A superhero is only as exciting as the super villains that he or she contends with. By that logic, it makes sense that Spider-Man has one of the best rogues gallery of all time. Granted, there are a few stinkers – more than a few actually – but the embarrassments are more than made up for by cream of the crop, those five or six nemeses that push Spider-Man to his limit and bring the fight past the mask, straight into Peter Parker’s head. Few characters have done either as consistently well as Venom, so it’s no surprise that he has remained one of Spidey’s most popular adversaries to this day. Marvel’s decision to include and indeed focus on the legacy of the black costume in the upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie is a direct result of the fans’ vocal desire to see Spider-Man do battle with his psychotic counter-part, and Activision is doing one better by giving players the chance to experience the highs and lows of the black costume first-hand.

Fans of the comic know that the Spider-Man’s black costume did a hell of a lot more than give the web-slinger a snazzy new look. An alien symbiote, the costume could alter its appearance at the wallcrawler’s whim, offered a nearly unlimited supply of webbing and boosted Spidey’s strength, speed and agility. Suffice to say, Spider-Man was quite pleased with his new duds…that is until his heightened aggression and lowered inhibitions tipped him off to the fact that the suit was moving past symbiosis and trying to take over completely. Players will spend the majority of Spider-Man 3 bearing the classic red-and-blue spandex, but they’ll also spend a fair chunk of the game with that iconic white spider design emblazened across their virtual chests. Activision has put a great deal of effort into ensuring that the game experience feels tangibly different from under the mask of each costume. The only "problem" is players may not want to get rid of the suit as readily as Peter Parker did.

The black suit works like the ultimate power-up, granting players significantly improved strength, speed and jumping ability. Swinging through the city as the standard webslinger was already exhilarating, but doing so donning the black duds only increases the adrenaline rush as you soar faster, jump farther, and generally look cooler doing it. Spidey’s enhanced aggression while wearing the suit comes through loud and clear in combat thanks the arsenal of decidedly brutal attacks that the symbiote brings with it. Punches send enemies flying down streets, web attacks take care of five thugs at once, and his airborne attacks drive foes into the pavement with excessive force. Fighting with Spider-Man in his standard suit features less aggression and more finesse, as players will find the most success by bouncing between enemies, keeping them all off balance – or preferably suspended in the air - with quick bursts of offense.



Pulling on the black-and-white duds will also replace the standard super meter with a rage meter that gradually fills up as the player strings together combos or takes damage. Once it’s full, Spider-Man will exhibit a red, fiery glow and be able to perform several particularly nasty-looking maneuvers. Similarly, reflex mode has been tweaked for the black costume in order to maximize its offensive potential. Now entering into the mode will slow-time but allow Spider-Man to move normally, allowing players to pile on attacks while enemies are effectively immobile. In addition to the new black suit mechanics, the combat in Spider-Man 3 is significantly better than previous titles thanks to the addition of dynamic aerial attacks, more impressive combos and a larger assortment of web-based attacks, all of which add depth and variety to the combat. As in previous Spider-Man titles, these moves are unlocked via an experience system, so the more players fight, the more effective they’ll become at it. Despite the improvements made to the move repertoire, the combat still doesn’t feel particularly satisfying and the biggest culprit is the enemy AI. The mindless thugs, lizard minions and other varieties of standard enemies act brain-dead and only ever present a challenge in large numbers, if then. Admittedly it’s a tough webline for the developers to walk, since average thugs aren’t supposed to be a challenge for Spider-Man.