Much of the blame can be placed on the game’s level designs. Spider World Combat man has several cool moves,
like wall-crawling, web-swinging, and web zip lines. None of these abilities are of much use in the cramped, maze-like stages.
The fact that the game scrolls very quickly (and looks great while doing so) is offset by the obstacle-laden architecture of the levels.
Walls and ceilings are lined with fire to keep you from crawling by. Platforms are too dense for web-swinging to be useful.
Buildings lack overhangs for you to quickly web zip upwards; instead,
you have to very slowly crawl up, sometimes for twenty seconds or more to get to the top.
This is the first Spider game I’ve played that could be called boring, and that’s due in large part to the frustrating level designs.
There is no flow as you move through the level. No sense of freedom.
It doesn’t help at all that the missions are bland and repetitive, not to mention absurdly difficult and unrewarding.
Most missions require you to clear out the entire level of enemies, every single one, then make it to a certain location,
and sometimes find several hostages, all within a strict time limit. It’s basically a scavenger hunt on every level,
but instead of searching for coins or keys, you’re looking for enemies,
which are all defeated with the same jump kick and/or three-button combo.
If you miss a single enemy before you get to the end, you’ll have to go back and try to find him before time runs out.
Of course, the levels are repetitive themselves, so it’s very difficult to tell where you’ve been and where you might have overlooked.
This forces you to play each level in a methodical fashion, moving forward slowly and clearing out space as you go like a SWA team,
in order to have any chance of weeding out every thug and finishing in time.
It’s not in the spirit of Spider at all, and worse, it’s not very much fun.
The combat is decent but should not be serving as the core gameplay element.
Spider World Combat man never builds momentum because it treats Spider like Mike and not like the carefree,
fast-talking, fast-swinging hero he is.
9Apps 4.9
