Welcome to The TPS Report, home to video game blogs, mix sets and even the odd piece o' 3D art.

Broke arse student, freelance games reviewer and rambling obsessive that I am, I currently seek work in mags and web sites throughout the world. If you're in a position to make that happen - and like what you see around here - let me know. I've published work with the likes of IGN and Gaming Steve.

-Matt/Diggler

Old Entries
First time visiting? Be sure to flip through the archives. I've been writing for friggin' ever, and you never know what you might have missed.

Score Breakdown
Just what those wee numbers mean exactly.

Visit the Forum
Multi-platform gaming chit chat, along with whatever interesting news and downloads I happen to stumble across amidst the interpipes.

TPS approved custom
built gaming PCs

Future Plans For the Site
28/7/2012 22:31

Preview Time! Games to Look Out For in 2011
8/1/2011 5:54

2010's Games of Shame
6/1/2011 22:47

My Fave Games of 2010!
6/1/2011 20:12

StarCraft II Review - Dig Loveth the RTS!?
7/11/2010 12:48

10 Must-Have iPhone Games
2/6/2010 18:09

A Little Hotlink to An Article I Stuck Up On GiantBomb
21/4/2010 15:01

Aliens Vs Predator is Here! Woo! Oh, Hang On...
6/3/2010 20:58

iPhone Games!
6/3/2010 20:40

The Top 30 Games of an Obscenely Packed 2009. Shit Gets Epic
7/1/2010 20:09

More...

If interested in discussing writing opportunities for on or offline gaming publications - either UK based or abroad - please contact me via E-Mail. Sparkling CV available on request

 

 

Dig Takes Ultimate Spider-Man Out For a Swing
Posted by Diggler - 30/9/2005 23:45

Spidey's back, and with a brand new look
Consider this less of a review, and more of a comparison. Last year's Spider-Man 2 was just flat-out one of my fave games of the year you see, so I've eagerly awaited this new instalment with a roll of toilet paper and some hand lotion for quite some time.

Of course, when I talk about Spider-Man 2, I refer to the near-perfect console game, not the travesty of a PC release that was a completely unconnected - and utter shit - title altogether.

So Spidey 2. Not only did it take the movie it was based upon and bring it to life beautifully, but it was also killer fun in its own right, with or without that license backing it up. In fact, the game is quite possibly my very fave of all the Grand Theft Auto-style free-roamers we've seen...including GTA itself. What a stunner.

This new release - now out on all three consoles and the PC this time - uses the same engine and style of its predecessor, but is less of a sequel and more a re-imagining than anything else.

On the one hand it follows Spidey 2's basic formula of recreating New York city in miniscule detail, then throwing you in there to swing around at will and rid the streets of muggers. On the other hand though, it's now had a major facelift, and as the title might whisper a hint at, is also based around the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series too, as opposed to the films.

My initial impressions were sadly that it'd all done a bit of a "Warrior Within"; a tacked on follow-up, reworked to appeal to more of a mass market audience, losing what made it so great in the process. It has two rather annoying traits you see, neither of which plagued the first game.

My Spidey Sense is Lacking

First of all, the near-perfect swing mechanic from the last game has been reworked for the worse. Think back to Spider-Man 2 and how exquisite that web slinging was; modelled on somewhat realistic physics, webs only latched onto real buildings and trees, which not only looked fricken' awesome, but also took a modicum of skill.

Swinging around is still a blast...I guess
While it required a bit of practice to finesse, just like with Peter Parker himself, figuring out how it all worked was damn fun, experimenting and testing the various abilities on offer. In the end every player sussed it out in their own unique way, subsequently defining their individual web slinging style thanks to all the different moves, abilities and sheer depth of the system.

Here, that underlying swinging mechanic remains, it's just been heavily watered down, keeping things "nice" and "easy". You can only fire off one web at a time for instance, there's no sprinting and worse of all the controls have been massively simplified. It also lacks Spidey 2's killer speed and expert camera work. Basically, in an attempt to make the slinging more accessible to newcomers, it's just lost a big old chunk of its pizazz more than anything.

I literally used to fire Spider-Man 2 up way after I'd beat it, and just go swinging around New York for hours, and although here it still works well enough I guess, it's all ultimately inferior than it used to be, and that knocks off some major, major points for me.

Spidey Smash

Venom's stages are okay in small-doses, but feel a little tacked-on
The second troublesome addition to the game is the fact it now forces you to regularly play as the villain too.

The character is Venom, one of Peter Parker's buddies turned bad, and while he holds some decent value as a character and his levels aren't all horrible by any means, all the Venom stuff still just feels like filler to me, getting in the way of more good old Spidey action.

Venom lacks Spidey's web slinging, but can jump - quite literally - entire city blocks at a time. As a result, getting around is less about your expert, nimble finger work, and more about using the city as a trampoline to repeatedly launch Venom high into the sky.

He also has an insatiable hunger, one which can be alleviated by eating people, which I guess is reasonably cool. Really though, Venom is just Hulk-light when all's said and done, even down to the chaotic lobbing of cars.

Fucking Tracer

While these two bothersome elements aggravated me hugely for the first hour, I grew to appreciate Ultimate Spider-Man more over time. If you too can deal with these, it's actually a fine little follow-up in its own right, even if it doesn't quite match up to its previous outing.

