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IGN Preview of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
It'd be easy to have a knee-jerk reaction and think of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions for DS as the "lesser" version of the game. Yes, all the other versions share the same content, and yes, all the other versions are fully 3D, but I prefer to think this makes the portable Spidey unique. Instead of a shoe-horned, portable version of the console game, DS players are getting an original adventure that pays attention to the desires of Spider-Man fans while making a game that harkens back to great side-scrolling adventures like Super Metroid.
Shattered Dimensions tells the story of several Spider-Mans. Yup, that's right, multiple web-slinging heroes appear in this game, as the game covers the Amazing, Noir and 2099 universes. The basic premise is that a special tablet has been... erm... shattered, and now multiple Spider-Mans have to work together to save the world. The story is obviously much more complicated than my one sentence synopsis, but I figure it's better you get the story firsthand when you play it, especially because it's merely a device for them to bring together several types of gameplay into one game.
At its core Shattered Dimensions DS is a side-scrolling adventure game featuring several characters. You take each Spider-Man through a series of environments, using their special powers to progress and unlock more abilities for both themselves and the other Spideys. For instance, while the 2099 Spider-Man doesn't initially start off with the ability to use web to get around (he glides instead), he eventually will get this power from one of the other Universes and give his gliding ability to the other Spider-Mans in return. Using their new found powers, each of Spideys will be able to access previously restricted areas, a la the Metroid franchise.
Exploration and use of the various Spider-Man abilities is a big part of the game, but combat has also been designed to be deeper than what you'd expect in a portable game. The game encourages players to build combos, and gives the player a lot of options despite the system's relatively limited amount of buttons. You can mash the attack button if you just want to do standard attacks, but skilled players will also knock their opponents into the air, tie up additional enemies with web, and even yank weapons from their hands with a quick shot of web. I was honestly surprised at how fun the combat has turned out -- usually portable games have boring, repetitious combat at best -- but this is deep enough that I think players will get a lot out of it if they choose to master it.
When I went into the demo of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions on DS I expected a game that put fan-service before gameplay (or worse, a crappy port of the console versions), but I was happy to be proven wrong. Spidey fans will still get a kick out of the game's newly created enemies (seriously, they created entirely new enemies in conjunction with Marvel for the DS version), but even those with a cursory interest in Spider-Man will probably enjoy the game's surprisingly deep combat and exploration. The most important thing to know about the DS version of Shattered Dimensions? This is no crappy port, but a fully realized action adventure made exclusively for the handheld gamer.
©2010-08-30, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Shattered Dimensions tells the story of several Spider-Mans. Yup, that's right, multiple web-slinging heroes appear in this game, as the game covers the Amazing, Noir and 2099 universes. The basic premise is that a special tablet has been... erm... shattered, and now multiple Spider-Mans have to work together to save the world. The story is obviously much more complicated than my one sentence synopsis, but I figure it's better you get the story firsthand when you play it, especially because it's merely a device for them to bring together several types of gameplay into one game.
At its core Shattered Dimensions DS is a side-scrolling adventure game featuring several characters. You take each Spider-Man through a series of environments, using their special powers to progress and unlock more abilities for both themselves and the other Spideys. For instance, while the 2099 Spider-Man doesn't initially start off with the ability to use web to get around (he glides instead), he eventually will get this power from one of the other Universes and give his gliding ability to the other Spider-Mans in return. Using their new found powers, each of Spideys will be able to access previously restricted areas, a la the Metroid franchise.
Exploration and use of the various Spider-Man abilities is a big part of the game, but combat has also been designed to be deeper than what you'd expect in a portable game. The game encourages players to build combos, and gives the player a lot of options despite the system's relatively limited amount of buttons. You can mash the attack button if you just want to do standard attacks, but skilled players will also knock their opponents into the air, tie up additional enemies with web, and even yank weapons from their hands with a quick shot of web. I was honestly surprised at how fun the combat has turned out -- usually portable games have boring, repetitious combat at best -- but this is deep enough that I think players will get a lot out of it if they choose to master it.
When I went into the demo of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions on DS I expected a game that put fan-service before gameplay (or worse, a crappy port of the console versions), but I was happy to be proven wrong. Spidey fans will still get a kick out of the game's newly created enemies (seriously, they created entirely new enemies in conjunction with Marvel for the DS version), but even those with a cursory interest in Spider-Man will probably enjoy the game's surprisingly deep combat and exploration. The most important thing to know about the DS version of Shattered Dimensions? This is no crappy port, but a fully realized action adventure made exclusively for the handheld gamer.
©2010-08-30, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved