Combos go bigger and involve more deadly weapons with each attack. Juggernaut took the direct route through the level by smashing through buildings and leaving them in a pile of rubble. Near the end of the demo, you have to save construction workers in order to turn off pipes spewing fire. Just as I caught up with Juggernaut, he began scaling a skyscraper. As I began to climb the building after him, I hit the end of the demo. Amazing has a vibrant art scheme and some really fast combat. Amazing Spider-Man also seemed the most accident-prone as well as the youngest of the four. Combat wise, he felt best. Again, I’m excited to spend more time with this universe. After Amazing came Noir. Noir is an entirely different beast boasting stealth elements and environments that mostly black and white with a few hints of color. Taking place in a train yard, it was Noir’s job to sneak into five train cars and rescue civilians imprisoned in each. This could be done by sneaking in the shadows and silently taking out each guard patrolling the area. The lighting of the environment signals when Noir is hidden from enemies by being darker, but falling into light when he is either seen by a light or spotted by an enemy. As Noir must execute his foes using stealth, combat is his weakness. Sure, I could take on one enemy at a time via combat, but through another guard in the mix and it was a quick death for the Spider-detective. Luckily, Noir has the ability to pull enemies up using web and tie them to fixtures not unlike some of the stealth maneuvers seen in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
The demo for Noir was basically a rescue mission set within a large area and as such was a little less exciting than the others, but the change in scenery was easily Noir’s strongest suit. While Noir was my least favorite universe in terms of gameplay, I would imagine it will grow on me in the full game. Last but not least, the demo ended with Spider-Man 2099. 2099 is a futuristic representation of Spider-Man including the environments. It also happened to be my favorite as the mission within the demo was pretty high octane. The style of 2099 resembles that of Blade Runner or Tron, flying cars, neon colors and all. Beenox created the villain for 2099 from scratch with the approval of Marvel. This villain happens to be Hobgoblin, but a representation of what he may look like in the 2099 universe. Once again, you have to chase Hobgoblin through the metropolis, however this time around part of the chase is in a free fall through a large elevator shaft and through traffic. All this is done in an effort to grab hold of Hobgoblin and dish out a pummeling or smash him through some objects during the fall. Once Hobgoblin had enough a boss fight begins in which 2099 has to catch and through bombs back at the freak, after hitting him a few times the game goes to a cutscene in which Hobgoblin multiplies to deal with 2099. Once again, end demo. As I stated previously, I loved the style, combat and feel of 2099. The free fall is a really fast segment with plenty of sights on the way to the bottom. The design of the 2099 suit as well as Hobgoblin’s updated look was well implemented into the game. I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the 2099 campaign. What was really neat about the entire demo was the conversation that took place after with my fellow colleagues.
Each person I talked to favored a different universe with his/her own compelling argument as to why. I can see plenty of people grabbing hold of a specific universe and loving it more than the others. Each universe really feels completely unique in comparison to the others, only maintaining similar controls to one another. Another component you may have noticed is how each universe is basically a boss fight/chase that takes place throughout the environment. Again, Beenox responded by saying that the game is mainly comprised of giving chase to an enemy who has the powers of the tablet. The individual levels are a mere backdrop for this chase. The game is obviously packed with characters from each of these universes along with three unlockable suits for each universe, most of which have already been announced, all great fan-service nonetheless. Even though the demo was short, it left me wanting to see each universe in its entirety. I only encountered a few minor issues with the game’s camera which occasionally went zoomed in too close, but keep in mind this was not a retail copy of the game. Other than that, I left feeling confident that Shattered Dimensions could be Spider-Man’s triumphant return to video game form. In just a few weeks, September 7 to be exact, we’ll see if Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions delivers a fun experience for newcomers and long-time fans of everyone’s favorite web-slinger. If anything, it will easily deliver a plethora of fan-service spanning the entirety of Spider-Man’s existence. Check back to PlanetXbox360.com in early September for the full Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions review.
