WADE MANNS – The Corsair
By Activision and Beenox
Genre: Third-person action/stealth
Throughout the years, our favorite wall-crawler Spider-Man has appeared in many games, but few have explored the alternate continuities. (There was a very good Ultimate Spider-Man game a few years back, but no attempts since then). Now you get to experience four of these dimensions at once, when the Amazing Spider-Man accidentally shatters the mythical Tablet of Order and Chaos, an artifact possessing magical powers, scattering the shards all over his own, as well as three other parallel worlds.
You, indeed, control Spidey in four incarnations: the one we’re most familiar with (Amazing); a parallel-time equivalent who can use his Black Suit with impunity thanks to the influence of Madame Web (Ultimate); the future Spider-Man, Miguel O’Hara (2099); and a past, what-if-Spidey-were-a-ninja version of Peter Parker (Noir). Moves are very similar among the four, with certain added attributes; Amazing is faster and more agile, Ultimate can enter a Rage Mode for enhanced power, Noir can (and pretty much must) walk in shadow and take his enemies down silently, and 2099 has immense melee power and can glide through the air with ease with his advanced suit.
The Rogues’ Gallery of enemies are enhanced by their possession of the pieces of the Tablet: Kraven creates the ultimate hunting ground and populates it with his personally-trained Hunters; in the past, Hammerhead finds a piece to deliver to his boss Norman Osborn; the Hobgoblin seizes a shard to multiply himself in the future; and Electro uses his to grow to super-size in Ultimate. And it goes on, with supervillains seizing controls of the various shards, with the four Spideys, of course, being given the responsibility of putting the Tablet back together.
Additional challenge is added by the Web of Destiny, which offers opportunities to earn additional points to upgrade each individual Spidey with new moves and more health, as well as track your progress within each level.
If you haven’t gotten into these separate comic-book worlds, check this game out; it’s a great introduction to three new, interesting continuities as well as further exploration of a familiar one. Five out of five!