Spider-Man

aka: Spider-Man 64
Moby ID: 4333
PlayStation Specs
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Description official descriptions

Spider-Man is the first 3D game to star the popular web-slinger. It is loosely based on Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Spider-Man Unlimited and features some of the voice cast from each and similar character designs.

Peter Parker is attending a demonstration of the reformed Dr. Otto Octavius's new invention when an imposter Spider-Man steals the device. Spider-Man must work to clear his name and uncover the sinister motives behind the device's theft.

This game features appearances not only by most major Spider-Man characters, but cameos by numerous other characters from the Marvel Universe, such as the Human Torch, Punisher, Daredevil and Captain America.

Spider-Man's webs are greatly emphasized. He can use them both for navigational purposes, like swinging or ziplining, and for offensive and defensive combat, such as tying up a villain, coating his fists with web for extra oomph, or building a protective shield. His web supply is limited though and he must find new cartridges or risk running out. The wall-crawling powers are also prominently features. Spider-Man can cling to any wall or ceiling. This is used for basic environmental navigation and for stealth as there are many sequences where you crawl over the heads of unsuspecting thugs, or drop down and catch them off-guard.

Combat is based around Spider-Man's ability to jump, kick, punch and web. By combining these with direction and in various combinations, Spider-Man is able to throw objects such as furniture, hurl web balls, yank enemies into melee range and follow up with a flurry of hits, among other things. There are a number of boss-battles as well, all of which are puzzle-based.

Missions vary from the fairly common fight-your way-to-the-goal or find-the-key-that-unlocks-the-door types to races to catch some or evade them or just trying to avoid the police.

There are several side goals in addition to the main mission including multiple unlockable Spider-Man costumes and numerous hidden comic book covers to find.

Spellings

  • ספיידרמן - Hebrew spelling
  • 蜘蛛侠 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (PlayStation version)

178 People (112 developers, 66 thanks) · View all

Producer
Associate Producer
Executive Producer
Senior Vice President Studios
Executive Vice President World Wide Studios
Vice President of Marketing
Director of Marketing
Brand Manager
Publicist
Legal
QA Manager and Senior Project Lead
QA Project Lead
QA Floor Lead
Testers
For Marvel Comics
Lead Designer
Lead Programmer
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 51 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 96 ratings with 10 reviews)

"Spins A Web Any Size, Catches Thieves Just Like Flies..."

The Good
Spider-man, as one of the most popular superheroes ever conceived has therefore had many videogames based on his exploits. Many were quick to call this incarnation of Spidey games the best. Yet MOST Spider-man games are pretty good. (I wonder how many people that claim that this “best” Spidey game, have actually played the other ones.-MM-) That includes Sega’s Spider-man arcade game, as well as their Spider-man vs. The Kingpin. So in this review I will not examine: is this the BEST Spidey game? It will be more on what makes it good/better/worse, than previous titles.

“Welcome, true believers.”-Common Spidey intro, Stan Lee-

In Spider-man, the infamous web head has been framed by a Spidey imposter! After he makes off with the newly re-formed Doctor Otto Octavias.(AKA Doctor Octopus.-MM-) Now the cops are out to capture Spidey. Meanwhile the city has been blanketed by a strange green fog. As Spider-man you must clear your name, while facing some of the web slingers greatest foes. And of course save New York City…again. This game is loaded with various levels all with different objectives. Some will involve fighting a super-villain, stopping a bank heist, or even crawling through dank sewers. One might think that a character like Spider-man that can do so many things would make for a game with confusing controls, and awkward mechanics. But like many of the web-heads other video game adventures, the controls are simple and easy to master. And also do a stellar job at emulating Spidey’s powers.

Fists Of Fury

For instance, “X” punches, while “B” kicks. Hitting these buttons repeatedly form combos. You can even mix punch/kick combos. “Y” is used to activate webbing. You can shoot web to tie up foes. Create web spikes, that increase Spider-man’s attack power. And my favorite grab a foe with your web line and then pull them back and into a wall.

As one would expect from a Spider-man game, you can also web swing. The 3D Spidey games do a better job overall of emulating Spider-man’s swinging. But like it’s 2D predecessors the basics are the same. That is to say that web swinging is easy to do. Something that some may take for granted, unless they have played games with bad superhero controls.(I.e. In Batman: Dark Tomorrow, using Batman’s grapple was an exercise in futility.-MM-)

You can also Zip line. A web technique that allows you to quickly web sling to another building, or up to the ceiling. This at the time was new to Spidey games, and is a most excellent feature.

