Graphics

I am typically a traditionalist when it comes to games, so graphics are rarely something that I highly regard making a game overall better, but Ultimate Spider-Man is one of those rare cases. This game looks and feels like a moving comic book. Treyarch did a phenomenal job with their 3D inking technology. Everything right down to the main menu has that classic comic style to it. The effect of the texture technique owes a lot to the lighting in the game, which is simply breathtaking. Watching Venom do battle a bright-blue electro at night, bathed in the light of several neon signs is nothing short of breath-taking.

In addition to the phenomenal texturing, all the character models exude the same level of personality they did on the comic pages, from the lithe 'bendy' appearance of a young Spider-man, to the individual teeth of Venom's frightening smile. Every character in the game has been meticulously modeled after artwork provided by Ultimate Spiderman artist Mark Bagley, and the results are amazing to witness. Smooth animations further enhance the illusion of a comic-book come to life, as each character moves exactly as one would expect them too. The game also does an awesome job of seamlessly going in and out of cut scenes by using panels, which are also used in game when someone is in danger. The panel will pop up in the corner of the screen to let the player know why their Spidey sense is tingling.

The only things that hinder the level of immersion into this moving comic book are a shorter draw-in distance than Spider-Man 2 and some infrequent instances of noticeable slowdown. The latter rarely occurred unless there were dozens of enemies, explosions, gun-fire, civilians and cars on the screen at once. The former, while incredibly annoying – especially when crawling up the side of a building and watching the details of the windows form less than a foot in front of Spidey's head – but given the amount of texture detail coating the entire, huge environment, its understandable.


Sound

As fans of the comics will likely tell you, one of the most endearing qualities of the Spider-man character, Ultimate or not, is the fact even in the most brutal of battles, you can always count on the web-slinger to unleash his inner smartass. It's a facet of the Spiderman character that the movies did a terrible job of replicating, and Toby Maguire did an even worse job of voice acting in the previous game. Thankfully, the relation to the comic as opposed to the Spider-man celluloid has allowed Activision to ditch the over-priced 'talent' and find from unknown actors that not only fit their respective parts, but actually voice their lines in a convincing manner. All the actors seem to be having fun, thanks in no small part to the excellence of the dialog they're working with. Hearing Peter Parker begin a 'horn' joke about the Rhino as he drops onto the scene, only for the gargantuan beast to turn around and have the web-head's phrase slowly degenerate into '...I'm so scared right now, I cant even remember the ending to my lame joke' is simply wonderful.

Sound effects are well done as well, with all of Spider-man's powers accompanied by a subtle effect that compliments the action on screen. Web-crawling, for example, is accompanied by a suction-like sound, while each new web slung is accented with the trademark 'thwip' sound effect often drawn at Spidey's wrists in the comics. The sound of air rushing by as the web-slinger swings through the air from building to building helps impart a great sense of speed, while the sound of explosions gives of a great feeling of unleashed force and power. Bar none the best effect is a voice sample from the Eddie Brock voice actor through a filter – the deep blood-curtling urge, or command, to 'feed' given by the symbiote as the life bar lowers past the half-way mark is simply flawless.



I bet Venom hears 'Purple Rain' jokes all the time.

The audio component stumbles in the music department, as the music cuts in and out at seemingly random junctures while cruising through the city, and the entire soundtrack appears to be made up of generic techno music. If thats the genre you're into, you're all set, but for the rest of us, it would have been nice if the game supported custom soundtracks, if only for the periods of time spent wandering aimlessly around the city, or completing side-missions.

Final Verdict

Ultimate Spider-Man is simply the ultimate in comic book video games. Ultimate Spider-Man does for comic book games what Sin City did for comic book films. The look and feel of a comic is there and it simply looks amazing in motion. The same highly addictive gameplay from Spider-Man 2 is there and doesn’t miss a beat. The only real complaints I have about Ultimate Spider-Man is the length, the camera, and the at times frustrating chase missions. Aside from those small complaints this is easily the best Spider-Man title to date, and knowing Treyarch they will only surpass it with their next Spidey title.