Spider-Man: Battle for New York (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

If you've been with DS-x2 for any time at all you'll know just how impressed we were with the last Spider-Man outing for the DS. Ultimate Spider-Man was developed by Activision's own Vicarious Visions and was set around the impressive Alchemy gaming engine, which cleverly mixed 2D and 3D graphics. It also included some ingenious use of the touch-screen, not just as part of some additional mini-game but actually as part of the levels. As with 'Ultimate', Battle for New York is an original story and with a new story comes a new developer with Torus taking on the responsibilities. It's based on the same engine but can Torus take this franchise even further forward?

Gameplay

Battle for New York pits Spider-Man against his arch enemy The Green Goblin but rather than Norman Osborn simply donning a suit he has, instead, been transformed into a powerful, oversized and rather hideous version of himself after an accident. As with 'Ultimate' you'll get to control both characters and the game actually begins with you playing as the Goblin rampaging around the city streets. Obviously the Goblin is slower than Spidey but he does have the ability to climb buildings and fling fireballs at enemies. It's then a case of playing one level after another with the Green Goblin running amok and generally causing havoc whilst Spider-Man attempts to rectify his wrong doings. You'll also have to odd boss battle but once you've discovered their weak spot they're generally very easy to defeat.

Apart from battling you'll also have to rescue citizens affected by the rampaging Goblin. This is usually a case of picking them up and placing them in a 'safe zone'. Fires must be extinguished but as there's a fire hydrant just by each one working out how is not really rocket science. Other NYC residents have somehow found themselves under their cars and this is where the touch-screen comes in. Simply brushing your stylus in an upward direction lifts the car off the hapless human. Unstable pillars in buildings are dealt with in a similar way but you'll find most of your 'touch-screen' time is dedicated to switching off alarms in a kind of 'repeat the sequence' game whilst others challenge you to trace the missing pieces of a web. This actually detracts from the gameplay as it slows the action down and become tiresome very quickly.

Controls

As you'd expect this is the same as Ultimate Spider-Man with lots of 'help bubbles' scattered around the levels to make finding your way around easy. Unfortunately most of your enemies can be defeated with a simple kick or punch and it's only the various bosses that require more thought. Combat also builds up a 'special moves' meter, which is always worth keeping an eye on as it can get you out of some rather tough spots.

Graphics

As we've already said, Battle for New York uses the same graphics engine as the previous Spider-Man outing and the comic book style illustrations are still as visually pleasing. In fact the whole game's presentation is excellent and the cut-screens, which are told in a mixture of panels and simple animation, will delight fans of the original comic book series. The only real drawback is an ever so slight slowdown when there's a little too much happening but when a title looks this good you can forgive almost anything.

Sound

Another excellent audio accompaniment, which could almost be a radio play thanks to some great voice acting and intelligent use of music. The voice (whilst not Toby McGuire) narrates the storyline in an almost cinematic manner whilst the various sound effects perfectly suit the on-screen happenings. The music is also outstanding and because it's used at just the right moments it never overwhelms the gameplay.

Dual screen

Not nearly as ingenious or innovative as Vicarious Visions last offering, the touch-screen is instead demoted to the usual mini-games and selection of options. The games themselves are hardly ground breaking either and you get the feeling that the whole thing was more of an afterthought than something essential to the gameplay.

Final comments

It was always going to be difficult following up the fantastic Ultimate Spider-Man and given that this is the same engine and a very different developer it's difficult to see just how they were going to improve upon it. The result does have some highlights and the production values and storytelling are some of the best you'll see on the platform. Unfortunately it's a little repetitive with Torus bringing little new to the table. To make matters worse it's far too short and the touch-screen use is mediocre. Still if you are a fan of the comics there's a compelling story here.

Pro: Great Audio and Comic Book Visuals.
Con: Repetitive Gameplay
Final score: 6.7

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