Taking place after the events of the movie, seeing the film might be a good idea before playing the game if you want to avoid spoilers.
"It's been months since "rogue" scientist Curt Connors unleashed the Lizard upon the upstanding citizens of New York City. Completely absolved of any wrongdoing in the eyes of the public, Oscorp has moved on to promoting the acts of its newest brilliant mind, Alistaire Smythe." The game opens with a cinematic from Peter's perspective. "You" and Emm...um, Gwen (sorry, fantasy got the better of me), are in Oscorp after hours.
We're led through a lab showcasing some creatures that were a continuation of Connors work; various creatures that are the result of injecting animals with human DNA, including one rat...thing Smythe describes as a walking contagion. Anyone else smell the foreshadowing? Classic Spidey villains like the Rhino and Scorpion that were once hallmarks of not only the Spider-man comics, but of the Marvel universe, have now been reduced to lab experiments. God forbid how Beenox would've envisioned Doctor Octopus.
Obviously, the things all break out and are now infecting the rest of Manhattan's populace. Smythe sends his robotic hunters out to chase down all of the cross breeds, Spider-Man included. To save himself and the city from harm, Spider-Man breaks Connors out of a mental institution to engineer a formula so save anyone who may have been infected from the cross breeds, and put an end to Smythe's hunters. And there you have the plot.
It's unfortunate that Andrew Garfield couldn't bother to reprise their roles on the big screen by bringing their voices to the console continuation. Say what you will about Tobey Maguire's version of Spider-Man, at least he played ball when it came to video game adaptations. Likewise with Bruce Campbell.
Navigation, upgrades, and all other manner of game updates and statistics come courtesy of the OzPhone, Oscorp's own smartphone (look out apple).
One of the first Spider-Man games that sees a return to an open world Manhattan makes Web-slinging a huge disappointment. Like in comics, Spidey thwips webs that seem to attach to clouds (and somehow pass through the legs of a giant robot). Gone are the days of swinging control. All that need be done for Spidey to swoop across the city now is to continue to hold the appropriate shoulder trigger, a monotonous task that's broken up only by the web-rush mechanic.
Combat is reminiscent of DC's recent Arkham games, complete with lightning bolts warning of incoming attacks. Enemies surround the player while the player fights accordingly. But Spidey's combat feels lighter, less satisfying. Ultimately, fighting is for the watcher, not the player. High hitting combos are easily achieved by button mashing and the occasional dodge. The combat look great as Spidey launches enemies several feet in the air with lucha libre inspired moves, but they're also incredibly easy to pull off, which makes combat more repetitive than rewarding. It's not difficult to pull off combos upwards of 20, even 30 hits within the first 15 minutes of playing.
Major Marvel fanboys and web-heads alike should find enough about the game to warrant buying it, but for everyone else, take a pass.
