Spider-Man 3 (Xbox 360)

Spider-Man 3 offers a lot of fun, but it's also flawed in many areas.

Of all the movie licensed video games that have been released over the years, the Spider-Man series has been one of the best. Spider-Man 2 presented a free-roaming city for Spidey to swing in and that swinging was pretty damn good. With expectations for Spider-Man 3 being incredibly high it was hard not to be a little excited when loading up Activision's Xbox 360 effort. Was this to be the ultimate companion to this summer's most hyped blockbuster movie?

Spider-Man 3 gives players a fully recreated New York City to play in, and for the first few minutes that's exactly what you'll do. The 360 controller's Right Trigger spins Spidey's web and your direction is handled by the left analogue stick. This simple control scheme makes cruising the New York skyline a complete joy and you can spend hours zipping about without touching a mission. You'll want to move to the actual game at some point though as they serve to move you through the game and give Spidey some advanced moves - including the black suit that you've no doubt seen in all the movie trailers.

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Your 3D map of New York acts as a hub of sorts, letting you mark which mission or activity you want to tackle next. Doing so places a marker in the game world and then it's up to you to swing over to the starting point. 10 storylines make up the core missions in Spider-Man 3, with only one of those following the story of the new movie. This means you'll face all the enemies in the movie as well as plenty that are just found in the game. None of these storylines are long enough to have made a complete game on their own, but together they make for a sizeable campaign. The problem with so many stories going on simultaneously is that the game struggles to tell any of them with huge success, so what's going on can be a little confusing.

The majority of missions are combat-based, so you'll face a series of goons before a battle with a boss of some sort. Spidey eventually builds up quite a move-set that sees him using his fists and web slinging abilities, but the key to combat is the dodge move. Enemies handily indicate when they're going to attack by displaying a marker above their heads, and by pressing and holding Left Bumper during this attack Spidey will dodge and let you counter. It gets easier with practice, but it's no substitute for a proper dodge control system, like that seen in God of War. In fact, I instinctively flicked the right analogue stick on numerous occasions, expecting Spidey to roll away only to have the camera rotate ever so slightly.

When faced with numerous enemies it takes supreme concentration and a smattering of luck to come out alive, although you can often use their dumb AI against them, picking one off at a time.

It doesn't help that our friendly neighbourhood superhero is rather the weakling (even when his health is upgraded part way through the game). When faced with numerous enemies it takes supreme concentration and a smattering of luck to come out alive, although you can often use their dumb AI against them, picking one off at a time. Knock an enemy down a ledge and he won't be able to get out, even if it's just a few inches below, and barrels prove to be equally baffling to these almost comical bad guys.

Thankfully the designers at Treyarch must have realised that repeatedly dying on long missions is annoying, so some fairly generous checkpoints are in place to prevent you from having to replay large sections - for the most part. From time to time you'll have to replay a fight simply because you failed to successfully press some buttons in the correct order the moment after you thought you had a baddy nailed. Yes, it seems pressing buttons to match those that flash up on screen is next-gen gameplay. It's not a bad idea now and again, but Spider-Man 3 uses this over and over again.

The game often uses Quick Time Events to show key moments

When you're not fighting goons, you're doing things like disabling bombs. There is a whole series of missions built around this gameplay mechanic and it's not bad at all. No doubt you'll have dabbled with bombs in other video games but Treyarch has done a good job here, with each bomb featuring numerous mini-game layers to crack in order for Spidey to save the day. Other missions will see you having to take some photos (that is Peter Parker's job after all) and take MJ on trips around the city. These aren't much fun, with MJ's missions being a particular chore to get through.

As well as these story missions you can take part in numerous activities, the kind of which many free-roaming games offer to extend your time with the game. In Spidey 3 you get to race around New York City from checkpoint to checkpoint, sky dive through hoops, fight gangs and defuse bombs as fast as possible. None of these are much fun, with the sky diving being the worst of the bunch by a considerable margin. You can also swing around the city looking for people that need Spider-Man's help but these aren't as good as the story missions.

To help you out you can tune into Spidey's spider sense, giving you an almost x-ray-like view of the area. Key points of interest and enemies are highlighted in colour and are easy to pick out on the black and white image. It's a neat touch and often helps you keep track of enemies while travelling through the busy city streets.

Just as the core game is extremely hit and miss, the visuals and overall presentation are equally varied. Standing atop a skyscraper and then freefalling before starting to swing between the buildings of New York never gets boring, and it's clear that Treyarch really worked on nailing the look and feel of this vital part of the game. Spider-Man's model is also excellent and he moves with the kind of fluidity you'd expect of such a nimble character.

Spidey and the City look great, but indoor areas don't look so brilliant.

Less great are the indoor locations, which have a distinctly shiny, last-gen feel to them. It doesn't help that the frame rate indoors seems to stutter almost constantly and the camera has no clue about how to present the action in a playable way. It's a constant battle as you try to get a good look at the surrounding area and keep Spidey walking or swinging where you want him to. Audio work is incredibly hammy, despite the real actors reprising their roles, and it all feels a tad sloppy at times.

For completionists there are loads of tokens to collect and activities to complete, but most Xbox 360 owners will be more interested in how the Achievement points have been handled. Sadly, it's pretty standard stuff, with the majority coming for working through the game. However, it's not really a major problem as there's plenty of content to keep you playing well beyond the typical 10-12 hours of an action game.

Spider-Man 3 is one frustrating game. While playing you'll more than likely go through spells of loving what Treyarch has done, but you'll want to throw in the towel at numerous points too. The camera and combat system are most to blame, with the two working against you far too regularly for Spidey's next-gen debut to be considered a classic. It does have that blockbuster feel to it though, and is more than fun enough to warrant a purchase if you fancy some web slinging.