Dan Geeks Out: Video Game Review #385: The Amazing Spider-Man: Web of Fire

The Amazing Spider-Man: Web of Fire

Sega 32X

Nostalgia Factor:

Mop Up Duty moves into the year 1996. I was 14 years old at the time, a freshman in high school. Bill Clinton had been elected for his second term. Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers were marching their way towards the Super Bowl. The Macarena dominated the airwaves.

At this time it was pretty clear that the 32X was going to be a complete failure. I didn't even pay attention to what games were coming out for this console. Hence, me not finding out about this game until 26 years later in the year 2022.

I thought a Spider-Man game would be fun to play, seeing as how I have yet to play one during Mop Up Duty. Plus, I figured a 32X review would be fun, as I've neglected this console so far with only one game review for this system under my belt (Knuckles Chaotix back in November of 2021). How would I like this game? Let's find out!

Story:

Hydra has placed some kind of electronic bubble or net over the city of Manhattan, cutting it off from the outside world. Daredevil has been captured. Next on Hydra's hit list: Spider-Man.

Playing as Spider-Man, it is your goal to rescue Daredevil, destroy all the generators powering the shield, and drive Hydra out of the city.

Gameplay:

This is a 2D side-scrolling platformer. Spider-Man can jump, punch, shoot webs at his enemies, swing from webs, and climb on walls. Each level consists of beginning at the predetermined starting point and making your way to the end of the level. Most levels end with a generator that you must destroy and a boss character you must defeat.

Action in this game is fairly fast paced. When I first played this, I tried stopping to fight every single enemy in each stage. That's not the way to do things. Most enemies you can avoid, swinging over them from your web and leaving them in your dust. While there are health power ups aplenty in this game, you take a lot of damage when you stop to fight enemies. Taking the path of least resistance is the best way to go.

Spider-Man's webs also have a power gauge. Firing a web at your enemy will tie them up for a few seconds until they break free, leaving them vulnerable to your attacks. You can also swing through the levels with your webs. But be warned, each time you use your webs, your web meter goes down a tiny bit. Run out of webs, and the game becomes exponentially more difficult. Finding that balance between looking for items, fighting enemies, and knowing when to run or web-swing is key to this game.

Unfortunately this is one of those games you have to learn through trial and error. No matter how good you are, these stages are very difficult to beat your first time through them. They are filled with "gotcha" moments where you'll be running along peacefully and then all of a sudden you're taking damage before you can even react to what is hitting you. Not only are these stages difficult, if you die you have to replay the entire stage again from the beginning - even if you're seconds away from the end. Not cool. Nothing is more frustrating than having to do the same thing over and over again - and this game has a lot of frustrating moments.

Making things tough on the players are the poor controls. Spider-Man does not move very smoothly. His motions are very herky-jerky, and that includes your jumping as well as your running and attacking. Fighting the controls is half the battle in this game - which sucks because the game is difficult enough as it is.

Before I move on, one thing I do like is the ability to call Daredevil to help you after you've rescued him. This works by collecting Daredevil tokens. Have three tokens? You can summon him three times. This works in a similar fashion to the backup characters on X-Men for the Sega Genesis. Daredevil swoops in, does some damage to your enemies, and swoops out.

Graphics:

When this game first started up, I noticed how it was made by Blue Sky Software, who made Jurassic Park for the Genesis. And if you've played that game, you'll definitely see a lot of similarities in their graphical style. The characters have this kind of grainy look to them, although their animations are much smoother in this game. Must be the power of the 32X.

Spider-Man, Daredevil, and all your enemies look very nice. What makes this game the most appealing visually has to be its backgrounds, however. They're very colorful and they look really great, helping to set a solid visual tone for the style of this game. My personal favorite level is the one that is on fire. It looks so good!

Sound:

I couldn't stop thinking about Jurassic Park as I played - not only because of the game's graphics but because of its music and sound effects. This game sounds SO similar to Jurassic Park in places, it's scary. You hear a lot of recycled sound effects - most notably the Doctor Grant scream. I can't say this game has the most memorable music out there, as I can barely remember it, but I do recall observing that it fit the tone of the game pretty well.

Overall:

This game is alright. While I was playing it, I wasn't like "ooh this is so fun!" but I wasn't hating my time with it either. It's good. That's about as far I'm willing to go. Good. Slightly above average, even.

Considering this game's clunky controls, steep difficulty spikes, and the frustration of having to replay entire levels over again after dying, it says a lot that I still liked it. That last level in particular, when you have a time limit that you need to escape the level by... ugh. So bad. You have to be 100% perfect or you're dead - and then you're stuck playing the last 15 to 20 minutes of game again.

But what can I say? Web of Fire has a certain charm to it that I can't quite put into words. Maybe it's the graphics, or the fact that this is a Spider-Man game? I don't know. But I liked this more than I disliked it. I certainly enjoyed it more than the last few 2D platformers I've player - Clockwork Knight, Astal, and Speedy Gonzales. That's gotta count for something, right? Yeah, a plus sign at the end of this game's final grade.

THE GRADE:

C+

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