My dimensions have been shattered

Were you curious as to why I didn't post anything last week? The answer to that, is that I've been in a Spider-Man coma! So much Spidey in such a short time literally shorted out my brain. So to make up for my vegetative state, I'll be reviewing every Spider book that has come in the past two weeks....starting tomorrow. Today I will be reviewing the amazing new video game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions!

Story: Spider-Man ends up destroying (or you might say shattering!) a mysterious and powerful tablet during a battle with Mysterio. The pieces of the tablet end up being scattered into four different dimensions, each with their own Spider-Man (Amazing, Noir, Ultimate, and 2099). It's up to them to find the missing pieces of the tablet. Naturally, the pieces of the tablet fall into the hands of each universes villains and fighting ensues.

The story is pretty solid, and develops nicely while playing through the game. That's not really a surprise though, as it is written by current spider scribe Dan Slott. Slott has a great feel for the character in the comic books, and his writing has translated well to the world of video games. The story is jam packed full of references that any true Spidey fan will pick up on. That's including a reference to the Amazing Spider-Ham! The constant dialogue between Spidey and his rogues gallery is priceless, especially in the ultimate universe. I found myself laughing out loud a quite a bit. It's how Spidey is supposed to sound in a video game, and I think it's awesome.

Controls: The controls are pretty solid as well. I occasionally found myself not wall crawling in the direction I wanted to, but I'm used to that with Spider-Man video games. Web swinging took a bit for me to get used to. Once I figured it out though, I was web swinging all over the place. Besides those two minor roadblocks, I found the controls to be tight and responsive. I especially liked the web swinging marker system, which allowed you to jump to objects using your web lines with ease. Kudos to whoever thought of that idea.

Graphics: Each universe had it's own look, which really helps immerse you into these worlds. The characters models look good, and move fluidly. I dare say fluid movement of the characters is more important for a Spider-Man game, than super realistic graphics. I would say it's on par with the first Bio-Shock, in terms of graphics detail. That was a good looking game, so that's nothing to feel bad about it. It's not setting a new benchmark for computer graphics, but I wouldn't consider that a detriment. The game looks great and I loved the stylized choices they made for each of the Spider-Men.

Anything Else?: Yeah! How about each of the voice actors for Spidey are from four different Spider-Man cartoon shows! That's pretty awesome! It's a lot of little things, like the voice actors, that make you realize that the creators of this game tried to cram as much Spider history into this title as they could. It feels like a labor of love when you play this game.

Anything Bad?: Yeah! I don't like the choice they made for the voice acting for the 2099 Spider-Man. They have the guy who did the voice work for the 70's cartoon, and he is just way too happy to be Spidey 2099. This character should be more brooding and have a deeper voice. He comes from a world that is being destroyed by evil corporations, but he sounds like he's zipping around a roller disco while cracking jokes. It just doesn't feel right. I think it's cool they got that voice actor to work on the game, but he shouldn't have been used for that Spider-Man.

Overall?: I freakin' loved it! It's a blast to play and totally worth it for any die-hard Spidey fan like myself. Buy it!!