Secret Agent Man

Spider-man also packs in tons of secrets. There are comic books to collect. Which are ingeniously hidden through out the game. Alternate costumes to unlock, when certain requirements are met. You can view character models in the 3D character viewer. The Playstation version had a unlockable mode called, “What If”. (“What If” comics featured alternate realities of the Marvel Universe. Such as, “What If, Spider-man killed the Lizard?”-MM-) And like the comic series of the same name, it was an alternate version of the game. It was nearly impossible to unlock. New to the Dreamcast version, some of the “What If” elements are already in the story mode.(Look for a cameo by Ghost Rider, among others.-MM-)

Graphically the DC version is superior in every way to that of the PSX, and N64.(You can actually see the web lines on Spidey’s suit!-MM-) Anyone that claims otherwise must be blind. Edges are clean, and lines run straight. Objects look more clear, and the view distance is greatly increased. Granted this game does not look as good as the Xbox Spider-man movie game. But it IS the best looking version of this particular Spidey game.

Sound wise the Dreamcast version excels as well. It is no secret that the Dreamcast had a much better sound card than that of the PSX and N64. The music sounds better, as do the voices and the sound effects. The voice overs themselves are a mixed bag. The voices of Black Cat, and Doc Ock are from the 90’s Spidey cartoon. And sound great in the roles still. It is a different Spider-man, and while not as good as the voice actor from the T.V. show the new Spidey does a good job. However many voices are poor. The thugs in particular. But some more major characters have poor voices as well. Such as Carnage.

The Bad
Evil Incarnations

Now that I have expressed the good, how about I go into the negative. As this game is not perfect. Firstly some levels are feel like filler. As if the design team needed to make the game longer than it was, and therefore added things that seem unnecessary. Yet that is not the worst of it some levels are just plain crap.

The save system is flawed at best. You can only save your progress after the certain levels. Not after every level as in better designed games. So you often end up playing parts over, or having to play longer than you wanted to. This may not bother everyone as much as it bothers me. But then again being mainly a PC gamer, I am used to save systems that allow you to save when ever you want.

There are also some weak plot points. I would spoil them if I gave them away. Allow me to just say this: Spider-man/Peter Parker is supposed to be a genius. Yet he does not see some things in the game clearly, which makes it look like he is in fact an idiot.

Why is the voice quality so mixed? You have some great voice overs, and then you have some terrible ones. Where is the consistency?

The Bottom Line
Overall this is a great Spider-man game. Not the BEST, but I don’t even know which one I would pick as my personal favorite. There are many versions of the game. Web head fans will want to play any version they can get there sticky hands on. If you have the means however I really recommend this version of the game. After all, who doesn’t want to play the best version of a game?

Dreamcast · by MasterMegid (723) · 2007

Still holds up after 20 years

The Good
The perfect introduction of Spider-Man to the new millennium. The game shows that this was made by Spider-Man fans with its story, writing and solid performances. Plus, Stan Lee is the narrator! How cool is that? The story follows Peter Parker as he tries to find the impostor Spider-Man that stole technology from a reformed Otto Octavius during a science expo. To make matters worse, a green fog has covered New York City (leftover from the original PS1 version). In thirty-ish levels, you will fight against one of Spidey's greatest rogues such as Scorpion, Rhino and even Venom all while getting closer to the true masterminds. Graphics wise, it is an improvement over the limitations of the original Neversoft PlayStation version (Mary Jane and Black Cat).

The Bad
Controls and camera take some time getting used to (especially in boss fights and that Venom chase level). There are the occasional glitches in 2 levels of the game. Certain boss and enemy character models although getting a more detailed look thanks to the work of Treyarch on the Dreamcast port have gotten an almost campy feel (Rhino, cops/SWAT officers and the bald henchmen).

The Bottom Line
One of the finest superhero games of the twenty first century. To those who complain about FPS, I advise you to read the Spider-Man Dreamcast preview article where they interviewed the art director Christian Bušić. It will clear up that particular quirk.

Windows · by Hrvoje Grahovac (2) · 2024

Spidey lives!

