Feels like a step backwards
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions for the Xbox 360 offers you a look into 4 different Spider-Man fictions. Amazing Spider-Man is the run of the mill friendly neighborhood type that you'll know if you've ever heard of the wall crawler. Ultimate Spider-Man is the version from Marvel's Ultimate universe wearing the black Venom suit. Noir Spider-Man hails from the Noir fiction, which is a gritty 1930's revision of Marvel characters. Rounding out the cast is Spider-Man 2099, whom is simply a future Spider-Man.
There are 4 big features to any Spider-Man game. Story, Script, Combat, Traversal (web-swinging). Shattered Dimensions fails to deliver satisfying web swinging (barring the Sand-Man fight) and while the combat isn't bad it doesn't reach the bar that Web of Shadows set. The story is okay, but it seems more like an excuse to organize the game the way they did (each chapter is simply defeating a boss in each universe), and doesn't significantly increase your enjoyment of the game. The scripting is probably the best part of the game with Spider-Man's jokes being just as entertainingly horrible as you'd expect. The voices chosen for each of the Spider-Men are excellent and the villains are just as well voiced. Deadpool's voice has that annoying tone to it that you expect and Vulture's frightened squawking really sets the tone in Noir.
The traversal portions of the game usually consist of simple hitting R2 to zip from point to point along the linear level path, and the wall crawling portion of Spidey's abilities see only occasional use in Noir and almost no use anywhere else. The web swinging has no real fluidity and simply looks off if you try to link together multiple swings.
Combat is actually fairly well done, as long as you are performing a single combo move. There is no flow to the fighting, so you can't link together multiple combo moves very well. The lack of a targeting system means that it's hard to concentrate on a single opponent at times, and if there are several enemies on the screen it becomes difficult to throw environmental objects (such as barrels of water or vases or acidic eggs) due to the squirmy auto targeting. Perhaps the most satisfying portions of the game are the first person Beat Em Up sequences you get with some of the bosses. They allow you to use the joysticks to control Spidey's left and right hands and perform punches. Giving Kraven a nice uppercut or letting Vulture feel the wrong side of your jab frenzy is really immersive.
Overall I feel that the games combat (barring the first person sequences) is the big let down. After the excellent linked combo system of Web of Shadows with it's dual suits this game simply feels stilted. The web-swinging feels the same, as if each web swing is a completely separate animation. The voice work here is some of the best Spider-Man that I've heard in quite some time, however, and I feel that future Spider-Man games could take a page from Shattered Dimensions in that respect. A definite play for Spidey fans, but unless you have at least a passing interest in Spider-Man you most likely won't be able to get past the somewhat clunky combat of the earlier stages. Anyone who is still thinking of trying the game, however, should at least try to get to the first real Noir level with Hammerhead before taking the game back to Blockbuster (or mailing it back to Gamefly).
