Spider-Man’s future is at stake! In the turn of the next century, an evil businessman named Sloan creates a one-way time machine, and uses it to go back in time so he can become even more powerful in the future. It’s up to present day Spider-Man and the Spider-Man from the year 2099 to work together in both time frames to save the fate of the world, and Spider-Man himself! Spider-Man: Edge of Time is available for all the major video game consoles, but here we’re going to look at the 3DS and DS version, for when you need some on-the-go web slinging.

The 3DS version is a 3-D action adventure game. Spider-Man can punch and shoot webbing at enemies, and swing from strings and climb walls. Each version of Spider-Man has his own separate powers, too. The future Spider-Man can move so fast that he can make decoys of himself to distract enemies, for instance. Collect hidden golden spiders to upgrade your powers, too. Actions that present day Spider-Man takes can affect the future Spider-Man, so you’ll have to keep that in mind as you play.

The best part of the 3DS game is its film-quality graphics and sound. It’s fully voiced and cutscenes blend into the gameplay well, and the plot could almost be the next Spider-Man movie in theaters. Unfortunately, goals and objectives are a little unclear sometimes. A map would’ve helped so you knew where to go next, as climbing on walls can be a little disorienting sometimes. The bad camera angles don’t help either. I think die-hard Spidey fans would get into it anyway, though.

Even though the DS version is lower tech, I actually liked it better than the 3DS version. Both versions of Spider-Man have all their powers from the 3DS game, but everything is presented as a 2-D platformer, so it’s less confusing. There is also a handy map on the top screen, and it’s easier to tell how present day Spider-Man affects the future Spider-Man’s world as you can switch between them on the fly and quickly tell what happened.

While the 3DS version has a more movie-like feel, the DS game looks more like the comic book. I especially like how boss fights start with a mock comic book cover introducing the villain! Also, the DS version is easier to get into for people like me who don’t know much about comic books. They tell you who each character is, which is nice since all that future Spider-Man stuff is unknown to me. My knowledge of Spider-Man only extends to the movies and old episodes of The Electric Company (Uh oh, I’m aging myself here).

Even though I liked the DS version better, goals and objectives are still a little unclear sometimes, as the map isn’t always as helpful as it should be, and it’s easy to get stuck. Still, Marvel fans may still want to check these out if they really like Spider-Man.

Kid Factor:

The DS version of the game is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Comic Violence and Suggestive Themes. Spider-Man can punch enemies, who disappear when defeated. I guess the suggestive themes come from some of the female characters’ costumes. The 3DS version is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, and Violence. As it is a 3-D game, the fights are more graphic. The language must be used sparingly, because I didn’t notice anything. Even though both versions are fully voiced, reading skill is helpful for some of the text instructions. I’d be OK with kids younger than teens playing any of these, especially if they’re used to the movies and comic books. But younger gamers might get frustrated at the difficulty.

Tags: Game Reviews