Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions Review

Making the decision to create a new entry into the crowded world of comic book games is akin to deciding where to put your foot next in a dangerous minefield. Choose too quickly or carelessly and you're going to lose a limb, but if you choose correctly you're one step closer to your real goal. Activision and Beenox took this challenge on with Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and while they didn't make it out unscathed from shrapnel, they did indeed make it to the other side with a game that's sure to delight Spidey fans and entertain those who like pummeling bad guys into the ground.

In the game, Mysterio attempts to steal the Tablet of Order and Chaos from a museum, but Spider-Man swings in to stop him. But in the process of foiling the crime, the Tablet is shattered into pieces that disperse themselves amongst four different dimensions. Madame Web appears to Spider-Man to explain that she's gotten in contact with three different Spideys in the affected dimensions and that they are to work together to get the pieces back before they fall into evil hands. But the problem is that each and every piece has fallen into evil plans and Spider-Man has to get them back. The main act of theft takes place in the world of Amazing Spider-Man and the rest of the game is split between that world and the worlds of Noir, 2099 and finally Ultimate Spider-Man.

To fully break down what works in the game let's look at some overall facets of the game and then break it down by dimension in order to truly dig into the pros and cons.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is a universe full of unlockables, new powers, mashed up gameplay mechanics and nods to longtime fans. The tale is broken into thirteen levels: three per dimension and one final level to take on the big boss. Each level is focused on a particular villain and you'll start by learning who it is and then pursuing them through a series of fights in each level. The control scheme is the same for each dimension, though depending on which one you're in your skills will vary slightly. But I'll get into that in the dimension-specific section. Along the way you gather spider emblems which will give you points you can spend on combat upgrades and character upgrades. Powers are blocked by tiers of challenges. Each level has around twelve challenges in it, ranging from defeating x number of bad guys to beating a certain section in a specified amount of time. As you complete more challenges, more unlockables are available to you. As you buy combat moves, the majority are then available to all four spider-men.

This power-up system works well to motivate and drive the player forward. But in general the combat felt a little too loose. No matter how many combos I added to my arsenal, it seemed like I was only pulling off the same moves over and over again up through the final level. This lack of control was frustrating as it felt like I was the same Spider-Man who entered the tutorial so many hours prior with only an upgraded health bar to make me feel more powerful.


Points you can perch on are pointed out in each level (depending where you're looking) with a yellow arrow. This means that with a single button you can sling yourself directly to the object. You're also able to swing from the (often unseen) ceiling from area to area, as Spidey generally does. If you fall from too high you can save yourself by pulling off a first-person, last minute save to pull yourself to safety as well.
The game does a great job at transitioning between different points in a level. You'll start each level with a cut-scene that highlights a villain and once you pursue them you'll hit points where you'll get knocked into first person mode to make a quick comment, or thrown through a wall into a new area that wasn't accessible before.

But in general where the game stutters in its repetition. While some levels I'll discuss later do a fantastic job of bringing unique tasks and gameplay elements to the forefront, you're going to spend a lot of time simple brawling hundreds and hundreds of enemies. And amidst these brawls you're going to hit sections where you either need to save civilians and swing them to safety, or save workers who can then operate machines to help you gain access to the next part of the level. These things happen in each dimension and get old pretty quickly.