How
I love the classics.
Even the games that weren’t much fun back then just have this wonderful purity that’s so hard to capture in this era of superior technology. You can’t play a game where just one button on your controller is all you need to "be" a major-license superhero. Not anymore, and that’s a damn shame.
Few super-powered characters have transcended video game eras as well as Spider-man has (Superman being the only other exception). I know why... it’s because few super-powered characters have as many super-powers as Spider-man. Look, he can shoot webs. He can climb the sides of buildings. He can "sense" things. He has "spider" strength (more on this in a moment). Hell, he even knows judo, boxing, and just about every other hand-to-hand fighting technique invented... quite a feat for a mild-mannered news photographer. For this very reason, Spider-man can "make it" on ANY video game platform. He’s simply too versatile to fail.
This was the first game based on the alter-ego of Peter Parker, who was bitten by a radioactive spider and ultimately became a misunderstood crime-fighting legend, and it’s arguably his best game. I really enjoyed the Sega Genesis take on Spider-man, but it takes a little while to get into. The Atari 2600 version is instantly playable. Ahh, one button.
The foe of choice here is the "Green Goblin", whom comic book fans may recall. Although he’s even tougher these days, and now known as "Hobgoblin", this baddie has rigged a few skyscrapers with super bombs that threaten Spider-man’s fair city. The goal, like the joystick configuration, is simple: disarm the bomb. The task of reaching the top of each skyscraper where the super bomb lies isn’t easy. Thugs wait at every window ready to cut down your web. Smaller bombs appear near the top, all set to blow up in the webslinger’s face. And, of course, the Green Goblin roams about, just to slow you down.
I have a thing about superheroes in gaming in that no game ever seems to capture ALL of a superhero’s skills. If I were Spider-man, I wouldn’t waste my time slinging webs to scale the building, I’d just climb up the walls. I’d also use a little of the Ju-jitsu I learned on lunch hours at the newspaper job to clobber a few of the thugs along the way. Alas, it isn’t so much a limitation on the Atari system as it is on the game’s designers that Spidey has no such skills in this format. So he has to dodge the bad guys, hoping to "swing" into them for points. And he can actually run out of fluid on his way up to the top of the building, sending him plummeting to his death. There’s also no sign of "spider" strength here, although I question that... I can pretty much smash even a really big spider with my pathetic "human" strength. Just like those ants carrying 500 times their weight. Big deal, I outweigh those little bastards by at least 50,000 times!
The game’s graphics are pretty good, with fairly well-rendered Spidey and Goblin. The building is rather non-descript, but it works. The bombs change from black (safe) to purple (ready to blow), and finally explode. Spidey swings realistically on his webbing, too.
There isn’t much sound, but it’s OK. A familiar tune launches each new stage, and the explosions and effects work rather nicely. Mae would be proud, if her hearing aid were working, that is.
Any gamer who has played Crazy Climber will immediately see Spider-man’s inspiration. In many ways, this title is superior, as it is far simpler to control Spidey than that infernal Crazy Climber guy. Unfortunately, the windows never open and close, and the thugs just sort of watch - you won’t find them dropping flower plants on your head here.
It’s hard NOT to like this game. The familiar characters, simple but challenging gameplay, and progressive difficulty put it in that "classic" stack of oldies, even if it really didn’t turn many heads when it was originally released.
