Review: Spider-Man - Shattered Dimensions

A handful of careless flaws in level design won't put you away from playing one of the most unforgettable Spider-Man games.

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8.5

The Good

Each universe explores recognizable villains in surprisingly different ways * Game conveys the abilities of Spider-Man very well * Free to choose which level to undertake first * Noir levels stand out for its very different brand of gameplay * Different artistic directions for each dimension produce unique and fascinating results * Sandman level is especially enjoyable

The Bad

The challenge-based system could be better implemented * Camera becomes uncooperative when climbing sides of buildings and ceilings * Not always clear when you can't webswing in the Noir levels * Deadpool level is incredibly terrible

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Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions draws upon the rich history of the titular web-slinging superhero to create an experience that spans across multiple universes of Spider-Man, namely Amazing, Ultimate, 2099 and Noir. For most parts, the game does an elegant work of maintaining a consistently fresh experience as you rotate among the different versions of Spider-Man between chapters but a number of careless inconsistencies in level design mean Shattered Dimensions isn’t as enjoyable as it could be. Fortunately, wise decisions in the game’s artistic direction often produce unique and fascinating results. The remarkable sense of style which permeates every level cements Shattered Dimensions’ place as one of the most unforgettable Spider-Man games in recent memory.

The driving force behind this new adventure is the search for shards of a broken magical tablet that can be used for nefarious purposes in the wrong hands. These lost pieces, however, are scattered across various dimensions and each universe’s Spider-Man must now help recover the said pieces. As you traverse the different dimensions, you will encounter an eclectic band of familiar villains pulled from various corners of Spider-Man’s history. Other than the proverbial Amazing dimension, each universe explores recognizable villains in surprisingly different ways. Doctor Octopus in 2099 is actually a female villain while the Green Goblin in Noir runs a circus and relies on his henchmen and brute strength to terrorize the innocent instead of those little gadgets that the conventional Green Goblin is known for. In the end, each villain feels sufficiently updated with the right creative details without compromising the much established level of familiarity that fans have come to expect.

As Spider-Man, you start with a fairly basic repertory of moves. You can launch into a furious chain of quick swipes and hits or you can punish enemies with a slower but more energetic swing of your web. Or you can jump into the air and drop to tease your foes with a kick before grabbing the nearest barrels and crates to throw at them. As you progress through the game, you can gradually unlock more combos and counters. You do this by spending spider essence which can be had by collecting the many spider emblems scattered around each level and defeating enemies. This currency can be used to purchase bonus costumes and improved attributes as well. As you near the end of the game, you will find that Spider-Man is very much invincible, occasionally propelling himself into the air to pick up enemies with his web and swing them around like ragdolls, webzipping from body to body without spending a moment on the ground and riveting himself to the pivot of a web tornado that crushes enemies unfortunate enough to be in its range. For most parts, the game conveys the abilities of Spider-Man very well and you feel that you can dispatch foes with the agility and finesse of the superhero.

The satisfaction that can be derived from this exhilarating brand of combat, however, can be limited by the number of challenges you complete. In addition to spending spider essence, all content can only be unlocked when you complete a specific number of challenges. Fortunately, most of the challenges are reasonable and don’t really force you to deviate from the main game so you will inadvertently accomplish the majority. For the typical player, some of the more impressive moves and bonus costumes are definitely within reach but for the perfectionist who wants to attain everything, the game is less helpful. While there are several opportunities to achieve some of the more tricky level specific challenges, the game doesn’t provide any hint on when you could possibly have a chance to complete them. To really be aware of what’s happening, you need to pause the game, bring up what the game calls the Web of Destiny and access the available challenges in a particular level. Such constant need for reminders of what can be done in a level can really break the momentum of gameplay in a game that emphasizes a smooth flow of action.

Collecting spider essence, completing challenges and unlocking more content apply to all versions of Spider-Man but there are meaningful differences, major or otherwise, that separate each incarnation of Spider-Man. As you progress through the campaign, levels will unlock in batches of four, one for each dimension of Spider-Man. This means you can choose which level you would like to undertake first, opening up opportunities for favoritism. Personally, I prefer playing the Amazing and Noir levels over the Ultimate and 2099 levels so this kind of freedom really works to my benefit. Make no mistake. It’s not that I didn’t like the Ultimate and 2099 levels but how much I like to delight myself with a pair of experiences that feel so different from each other. In the end, it just demonstrates the diversity of the entire package and the cohesion of four distinctively different experiences.

As it stands, Noir offers an experience that is almost independent of all the other dimensions, conveniently eschewing a vehement display of spider prowess for a more cunning approach of stealth gameplay. The implementation isn’t always beautiful but the intentions are noble and while portions of the Noir levels can be marred by blemishes, they always feel like fresh and unique material you could confidently chew on without feeling guilty. It helps that there’s a tremendous amount of attention and effort dedicated to the construction of Noir’s stellar landscape. Sprawling spaces are exchanged for the mundane and uncluttered dark alleys and tunnels which really help convey the tone of the Great Depression coherently for a Spider-Man of the 1930s. There are hardly enough lamps to bathe the streets and decrepit warehouses in clarity but such dimmed environments are exactly the type of cover Spider-Man Noir requires.

