say. GLITCHES GALORE! But, that shouldn't put you off too much.

Get back here with my 3DS!

Shattered Dimensions is a great choice for fans of Spider-Man, or newcomers looking to discover the character, just don't expect anything ground-breaking.