Video games adapted from major motion pictures often get a bad rap, and usually for good reasons.  Unfortunately, the Wii adaptation of the box-office-record-breaking Spider-Man 3 is just another title in the ever-growing list of such games.  While not completely devoid of fun and entertainment value, the game ultimately feels more like a product and a supplement than an experience in and of itself.

Our story begins much like the movie: Spider-Man has become a beloved hero in the city, and things are going great with his relationship with Mary Jane Watson.  From here, a condensed version of the movie plot unfolds, with some significant changes (and some insignificant ones) in plot points.  There are also some complete diversions from the movie, involving side missions featuring Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard, Morbius, and Shriek.  Morbius and Shriek are exclusive to the Wii/PS2 versions of the game, which were developed by Vicarious Visions. 

There are also several rival gangs fighting for dominance in the streets of New York.  These gangs include the Waste Tribe, Apocalypse, H-Bombers, Dragon Tails, and The Sharks.  No wait, The Sharks is from West Side Story, where the rest of these ridiculous gangs belong.  I haven’t spent a lot of time in New York, but I have a feeling that modern day gangs don’t roam the streets using road signs and trash can lids as shields, and makeshift melee weapons to attack.  It’s not that I’m unwilling to suspend disbelief – after all, I have accepted the premise that a radioactive spider-bite has given a guy super powers (instead of some deadly radiation poisoning or cancer).  It’s just that it’s hard to see what resembles a lot of homeless people pretending to be medieval knights as a serious threat.  Especially when the Crime Patrols are so repetitive – “Spider-Man!  The Waste Tribe has kidnapped a storeowner, and they’re holding him hostage… Now they’ve got a bomb on that rooftop over there!... Now they’ve stolen a piece of a meteor from the museum!”  I don’t know what the street value of meteors is in New York, but it’s apparently a really hot item with the gangs in this game.

The controls seem a little complicated at first, but are fairly easy to pick up quickly. Swinging the Wii remote is the primary attack method, though the A button can be used for strong attacks.  The B button can be pressed quickly to shoot blinding web splats into the eyes of enemies, or held down to attack a web line to enemies and perform various attacks, based on whatever you have unlocked or purchased in the Hero Upgrades section of the pause menu.  Experience is awarded as you battle your way through the game, and is tracked by a circular meter in the bottom-left corner of the screen that, when full, increases your experience points by 1.  These experience points can be used to buy upgrades and new attacks that are, for the most part, worthless, since none of the enemies in the game (including bosses) are terribly challenging.  There are four basic types of enemies: standard enemies that you can just attack by swinging the remote/strong attack, “dodgers” that you must first blind with a web splat so that they stop dodging your attacks, “blockers” who have makeshift shields that you must first dispose of by attacking a web line to, and large enemies that you will usually have to attach a web line to then mount, beating them senseless as you ride on their shoulders.  Another feature of the Vicarious Visions (Wii/PS2) console versions is the ability to change into and out of the black suit at will, though changing out of it requires you to perform a series of gestures with the Wii remote and nunchuck if you wear it for too long.

The graphics are at about the level of a low-end Gamecube game, with most of the buildings lacking anything but the most basic textures and major characters, even in cutscenes, that nearly all resemble zombies.  The voice-over work is slightly annoying but not too bad, with everyone from the movie voicing their respective characters, except for Kirstin Dunst, whose character is voiced by Kari Wahlgren.  Also, Bruce Campbell returns to provide the voice of the Narrator during training exercises and a couple of other points in the game.

If you just plan on running through the story mode, ignoring the Crime Patrols throughout the city, you’ll find that when you finish the final Venom/Sandman battle (which is pretty pathetic), you are at slightly less than 50% completion.  While I would normally love this level of additional content and side-quests in a game, the repetitive nature of the Crime Patrols (see above) has left me with no interest whatsoever in reaching the 100% mark.

Overall: 5.5/10