Spider-Man in video games. Plucle web

This year there were at least two important events directly related to the universe of Spider-Man. Not so long ago in cinemas, a new film was started about the hero creep of the hero, and a long gameplay trailer was demonstrated at the E3 2017 exhibition of 2017 Spider-Man from the company Insomniac Games. We have high hopes for this project, because before the "friendly neighbor" with video games was not particularly lucky. There were many frank garbage among them, as well as relatively good projects.

Eight -bit hero

Strictly speaking, with interactive embodiments, the spider was not lucky from the very beginning. Already the first game about this hero gave … not the most pleasant soul. It is about Spider-Man 1982 model. Poor (even by the standards of Atari 2600) graphics, slurred gameplay, crooked management – against the background of this craft, even the last games from Activision may seem like a masterpiece of technological and design thought.

And the reason is simple: in those years, none of the manufacturers thought to take care of the quality of their own video games. As a result, the shelves appeared on the shelves of the porn adventures of a naked cowboy with Indian BCVs (sold from under the floor), then misunderstandings like Et (the failure of which was so grandiose that he almost buried the entire game industry under him). Nothing personal – just a business. And the spider "was lucky" to become part of the system, in which the number is much more important than the quality.

Further – even more wonderful. The second coming of Parker took place as part of the series QuestProbe From Scott Adams. There was a catch in this: QuestProbe: Spider-Man belonged to the popular adventure genre in the 80s, but, unlike early issues Zork , could boast of a very good, made in comic style art. Those who have at least once encountered such projects will understand what we are talking about.

Whether this style was suitable for the hero himself is a separate question. On the one hand, yes, since Adams created, in fact, an interactive variation of graphic short stories from Marvel. The reverse point of view is also true: the story of Spididi has always been filled with action, and it was weakly combined with the entry into the text panel of the ligaments from verbs and nouns.

QuestProbe: Spider-Man , Of course, it is difficult to compare with modern "spider" games, but its formula at least worked.

What cannot be said about the craft for Atari VCS (2600). Take a word – it's better not to even start.

What copyrights?

In the age of universal struggle for copyright, this may seem strange, but once the Japanese developers did not shy away piracy. And it’s not even about illegal copies of arcade machines (although they were also) – pop cultural images were used.

Spider-man got in full. He lit up as a boss in The Revenge of Shinobi. Imagine surprise when, having reached one of the leaders, the gamers were surprised to understand that they had to fight with the Marvel character. Of course, there was no question of any licensing – the spider in Revenge of Shinobi appeared in a completely pirate way. The same fate, by the way, befell Batman. In the same game. Such a cycle of superheroes in nature. Yesterday they defended Gotham and New York, and today they strive to pile up to the Sinobi master.

Justice was partially restored four years later, when it appeared on home computers Spider-Man and Captain America in Doctor Doom’s Revenge. The crossover with the participation of two idols of American teenagers returned the spider to his native action-style, but it turned out bad in everything that did not concern the picture. Critics of those years noted that the project looks much better than playing. By the standards of the consoles of the early 90s, the quality of the cheerful cabbage was just below the plinth.

The first games with the participation of Spider-Man came out plain, empty in terms of gameplay and partly interesting from the point of view of visual performance. The end of the 80s was a paradise for comic book fans, but the first one of an interesting interactive embodiment of the spider appeared in the next decade.

Do not laugh, but it really was considered good graphics. And the spider was here too.

SEGA web

At the end of the century, when Atari has already left the stage, and Sony only prepared for its crusade, the market was shared by two companies. Sega And Nintendo personified a fundamentally different approach to doing business and the audience. If the “big n” focused on the proven fanbase and children, then the authors of Sonic went their own way. They called teenagers to themselves – those who listened to Nirvana's parents, went to Panter's concerts and, as befitting the right schoolchildren, rebelled against their own ancestors.

SEGA of America managers soon learned to build the right strategy and, having placed accents once, moved Nintendo from the throne of the King of the video game world. Comics projects were included in the strategic plan of the company, and The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin It proved it perfectly. The militant was created by the Technopop studio and talked about the confrontation of the spider such famous villains as Dr. Osminog, Sand Man, Venom and others.

The CD version of The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin could boast of such a beauty.

