I can understand the awesomeness that could potentially come from the idea of super hero universe crossovers, and there are few superheroes as well known or loved as Spider-Man.  However, everyone seems to be thinking this will be to Spider-Man as Arkham Asylum was to Batman, blowing every Peter Parker-based game before it out of the water.  With Spider-Man 2 (the movie the game), Treyarch struck gold by turning what is otherwise a sub-par game into a fantastic and unique one with a single mechanic:  the swinging.  Ever since then, Spider-Man games have kept the spider web-based travel system and although the games themselves got a bit better each time (with Spider-Man 3 being a possible exception), the swinging while being only barely improved upon each time, was always by far the best part of each game.  
 
With Shattered Dimensions, the developers seem to have made the combat more fluid, spectacular and fun, almost approaching God of War, but falling short in my opinion because...well, you can't really get away with Spider-Man ripping enemies in two and having their innards flying everywhere.  One minor flaw comes to mind though:  THEY TOOK OUT THE GODDAMN SWINGING!  In pretty much every other sandbox game throughout history, you are sent from place to place to kill enemies, the fun only happening once you reach your destination.  In the Spider-Man games though, the opposite is true.  Getting to whatever group of baddies you need to beat to a pulp is always the best part, the actual fighting of any enemies being just sort of a tedious interlude between the oddly fast-paced and fun travel system.  With Spider-Man 2, I can't tell you how many times I would abandon going to the next mission just to save a balloon for one of the many grip-deprived little girls of New York.  As dumb of a premise as it was to let a damsel in distress die the next block over in order to save an effing balloon, those moments were some of the best in the game, while the real work Spider-Man had to do of stopping Doc Oc or whatever, was just kind of boring.
 
As decisive as I can be not having played it for myself, they've made the combat far more fun even than Web of Shadows, which featured the best fisticuffs in the franchise so far.  Just because the fighting is more fun though, doesn't mean it can stand on its own without the awesome swinging mechanic that has kept the franchise afloat up to now and saved its games from being bland beat-em-ups.  Only time will tell when the game is released in a few weeks, but while giving the next Spider-Man incarnation varied gameplay between levels might get rid of the repetitive nature of the previous games, I believe making it mission-based (in linear levels no less) was the worst decision the developers could have made.  I really hope I'm wrong on this one, but Shattered Dimensions really doesn't seem like the departure needed to rejuvenate the franchise.  Instead it's shaping up to be more along the lines of a multi-Spider-Man version of Dante's Inferno, and will be quickly forgotten with the onslaught of other, better games coming out in the next few months..

I can understand the awesomeness that could potentially come from the idea of super hero universe crossovers, and there are few superheroes as well known or loved as Spider-Man.  However, everyone seems to be thinking this will be to Spider-Man as Arkham Asylum was to Batman, blowing every Peter Parker-based game before it out of the water.  With Spider-Man 2 (the movie the game), Treyarch struck gold by turning what is otherwise a sub-par game into a fantastic and unique one with a single mechanic:  the swinging.  Ever since then, Spider-Man games have kept the spider web-based travel system and although the games themselves got a bit better each time (with Spider-Man 3 being a possible exception), the swinging while being only barely improved upon each time, was always by far the best part of each game.  
 
With Shattered Dimensions, the developers seem to have made the combat more fluid, spectacular and fun, almost approaching God of War, but falling short in my opinion because...well, you can't really get away with Spider-Man ripping enemies in two and having their innards flying everywhere.  One minor flaw comes to mind though:  THEY TOOK OUT THE GODDAMN SWINGING!  In pretty much every other sandbox game throughout history, you are sent from place to place to kill enemies, the fun only happening once you reach your destination.  In the Spider-Man games though, the opposite is true.  Getting to whatever group of baddies you need to beat to a pulp is always the best part, the actual fighting of any enemies being just sort of a tedious interlude between the oddly fast-paced and fun travel system.  With Spider-Man 2, I can't tell you how many times I would abandon going to the next mission just to save a balloon for one of the many grip-deprived little girls of New York.  As dumb of a premise as it was to let a damsel in distress die the next block over in order to save an effing balloon, those moments were some of the best in the game, while the real work Spider-Man had to do of stopping Doc Oc or whatever, was just kind of boring.
 
As decisive as I can be not having played it for myself, they've made the combat far more fun even than Web of Shadows, which featured the best fisticuffs in the franchise so far.  Just because the fighting is more fun though, doesn't mean it can stand on its own without the awesome swinging mechanic that has kept the franchise afloat up to now and saved its games from being bland beat-em-ups.  Only time will tell when the game is released in a few weeks, but while giving the next Spider-Man incarnation varied gameplay between levels might get rid of the repetitive nature of the previous games, I believe making it mission-based (in linear levels no less) was the worst decision the developers could have made.  I really hope I'm wrong on this one, but Shattered Dimensions really doesn't seem like the departure needed to rejuvenate the franchise.  Instead it's shaping up to be more along the lines of a multi-Spider-Man version of Dante's Inferno, and will be quickly forgotten with the onslaught of other, better games coming out in the next few months..

I haven't heard much hype about this game, but then again I haven't followed it that closely. I think it looks promising from the trailers so far. 
 
I assume people are looking forward to it because it looks fun and different. It has a neat concept with the different dimensions having distinct artstyles. The only other game I know of that does that is Comic Jumper, which is also not out yet.

I think people are really hoping that this will be Spider-Man's Arkham Asylum. That I think is hoping for far too much. As interesting as the concept may be, the combat in every video they've show looks weak and that first person combat seems really cheesy. However  I do like the altered looks for Scorpion and Green Goblin. Also having Amazing and Ultimate does seem like a cop-out even if the devs say they are really different.

" I haven't heard much hype about this game"

Hype? 
What hype?  
People seem to spend most of the time saying it's not Metroi...sorry, Arkham Asylum.
It's not a sandbox game anyway, as in free roam, which to me is a major plus. I loathe those types of games. 
But FFS, It's got Miguel O'Hara in it. That alone warrants a purchase. Shame that Ben Reilly is only a skin for Amazing.  
Spider-man games tend to be fun anyway, the quality may not always be there..but the fun usually is. Just as long as he doesn't spend most of his time screaming 'MARY JANE' i think we'll be okay.
 
edit: oh...you want GoW. If by fluid you mean repetitive and incredible boring, then you may be right.

Hm maybe it's just that the people I talk to are obsessed with Marvel, but not a day goes by when I don't hear someone talking about the game.  I was under the impression it was highly anticipated.  If it's not, then it kind of does negate me ranting abut how it shouldn't be.

Are you aware this game is being made by french people?

The series needed to stop with the swinging or else it would get stale. 
 
Thanks for trying to make me feel bad for wanting this game bad.

" Are you aware this game is being made by french people? "

I never got the impression that this was going to be something super-special. It looks like it might be an ok Spiderman game, that's all. 
 
Also haven't really heard any hype for this game.

Game looks fun. I didn't really see/hear any hype for this. 
 
I'll be getting it for my birthday in 2 weeks.

" Are you aware this game is being made by french people? "