The Amazing Spider-Man Longplay (C64)
76Developed by ODE and published by Paragon Software in 1990
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For today's video, I decided to check out a game that I remember featured on a Commodore Format Power Pack tape (the first issue I remember buying). I remember being impressed by the wall-climbing mechanics and quirky art style, so I decided to check out the full game.
Starring Marvel Comic's famous web-slinging hero, the game begins with super-villain, Mysterio, taking over the Rockwell movie studios. Not only that, he kidnaps Spidey's long-time squeeze, Mary-Jane, holding hostage somewhere in the facility. It's up to Spider-Man to infiltrate the studio, overcome the various and traps laying in wait and put and end to Mysterio's nefarious plans.
Whereas most games based on superheroes tend to be fighting games, this one bucks the trend by being a platformer-cum-puzzle-solving affair. As Spider-Man, the player must navigate a series of interconnected screens, each replete with hidden switches, moving platforms and traps that must be overcome in order to progress.
Of course, puzzles and traps are not the only things that our web-slinging hero has to deal with. Mysterio has managed to instil life into some of the props and characters in the studios, turning them into hostile minions out for Spidey's blood. Since there's no actual combat in the game, the best that Spider-Man can do is to bind them up temporarily with a web.
Just as in the comics, Spider-Man is able to clamber up vertical surfaces and walk across ceilings in order to reach out-of-reach platforms and switches. Although a little clunky, I think that the climbing mechanics are surprisingly well executed and intuitive to use, which is fortunate considering just how much you will be relying on this ability.
Occasionally, you'll encounter a surface covered in slippery slime that prevents you from climbing a wall or ceiling, forcing you into finding another way past the problem. It's in these situations that Spider-Man can try using his web-slinging powers to create a rope, allowing him to suspend himself from platforms, either to climb it like a rope, or to swing across the room. It's perfectly possible to detach the web mid swing, then to fire another one out and to swing across the entire room in true Spider-Man style - whilst it's a really cool feature, there aren't that may rooms that actually require you to use this feature, plus you'll more than likely mistime the swing, casting Spider-Man into some lava-filled pit in error.
On of the things I do like about the game is the art style. The various characters in the game might be tiny, but there's a surprising amount of detail present, not least in the main Spider-Man sprite itself. I'm not sure whether it's the way that the oversized head and tiny body makes Spidey look like one of those bobble-head figures so popular these days, or the way he stomps around when he walks, but the end result is something rather endearing and gives the game a sense of personality.
Sadly, the game isn't without it's faults.
Firstly, the game runs at a very sedentary pace to say the least. Not only is the game slow-paced in it's design, the frame-rate drops on screens featuring multiple characters/moving platforms. Those looking for adrenaline, quick-fire thrills will be sorely disappointed.
Next up is the game's difficulty. Although things start out simply enough, the latter part of the game sees puzzles that span multiple screens, requiring a fair amount of back-tracking and trial and error to solve (the puzzle involving the tipping of the cowboy hats probably being the worse of these). It wouldn't be so bad if there were at least some form of hint system present in the game giving you a clue as to how a puzzle might be solved, but there is nothing.
Perhaps the most infuriating issue I found, however, were the rooms that triggered a one-time sequence where a platform moves across a room, or a character walks across a switch or trigger and failing to react in time leaves you in a position where it's impossible to continue. In these situations, the only real option is to deliberately kill Spider-Man and start again.
Finally, the game's sound (or lack of) deserves a special mention. The game is completely devoid of music, and there's but the most basic of of effects in the game. These are typically reserved for when a switch gets tripped, or when Spider-Man is taking damage, but that's all there is.
Even with these various problems, I still find that the game has a certain charm. Whilst the obscurity of the puzzles and sedentary pace as which the game plays out will probably turn most players off long before the end, it's still worth a play just to experience the climbing mechanics and quirky art style.
#retrogaming