However, the main thing was not even that. For the first time in the history of the interactive adventures of Peter Parker, the game with his participation was distinguished by a fine mechanics. The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin was a two-dimensional action-platformer, borrowing the noticeable elements of the Amazing universe. Spider climbed on the walls, shot a web, neutralized ordinary bandits and larger game – in general, did the same as in comics, but with the player’s direct participation. All this is with a beautiful (by the standards of the beginning of the nineties) graphics and with the ability to buy a CD version. It differed from the usual one not only by an accelerated rise and descent along the walls, but also with two new locations. Units left from this holiday of life.

Pocket spider

Peter Parker is always “lucky” for portable video games. But the quality is far from always equal to the quantity. So here. Products on the shelves (at least for the same Game Boy) was enough, but something truly prolonged appeared extremely rarely. Especially for you, we selected three projects that are not ashamed to launch at least ten minutes.

Spider-Man: Mysterio’s Menace (GBA, 2001)

The two-dimensional action-platformer from the Vicarious Vision was not only high-quality (by the standards of GBA) the gameplay, but also. Mysterio’s Menace I was like games with PlayStation. And this favorably distinguished her from countless faious crafts on the topic of heroes in Triko.

Spider-Man 2 (GBA, 2004)

And again Game Boy Advance. Again a two -dimensional platformer. This time, however, based on the second film, Sam Raimi. Authors Spider-Man 2 We went the right way and did not even try to transfer the game from the PlayStation 2 to the portable from Nintendo from Nintendo. Formally three -dimensional inserts were present, but exclusively the surroundings for the sake of. The rest is a classic action movie in the spirit of a 16-bit classic. The battles with bosses, by the way, were a miracle how good they were. What is the pursuit of Rino, when at first the spider catches up with it on the web, and then throws it with barrels from the truck traveling along the road.

The Amazing Spider-Man (PS Vita, 2012)

Formally include this port in the selection is somewhat wrong, since we are talking about straight tracing paper from senior platforms. However, we have several reasons for. Firstly, The Amazing Spider-Man -One of the few opportunities to try out the Sandbox-Superheroic outside the house, and secondly, on PS vita an outdated gameplay of the original was perceived better. From the game for the console that is placed in the jeans pocket, a priori do not expect much https://sister-site.org/richy-fish/. The Amazing Spider-Man also offered a set of basic entertainment: a city open for research, mission, side activities. It’s worth trying exactly.

The second major victory happened when the sega appeared on arcade machines Spider-Man: The Video Game. Purely technically, it could be ranked to traditional bitemaps. But there was a nuance. The flesh from the flesh of the genre popular at the end of the century, this game about Spider-Man skillfully juggled with styles, pretending to be an ordinary brawl on four, then the action-platformer. At the very beginning, after the battle with Venom, Spididi was forced to climb the construction forests, and after several levels – to fight off the hobgoblin circling over the flying ship. All this turned Spider-Man: The Video Game into one of the best games created under the Marvel license.

Just further the failure.

Fall without insurance

We believe that many fans of retro-game know a publishing house called LJN. In the late 80s and early 90s, these comrades knew very well how to help appear on the market for a truly nasty video game under a well-known license. Not even helped praised quality control of Nintendo. So, Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six – This is an apotheosis of the company's creative approach. In this, so to say, the platformer was bad. Absolutely insane management did not allow to move normally in terms, scaling scared random passers -by, and the design of levels was not even suitable for a snack.

The irony is that, in addition to Nes, Return of the Sinister Six, and 8-bit platforms from the Sega, Master System and Game Gear, also could not prove itself to prove itself to prove itself. Of course, the picture in the MS version is slightly more pleasant, but only. The rest of the problems were never resolved. And this is really important, because often the same game on the platforms from the Sega and Nintendo could be very different. Unfortunately, Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six is ​​obviously the wrong case. Although there were hopes: Ghostbusters The developers corrected before the release on the platform from the competitor "Big N". Not much, but caught in the eye.

After the crushing eight-bit fiasco, no one was already hoping for the output of a standing game with Spider-Spider in the title role. Skepticism fed completely inexpressive Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge. The crossover could boast of only a pleasant picture – everything else was done just below the average. But then a miracle happened: on a 16-bit Mega Drive and Super Nintendo appeared Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. A familiar rainbow was printed on a box with a cartridge – the LJN icon … it happened like that.

Maximum Carnage – Flesh from the flesh of its generation. Fierce Bitemap with a bunch of panka in the masses and familiar characters in the first roles. Incredibly brutal, he literally threw a call to the players. Want hardcore? Then forward, just do not whine later, that they kill too quickly, and in general it was better on the arcades.

