The Amazing Spider-Man 2: The Video Game Review

Movie video-game tie-ins aren't as abundant as they use to be. You rarely see any console ones now,  they're usually for the mobile device. (Godzilla is a great example of this.) Perhaps it's for the best, because they have an infamous reputation. Poor gameplay and sub-par graphics are just a couple of the usual complaints. Developer Beenox however is a little different. Having made the fun Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and the criminally underrated Edge of Time, fans were hyped since they would be the ones doing the game adaption for The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012. It sadly wasn't as good as the aforementioned games. Still, its gameplay was leagues ahead of other movie cash-ins. Also sadly, the story was incredibly dull. The Amazing Spidey 2 game received a lot of hype from the developer. Interestingly, they said the game would actually diverge from the movie, becoming its own thing. This was a controversial move, but it could be interesting.The Amazing Spidey 2 suffers in a quite a few areas unfortunately. Despite that, it's still a much more fun game to play than the first.

The story stars Spidey, who is after the Carnage killer, the Kingpin, and trying to help his friend Harry. All of these plotlines for the most part nicely work together. This is a story-based game, but sadly a lot of the writing is pretty poor. The opening scene is the biggest offender. It's a flashback to when Peter walked out of the grocery store in the first film. Sam Riegel, the voice actor for Peter, does a sensationally awful job at this moment. The part where he said in response to the cashier, "Not my problem" was so terrible I was convinced this wasn't actually Peter. Once Uncle Ben was seen however, my greatest fear became realized: the writing of the story was not going to be good.

Thankfully, the rest of the game didn't quite sink that low. A contender however would be Electro. His story is so poorly handled. If the writer wanted the player to sympathize with Max, it didn't work. Electro comes off as one-note, and his lines are so melodramatic it's laughable. While Electro was awful, some of the other villains were nicely introduced into this universe. Shocker, Kraven, and Chameleon were all introduced into their roles very well. The Black Cat also makes a return from the previous game. I really like how her character fits into this universe. It's a shame she was in this story so briefly. That's the interesting thing about this game, it sets itself up for a sequel. So the Black Cat and the Kingpin will surely come back in #3. Sadly like Electro, the Green Goblin feels completely rushed with no build-up. Perhaps the best part of the story is how the Carnage Killer, aka, Cletus Kasady was introduced. It was brilliant how they incorporated him into the plot, and emerging as the final boss. It added some much need pizzazz to the cast, something the first game didn't have at all.

The gameplay is identical to the first game's, with mild improvements. For one thing, you can use Spidey's right arm and left arm to swing, a concept that surprisingly hasn't been used until this point. While the gameplay is still sup-par compared to the more superior Batman Arkham series, it's still pretty fun. Some of the boss fights are pretty innovative. The Goblin fight was unique and interactive, and the Carnage one was climatic. The graphics sadly suffer the movie cash-in syndrome, it looks like a late PS2 game at best. This is not something we should be looking at in the year 2014. The soundtrack is surprisingly very good, you'll be enjoying it as you go through the campaign. One of my personal favorite features is the costumes. Early on you unlock many different ones to play as. From classic to Miles Morales, it's a nice diversity.

Overall, while there are quite a few factors holding back this game, it's still a solid Spidey experience. Carnage is a major highlight, but sadly also shows just how boring most of the other antagonists are. The gameplay isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's still not bad. The story ends on a cliffhanger, so needless to say Beenox has big plans for this universe. While not technically rising too far above the infamous movie cash-in reputation, it's still a fun play.

3/5

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

It's been two years since Spider-Man was rebooted. While it will always be known as a controversial move, most fans have accepted the change. Director Marc Webb's take on the origin I personally thought was very well done, plus it was a little more faithful to the comics than the Raimi one. Still, the world had already witnessed Spidey's origin on the big screen 10 years prior, so it felt like a rehash. That's why everyone was looking forward to this movie, because we were finally going to see more stories with the character already established. Is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 the best Spidey film to date? Second best? Third? Not quite any of those. It's decent, but not 'amazing.'

The story follows Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) who has to deal with a menace called Electro (Jamie Foxx) who has the power to blackout the entire city. Along the way he has to fight his friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) who has turned himself into a monster, and deal with his complicated love life with Gwen Stacy. (Emma Stone.) It's been said that Sony hopes to make an expansive universe like Marvel Studios has done with their movies. Starting with this film, the universe is going to be its own franchise. This can be considered a problem, because as it's trying to world-build, it forgets to tell a quality story in many aspects.

Andrew Garfield is a great actor, and has nicely solidified himself into the role of the Wall-Crawler. He brings a lot of the signature sarcastic humor Spidey is known for, which somewhat lacked in the original trilogy. He seems to be enjoying the role, as anyone should. Playing Spidey should be fun because he is a funny character. His Peter Parker is also very good. One standout scene is when he 'distracted' the guards at Oscorp from following Gwen. He and Emma Stone have such an amazing amount of chemistry, one of the best comic book movie romances out there.

