The story that begins Ultimate Spider-Man shows the father of Peter Parker and Eddie Brock working on a cure for cancer. The result is the black goo that changes Eddie into the powerful Venom, Spider-Man’s arch nemesis. The plot and story, as short as it is, rolls out from there and the player alternates between Spider-Man and Venom as dictated by the storyline.
Story and side missions are chosen much like any other wide-open action game released in the last few years – hit a checkpoint to activate the next mission. Mission icons are spread out over the environment and “random” crimes spring up throughout. So, like the Incredible
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction or GTA: San Andreas or Spider-Man 2 the gameplay is mostly open-ended. However, the story is over pretty quick. Six or seven hours about does it, which only leaves the side missions. They don’t amount to anything more than complicated than checkpoint races and/or beating up waves of thugs. (There are also multiple icons scattered throughout to unlock extras in the main menu.) In short, it’s a little on the boring side – it’s only the aesthetics that will keep you playing.
Spidey still has a ton of moves available (each nicely animated like a free pc game) but it’s less complicated – even though you play as two different characters. Swinging through the city has never been easier and incapacitating foes is still fun, though repetitive.