The authors of this action movie managed to create an amazing atmosphere. In many ways, this was facilitated by the comic arch of the same name. Cruelty, excellent music, stylish picture and drawn inserts in the spirit of the original source, the opportunity to play for Venom, in the end! Maximum Carnage and after twenty -three years interesting to pass. In our opinion, the best praise for the retro -project cannot be.

Alas, as often happened in the nineties, a straight sequel Venom/Spider-Man: Separation anxiety did not inherit the tenth share of the charm of the original. The reason for this was not even a sagging dynamics – the original and worthy attention of battles did not bring to this bitemap. The main thing was lost – interest from the fights themselves with opponents.

Crush a spider

The end of the first half of the 90s was an excellent time for all fans of Peter Parker, but this was primarily a blue screen. Of course, we are talking about the 1994 animated series, whose authors were not afraid to show a spider … man. There is a thing here is. Previously, all the TV adaptation of the franchise was built on the image of the Golden era of comics-well, you know: with all these absurdities, villains with cardboard motivation (“I do so because I'm bad”), strange plot moves and further on the list.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series demonstrated a well -known story from another angle. The heroes of this animation were present not only in character, but also the reasons to do as they do. A striking example is the episode “Doctor Osminog: Armed and Dangerous” (1st season, 4th series). The creators have clearly shown how the brilliant (in general) scientist turned into a monster and what pride and fanaticism ultimately lead. Of course, there was no talk of any serious psychologism of the level of Nolan, just the viewer believed in what was happening on the screen. He could empathize with the actors, and this favorably distinguished the series from everything that existed on the spider media market before.

How beautiful this animated series was ..

The game is so disgusting by his motives

Of course, without video games, it was simply not possible to do by motives. And she came out. On Mega Drive and Super Nintendo. In 1995, under the sunset of these two platforms. Unfortunately, all the good that was in it consisted in the familiar design of the characters. Gameplay could not stand any criticism. After the rapid Maximum Carnage from the local platforming literally pulled into sleep. And that, in fact, everything is said.

Another project that covered the era of Spider-Man on 16 bits became The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes For Super Famicom. And we did not go crazy using the Japanese system name. The thing is that Lethal Foes have not come out of the country of the rising sun.

There were several reasons. Firstly, the year of exit. In 1995, the Western audience knew what PlayStation and Sega Saturn were. Secondly, the quality of the product itself turned out to be … no. In fact, the developers created a boss rash, somehow connecting it with platform inserts, where the spider destroyed a strange appearance of opponents. However, even from the battles with the leaders, it blew universal boredom. Jump, jump, blow, blow – a strip of life at zero. And it doesn’t matter who Parker fought with: with Scorpio, Green Goblin or Misterio.

Control in the head – just disgusting music. If you ever decide to buy a licensed cartridge for Super Famicom-keep in mind and do not forget about the Mute key on the TV remote control.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Lethal Foes is one of those games that should not have been born.

As a result, by the end of the nineties, really good games about Spider-Man could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Fans were already ready to put a cross on this topic, but a miracle suddenly happened: a magnificent Spider-Man from Neversoft appeared on PlayStation.

Spider flair

A small lyrical retreat is needed at this place. The fact is that many gamers quite sincerely believe that the work of the authors Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was the first 32-bit incarnation of Parker. This is not quite. In fact, the spider on the 32-bit field has become a debut Spider-Man: Web of Fire , published in 1996 only for Sega 32x. The thing is that not every fan of comics will dare to call Web of Fire at least a “passing” game. Among the goods on the garbage basket, this platformer was stood out with the use of digitized models of enemies and three -dimensional objects at the level. It looked strange and vile.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Web of Fire with its own person. The only and unique.

However, back to Spider-Man For PlayStation. We are not very shy of your soul if we say that it was such a game that all fans have been waiting for ten years. Diverse, exciting, carefully related to the source. Employees NEVERSOFT tried to fame, and at the exit was another small masterpiece – almost invisible against the background of blockbusters like Metal Gear Solid , but from that no less valuable.

Spider-Man began with a slight ruin runs. Then the spider liberated the hostages, fought with Scorpio, ran away from police helicopters, saved Mary Jein from Venom … In general, there was no bored to miss. In terms of mechanics for the game, no one with all the desire simply could complain. She was I-D-A-L-A-A. A few versions (for DreamCast, Nintendo 64 and PC) will not let them lie.