The Good
I think all of us would be hard-pressed to find a good Spider-Man game prior to this release, with only vaguely entertaining games like Maximum Carnage or Capcom's fighting games. And that's due to the simple fact that no game bothered to really exploit the most interesting aspects of the web-slinger, by that I mean not beating up criminals while dressed up in red/blue tights, but actually being some sort of urban ninja that gracefully leaps and swings around buildings thanks to his superpowers.

Gray Matter's/Activision's Spider-Man game stands in my mind as the first game that actually bothered to address this and modelled the game around Spidey's superhuman acrobatics and crawling feats. It's also no surprise that this is the character's first polygonal game (which surely made it all possible). Anyway.

Spider-Man is a 3D action adventure title (genre which needs no introduction) in which you throttle around a set of stages following your spider-sense (represented via an onscreen compass) towards a certain objective which usually includes beating up one of Spidey's many foes or solving a light puzzle or another miscellaneous objective (such as tailing an enemy or escaping the law). Along the way you get to fight with several henchmen/thugs with a collection of punch/kick combos and your good ol' webbing which following arcade rules has a set of special moves which allow you to shape it as Scarlet Spider's Impact Webbing, or other useful modes. You also can collect special power-ups and bonus secrets to help you along the way.

Navigating the gameworld is pretty easy thanks to a full-fledged control scheme and interface that allows you to zip-line into any wall or ceiling or instantly start swinging around, with the wall crawling (which you get to use indoors as you work your way through vents and sneak around) turning the ceilings translucent and keeping the perspective. Camera control is automatic, and the controls neglect the mouse (a legacy of it's console origins) but a handy manual camera/target mode allows you to quickly position yourself and carefully explore your surroundings.

While the graphics are a mixed bag I'll at least say that they are extremely well animated, with Spidey specially leaping and moving in very life-like ways (a must since shoddy animation would have really hurt the game), the level design is simple yet attractive, with the most exciting levels by far being the ones that take place around the NY skyscrappers in which the camera zooms out significantly and proceeds to give you a birds-eye view of Spidey swinging around as he chases a foe or escapes the police. It may not sound like much but it would be the most majestic Spider-Man has ever looked since Alex Ross's "Webs" or until the Spider-Man movie.

Last but not least, this game started a trend by being loaded with extras, which include everything from challenge gameplay modes, extra costumes (with different attributes) character databases, and other additions that considerably extend the value of the title.

The Bad
As I mentioned, the graphics are a mixed bag, with cartoony and rather embarrasing models (just look at the broadshouldered thugs), shoddy low-resolution textures and really limited draw distance which causes New York to be eternally trapped in fog as the game's engine can't display too many buildings (another console legacy problem). Sound-wise the game is no winner either, seeing as how it conforms to an aspect of the game that really ticked me off and which is that it's a very kid-oriented product. Apparently there are some marketing people that still think that comics are only for kids, so they sugar-coated the whole game with such elements as cartoony criminals that use laser weapons (Remember G.I.Joe?? It's okay for people to be shot just as long as it's not by a firearm and there's no visible wounds involved), a straightforward and simple story, saturday morning cartoon-like music and just plain infuriating voice acting with every character voiced by cleancut cartoony stereotyped voices. The worst one by far however is the inclusion of Stan Lee as a narrator of sorts who treats the player as if he were a two year old retarded kid by going: "...Oy Kiddos!! How are you today? Well if it isn't our jolly friendly neighbor Spidey-man! Let's see in what exciting super-adventures he gets today! Watch out evil-doers! There goes our hero looking for adventure!!..."

Good god... I swear I was never more embarrased from playing a game (well maybe except when playing Tron 2.0 but from entirely different reasons).

The Bottom Line
Despite some irritating flaws, the worst use ever of Stan "The Man" Lee and generally making you feel like an inbred gradeschooler, "Spider-Man" is the worthiest title to date to bear the name of the legendary webslinger.

Just make sure nobody you want to respect you is around when you want to play it....

Windows · by Zovni (10504) · 2004

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Trivia

After unlocking the storyboards, if you look at the last one, you can see that the Lizard was meant to be in the final cutscene.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Jason W. Owen.

Macintosh, Dreamcast added by Corn Popper. Windows added by Kartanym. PlayStation added by Jim Fun.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Crawly, Zeppin, DreinIX, colm52, Zaibatsu.

Game added June 15, 2001. Last modified March 22, 2024.