Spider-Man Noir hides silently in the shadows but when an unaware enemy gets close enough, he emerges from his patience to shoot a web to pull the enemy under the discomfort of the shadows, give him a few punches before wrapping him up in a web cocoon. Unfortunately, enemies can be perched on challenging rooftops and balconies at times so Spider-Man Noir needs to crawl near his foes before taking them down. If discovered, alarms are raised and within a magazine of bullets, Spider-Man Noir would be down. Such fragility encourages an exclusively stealth approach to gameplay but the tools to effectively execute such a style of gameplay aren’t always readily available in the game. The camera, for instance, can become uncooperative when you start climbing onto sides of buildings and ceilings. This unfortunate characteristic can be blamed on the camera’s lack of intelligence in understanding that it is more important to articulate both the position of Spider-Man Noir and the enemies below than to focus solely on our superhero. Struggling to fit both subjects into perspective consumes time and breaks the flow of gameplay, very much detracting you from the immersive experience that the Noir levels are supposed to sell.

The heavy emphasis on stealth means movement in the Noir levels is mainly done on quiet feet and crawling around the circumference of lit areas but when you want to get to a location quickly, you can always webswing like the other versions of Spider-Man but the Noir level design doesn't always allow this and it’s not always clear when this restriction is in place. Often times, you'll feel that you could actually webswing to reach certain areas swiftly and safely because you have taken out all the enemies but you'll quickly realize that you cannot. Occasionally, Noir levels would break away from this emphasis and corner you into a room with more than a handful of enemies. These segments build into a more traditional type of Spider-Man gameplay where defeating enemies is all about bringing together a string of combos. In levels where your fragility is thoroughly exposed and surviving is all about executing single-hit takedowns, such moments of fast paced combat and power could really help contribute variety and prevent the sense of monotony from creeping in.

2099, on the other hand, offers quite the obverse end of the package, trading dark and austere corridors in an old English town for a futuristic metropolis littered with remarkable skyscrapers and saturated with overwhelming amounts of neon lighting. The city is populated with various kinds of imaginative machineries of tomorrow that roam the wide spaces between buildings. For this reason, it’s easy to excuse the game from plunging Spider-Man into a number of arcadey free-fall sections that see our superhero dodging hovering robot, pulverizing lasers and random floating debris. The Ultimate world tones down this huge feed of details to make possible environments that look distinctively clean and simple. As the sunshine gleams off the basic color palette painting the environments, it gives the feeling that even the most utilitarian design can be attractive. The slightly sarcastic dialogue and humorous enemy designs help to add a tinge of flavor that really balances the Ultimate world.

The most surprising find yet comes in the form of the Amazing world which I suspect would appeal to anyone who is a fan of Spider-Man comics or anyone who has read a Spider-Man comic. Visually, the Amazing world is the least realistic but that isn’t saying much. The trick really is to pull the panels out from the comics and lay them as a foundation for the environments in the Amazing world. Just about everything in Amazing have a distinctive black outline which really helps to communicate the comic feel.

Among 2099, Ultimate and Amazing, there aren’t many differences in gameplay though variations in their weapons of choice help make each Spider-Man feel unique. Spider-Man 2099 delivers painful blows with his knuckles while Ultimate Spider-Man unleashes fierce tentacle attacks and exploding spikes and Amazing Spider-Man launches into brutal combos with his web hammers and fists. Both 2099 and Ultimate Spider-Man have an enhanced combat mode. The later is able to draw energy from his rage meter to enter rage mode where his attacks become significantly more powerful and quicker. The former’s accelerated vision, with its ability to slow down time, makes it easier for our superhero to dodge target-seeking missiles and mislead them into enemies.

When it comes down to comparison, there are definitely some noteworthy levels. The Sandman level from the Amazing dimension, for instance, features sand monsters which must be doused with water before they can be harmed. The boss battle with Sandman may be less than creative but it takes place in a multi-platform arena with a continuous sandstorm that sends barrels and crates flying through the air. It’s one of the more demanding boss battles and certainly feels more epic than the other boss battles. On the other hand, the Deadpool level from the Ultimate dimension doesn’t offer anything more than a humdrum task of destroying one television camera after another. Even if the constant destruction of television cameras is supposed to be an idea of humor modeled after the less than serious Deadpool, it’s a very poor concept to build a level around. The perpetual need to frequently backtrack to search for new television cameras which pop up in places you have already visited also makes the Deadpool level feel incredibly repetitive. At the very least, none of the other 12 levels play like the terrible Deadpool mission. And when all is said and done, you would have just played Shattered Dimensions for 10 hours.

Final comments
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimension does what no other Spider-Man game has before by offering four playable versions of our superhero in one neat package. And for that, Shattered Dimensions deserves credit. The different impressive environments help give each dimension a unique identity and because each Spider-Man features their own subtle quirks and employs varying styles of combat, there’s a substantial amount of variety to be had here. The Noir levels definitely stand out and though its execution can be less than perfect, its intentions are realized beautifully. There are a few misses when it comes to level design but really, Shattered Dimensions is one of the most uniquely crafted games you would ever played. It’s hard to complain.