Strictly speaking, not even the fact that Neversoft managed to create an excellent project was not even amazed. Surprised the attitude of the authors to the original source. On the start screen played a track from The Ramones repertoire (a cult American punk bandy), comics were scattered according to the locations, the design of the characters reminded of the animated series of the nineties-this.

Surprisingly, the sequel created only for the PlayStation team Vicarious visions (it is they who are responsible for the recent trilogy of remasters Crash Bandicoot ), was not inferior to the predecessor as execution. It was an equally beautiful game for all fans of Spider-Man. New levels, a bunch of unique game situations, the opportunity to go down to the streets of the city – the picture was slightly overshadowed by the most expressive graphics, but this was forgiven for the game. Still, the first PlayStation survived its century, and not every day such strong militants appeared in her library.

In the New Age, the spider entered confidently and, sweeping everything in its path, rushed to large screens. The trilogy of films by Sam Raimi is customary to criticize some sweetness, but one cannot take it alone: ​​it was she, and not new animated series, that gave rise to another wave of adoration of the hero. The excellently set action was seized, and the excellent cast forced to believe what was happening on the screen. Peter fights with a green goblin – sketch once. Tries to find his place in life – two sketches. Fights with inner evil – sketch three. And somewhere between-a wave of video games, some of which can be attributed with all the courage to the gold classic of the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and PC era.

The first attempt to transfer the film Raymy to the screens of the monitors was Spider-Man: The Movie 2002. Although it does not turn to call it a "game in the film". With the plot line of the blockbuster, this action turned extremely free. Shocker and Scorpio in the script – what?! Something like this was reacted by those who were lucky enough at the beginning of the zero to get a disc with The Movie. The situation was exacerbated by the frankly “wooden” gameplay, which took a step back compared to the dilogy on the PlayStation. The main thing is gone – diversity. Platform elements, beating opponents, flights on the web – all this quickly bored, although it would seem ..

Published in 2004 Spider-Man 2 Not just corrected the shortcomings of the original, but made a small revolution, setting the bar for all “spider” games without exception ..

At this place it is necessary to explain why the previous, chronological, order will be violated. The fact is that in Spider-Man 2 the developers presented perfectly verified mechanics, which with rare breaks was used up to the end of the zero.

While the happy owners of the console flew freely on the web on New York, the PC players were forced to cling to the icons hanging in the air and move to where the arrow would indicate.

It is, of course, the interspersing of elements of the open world and side activities. Before, after all, as it was? There is a parker, it moves in linear levels and performs the tasks set for it. In 2004, Treyarch turned everything upside down. Its employees said: "Hey guys, we can fly here on a web in the city and beat gopniks".

And it rushed … The basic structure of the gameplay was not affected at all. No one prevented him from following the script and enjoy excessively set plot missions. But it was worth taking a step aside, and a lot of opportunities opened before the player.

In addition to flights, it was possible to perform side quests: hunting a criminal element, participate in peculiar races for a while, find all kinds of bonuses. This approach significantly revived the formula. Yes, the picture did not shine with effects (three platforms-PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube-each with their restrictions), but the authors managed to make the main thing: they retained the spirit of the adventure inherent in Spider-Man. The one that forced to include NTV in 1998 and watch the next series of the animated series, and a few years later – to ask mom and dad for comics translated into Russian.

The situation with Spider-Man 2 was overshadowed by one fact. The really magnificent game was exclusively received by owners of the latest consoles at that time. PC users got a stub from The Fizz Factor. And we are not talking about porting problems – it was a completely different product with just disgusting gameplay. It’s quite in the spirit of the times, given that the two thousandth owners of computers did not see the good Harry Potter or the right version James Bond 007: Nightfire.

One way or another, the appearance of Spider-Man 2 placed everything in its place. The publisher realized that the concept of the game came to his liking, and released reins. As a result, so many same projects appeared that it is just right to grab the head. Spider-Man 3 , Web of Shadows – And this is only in the Parker universe. The most estimated reader will exclaim here: “Aegee, wait, and where is the Ultimate Spider-Man?!"

And it will be right. We left her at last.

Ultimate Spider-Man brought the concept of spider adventures to the ideal. The basic gameplay was not very different from the game process of the second part: we still performed plot tasks, took side quests, beat gopniks. But all this was executed at such a high technical level that Spider-Man 2 simply nervously weaved a spiderway on the sidelines. Technical restrictions on the elderly engine were leveled using CEL-SHADING technology. As a result – without five minutes the perfect action with two main characters (Spididi and Venom) and the opportunity to fill the muzzle of Wolverine himself.