While the two lead starts are very good, the villains are anything but. Electro gets the most screen time out of all the villains, and sadly he is truly awful. I'm still not sure not sure if the movie meant to portray him as a joke or sympathetic character. His lines are horrendous and extremely unrealistic. The way he breathed after he transformed was a neat effect, but that's really the only good thing I can say about him. Mr. Freeze from Batman and Robin is a better written character, let that sink in for a second.  For some odd reason, Norman Osborn dies early on and Harry becomes the Green Goblin. While I was fine with DeHaan's portrayal of Harry, (it was actually quite good) the Goblin comes out of nowhere and is very rushed. In fact, the word 'goblin' isn't even mentioned. If you thought Venom was rushed in Spider-Man 3, this is that times eleven.

It's not even worth mentioning Rhino, (Paul Giamatt) since he contributes nothing to the story. Aunt May (Sally Field) didn't really contribute anything either, and sadly it shows how much better she was in the original trilogy. Spidey's costume has never looked more fantastic, and the web-slinging looks incredible; it's 'amazing' to see him sling around as if this were a comic book. The two climaxes are decent. The fight with Electro isn't anything special, but it's still alright. The battle against the Goblin is extremely brief and rushed, why they didn't save this last 10 minutes for the third film is beyond me. (At least the final part of the scene had genuine emotion.) The soundtrack isn't anything great, but isn't terrible either.

Overall, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 suffers from quite a few problems. For one thing, none of the villains are great. Electro is a joke, one of the worst cinematic villains I've seen in awhile. The Goblin is one of Spidey's greatest enemies, so it's a crime that he was shoehorned in. Not only that, but his name isn't even mentioned, and the design is awful. (I wouldn't be surprised if people didn't even know that was the Green Goblin!) Despite all of this, it's still pretty decent. Spidey slinging around the city has never looked better, and the action is fun. Sadly though, it's the worst Spidey film to date. Hopefully the third one puts emphasis on the "Amazing" part.

3/5

LEGO Marvel Superheroes Review

The last time the Marvel Universe banded together for a world-encompassing game was in the less than stellar Ultimate Alliance 2 five years ago. (Yes we're all still wondering why The Avengers game adaption was replaced by Battle for Earth.) The LEGO format by now is no stranger. We've had the very successful LEGO Star Wars and more recently LEGO Batman. (If that wasn't enough, expect LEGO The Hobbit soon.) As shocking as it may be, Warner Bros. actually produced this game. That's basically the equivalent of a Marvel show airing on Cartoon Network. So, does this game cash-in on the Marvel Cinematic Universe phase using the LEGO format or is it something a little more? LEGO Marvel Superheroes is a very nice time for longtime and new fans alike. It perfectly strikes a balance that appeals to everyone. In a world where gory violence dominates the industry, it's very nice to see a happy and cheerful gaming experience.

Loki has returned and alongside Dr. Doom has banded together all the major villains of the Marvel world. It'll take the combined forces of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man and more to stop them and the hungry Galactus whom is edging closer and closer to Earth. The game knows what it is: a parody of the comics and Cinematic Universe. It's a lot of fun, and surprisingly the writing is very good. I say surprising because with anything modern Marvel related when it comes to cartoons and the like, you'll see the writing is geared toward the younger audience with no care whatsoever about its longtime fans. Here it's legitimately funny, you'll find yourself smiling throughout the surprisingly long playthrough.

The gameplay is identical to the other LEGO games. Of course, playing as the Marvel heroes should be a different experience, and it is. Every character's abilities is wonderfully realized. From Spider-Man's webslinging to Storm's lightning, the game makes great use of the characters and their unique abilities. The actual levels are pretty well thought out. Despite the game's often large cast per level, each character is put to good, equal use. The playthrough is definitely long, you'll most likely be spending a week on it. Plus, that's only about 12% of the entire game. The Hub World (New York City) is home to an abundance of other things to do. So this game has plenty of replay value after you beat the main story. (And the fact there are over 100 characters to unlock adds to that incentive.)

The obvious negative is the really odd decision to make the characters invincible. It's impossible for you to lose. If you explode into a million LEGO pieces, you reform seconds after. It doesn't really hurt the gameplay experience, but it must be mentioned. Every video game should be able to make you lose, otherwise there's no challenge. That's what a game is, you win or lose. That's why I don't like the recent things Nintendo has done with their games, such as in Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U where if you keep losing the game gives the option of bypassing the level.

Despite being in the loading screen, the Silver Surfer doesn't do anything in the story and ends up being knocked out for most of it. Fans of Galactus will probably be disappointed with his portrayal. Throughout the story he's hyped as the big boss but in the end Loki ends up controlling him for the final fight. (Gotta love how Marvel prioritizes him over characters like Galactus.) The boss fights are definitely solid. The final battle is nicely grand in scale. I am particularly pleased with the way Spider-Man was portrayed throughout. (He's better portrayed here than in his own cartoon!) This being based mainly on the Cinematic Universe, you'll be having plenty of laughs. (Such as Coulson promising Cap he'll make sure the Statue pf Liberty is repaired.) Speaking of that, it was genius to have Magneto controlling the Statue of Liberty and using it as a weapon, I don't think we've ever seen something like that before.

Overall, LEGO Marvel genuinely surprised me. I wasn't expecting much, but it ended up being one of the most fun times I've ever had with Marvel. The writing is fantastic, you'll be having a blast watching the cutscenes. With a pretty solid comic book-like soundtrack, the game rarely becomes boring. There's plenty to do to in the really expansive New York City hub world. Whether you're a fan who's been reading since 1962 or a brand new fan thanks to the movies, LEGO Marvel Superheroes is well worth your time.

4/5