Feeling later Spider-Man 3 And Web of Shadows , In general, they tried to repeat the success of Ultimate, but simply did not work. Against the background of the 2005 game, both of these militants looked deeply secondary, although they kept at the level due to the working formula.

However, in the zero in the field of superheroes, embarrasses occurred. One of them was called Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. A cooperative rattle about the spider that suddenly united with its sworn enemies was not suitable even for the spinning of the fireplace. You know how the authors explained this cooperation? And approximately like in Golden Ax 3: “Oh, we were bewitched, but you helped us – let's pile up to the general evil!"

It propagates

Soon the series has come to a dead end. Activision was well aware that the story about the open world has finally outlined itself and we need to come up with something new. Salvation came from a small English studio Rocksteady. These guys suddenly created the best game about Batman in the history of the industry. She incorporated a great bitemap, a good stealth and the structure of the world, remotely reminiscent of a cult The Legend of Zelda Or, if you like, oh Metroid. Speech, of course, about Batman: Arkham asylum.

Of course, making tracing paper and Beenox plans were not included, but individual elements of the adventure of the Dark Knight Spider-Man: Shattehed Dimensions , The appeared in 2010, still grabbed ..

The key feature of Shattered Dimensions was the symbiosis of several universes. Within the framework of one game, the developers collected completely different spiders: classic (Amazing), modern (Ultimate), noir (Noir) and alien from the future (Spider-Man 2099). Abandoning the sandbox, developers from Beenox built a linear narrative and forced the gamers to pass episodes alternately for different spididi.

For the noir part of the Shattered Dimensions, you could forgive a lot.

For the most part, it was about a simple bitemap in the spirit of “Beaty Ten Opponents”, but sometimes there was an interesting. For example, fights with bosses or “quiet” episodes for the noir version of the spider. So they copied Arkham asylum almost to the last landfill. Shatted Dimensions forced to hide in shadows and quickly remove enemies from their path.

In the end, it turned out medium. On the one hand, six years after the appearance of Spider-Man 2, the publishing house managed to release at least something new about “greater strength and greater responsibility” (we leave the embossed or foe over the brackets), but this was not enough to call the Shattered Dimensions although would be a "good" action.

Surprisingly, after the cold reception of the press and players, Activision entrusted the production of sequel to the same Beenox. A project called Spider-Man: Edge of Time had to fix the mistakes of the predecessor, but in fact made even more troubles. The main thing evaporated – stylistic diversity. Edge of Time Gamers were offered to take control of only two spiders-classic (Amazing) and the protagonist of the universe of the Spider-Man 2099. According to the plot, Miguel O’Hara tried to prevent the death of Peter Parker. To do this, he contacted him through time, and … it started.

Promising tie, not the most bad plot – what could go wrong? In fact – everything. Outside the idea of ​​Edge of Time, it was a mournful face, which, in terms of variety, was lost even by Shattered Dimensions. Alas, the attempt was unsuccessful.

The further fate of the video game in the Spider-Man universe is associated with the next films. The Amazing Spider-Man 2012 sample returned to the concept of an open world. A little has changed. There are main tasks, there are side activities (street hooligan, collecting all kinds of different, extreme flights over the city for a while). From Ultimate Spider-Man, all this differed approximately like a “penny” from “fiat”: it looks like a gap between the models. The 2005 game was perfectly verified by action, where it was as interesting to explore the open world as to beat the face of Logan. In The Amazing Spider-Man, all this nonsense with the collection of comics could have occurred only to the hunters for achievements dreaming of getting another platinum. Even the elements of stealth did not save, who came from where. In many ways due to oak and opponents. Unless the bosses could entertain, but not for long.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , Like her predecessor, she did not find a response in the hearts of lovers of Peter Parker. Boring gameplay, disgusting art, the same type of quests-if for the first time all this was possible, albeit with disgust, but chewed, even those who once managed to accept the original The Amazing refused the additive ..

It would seem a dead end. But here experts from Insomniac Games joined the business.

To date, Spider-Man from the authors Spyro The Dragon , Ratchet & Clank, Sunset Overdrive and trilogy Resistance It is rightfully considered one of the most promising exclusives for PlayStation 4. The gameplay shown on E3 2017 literally forces you to postpone the money to the disk. What will come of all this – we will find out next year.

The spider flair tells: everything can happen.

Preliminary review Spider-Man. Greetings from Arkham!