Story mode is improved, with a ton more interaction and top quality scripting
For instance the graphical re-lick I touched on earler is one change I approve of wholeheartedly. The cell-shaded look works impeccably well given the source material, with not only all the characters and buildings looking striking in their new solid black outlines, but bringing the story to life like nothing else is a also a huge serving of in-game cut-scenes pulled off brilliantly in the comic book panel look.

The only real problem with the visuals is the level of detail; I remember in Spidey 2 you could stand on the top of the Empire State Building and the entire city still looked beautifully complex from all the way up there. Not so here. Distant buildings are - literally - just a single coloured block, with the detail popping in as you get closer. On top of that, that kick arse motion blur effect seems to be stripped off too, meaning sky diving plummets feel oddly tame now.

While Ultimate is stylistically miles better than the previous game, technically it seems oddly worse due to stuff like this.

Sound wise, it's lost the epic superhero score in favour of aimless electronic ditties that don't work so well. The voice acting has also taken a turn for the cartoony, lacking in any big-name talent whatsoever this time out. Not so hot.

Verdict

Combat too has been heavily simplified. A truly baffling choice
So a mixed bag all in all. There's some saddening changes to what felt like a winning formula here, but at the same time it still retains enough familiarity with its predecessor to make it worthy of a butchers.

Unlike Spider-Man 2, this game is coming out for the PC, so although PC fans can't play the better of the two titles, at least they now have something to check out. I'd advise any PC owning fan of action games or GTA-style free-roamers to give it a blast for that reason, as there's much brilliance to see here that a "veteran" will take for granted.

If you're a console guy though, I'd pick up last year's prequel first. If you similarly dug the hell outta that game like me and want more adventures with the web slinger, this is worth your time too, just bare those irksome problems in mind before diving in.

(Pictures courtesy of Ultimate Spider-Man)

Untitled Document

The Polynomial. Like playing a rave

Untitled Document

Game
Fallout 3

Enjoying a fully modded out re-visit. Wow

Film
The Road

Pretty much due to the above

Show
Breaking Bad

Already shaping up to be the best season yet

Tune
Explosions in the Sky

Easing the pain of living in a post-Friday Night Lights world

Untitled Document

Forums

The TPS Forum
Official boards for the site

RLLMUK Forum
The old Edge forums gone independent. The busiest and most interesting gaming board around, worthy of multiple visits a day

NTSC-UK Forum
Another exceptional gaming forum, featuring one of the friendliest communities on the net, and up to the minute news

NeoGAF
A more US-centric gaming board, with huge piles of traffic and even the odd famous face

Gaming Shows

The 1up Radio Network
1up.com's collection of weekly gaming podcasts, the pick of which would have to be ListenUP, full of juicy rumors and interesting banter week in, week out

Area 5
Formerly The 1up Show, since losing their jobs the old video editing team have continued doing what they do best, in an independent internet-based TV show, covering whatever upcoming games they can get their hands on, and various other bits and pieces

Fully Ramblomatic
A hysterical gaming blogger posting what he calls "zero punctuation" video reviews that have to be seen - and heard - to be believed

A Life Well Wasted
Freelance journalist Robert Ashley's internet radio show, with a far more interesting and professional demeanor than your typical podcast. Interviews, fast-paced editing and catchy tunes abound

On the Spot
The humongous gaming site known as Gamespot broadcasts a video show each week, in which upcoming games are demoed live on air, and viewers are invited to send in questions to find out more

The Hotspot
Gamespot's audio-based companion to On the Spot, in which site editors cover the week's news while simultaneously poking fun at all that is gaming

Gaming Steve
A more mature podcast, hosted by a long-time games industry professional armed with a ton of insider info and loads of interesting opinions. The Dig's been known to post articles and stories on here from time to time

Consolevania
Quick-fire internet-based TV show with console reviews and comedy sketches. Funny as hell

Major Nelson
An interesting "blogcast" hosted by a Microsoft employee, featuring stacks of exclusive behind the scenes news and interviews relating to all things Xbox 360

The Kojima Productions Report
Official podcast from the team of Hideo Kojima, creator of the much-loved Metal Gear franchise. Full of news and interviews relating to all things Metal Gear, it's probably one for die-hard fans only

Pure Pwnage
Mockumentary series on the life of a pro gamer. Episode five is possibly the funniest thing on the internet

Other Sites

Kotaku
What you could call gaming's homepage. Constantly updated news and links on the entire industry, from minute breaking headlines, to funny arse viral vids

Game Trailers
Easy to use multimedia-rich web site offering official trailers, video demos and sneak peaks at all the upcoming releases

Game Videos
Sister site to 1up.com, focusing on game trailers, video interviews and even the odd documentary

Gamespot
The Gamespot front-end, and the gaming equivalent of the Internet Movie Database. Includes detailed reviews and extensive video features on pretty much all systems and games ever made

Giant Bomb
Speaking of Gamespot, the controversial "letting go" of editor Jeff Gerstmann resulted in him starting up this new venture with fellow former writers of the site. Great podcast in particular

1up.com
Discounting the audio and video shows mentioned earlier, 1up's main site is also worth a visit in its own right. Not only bustling with quality gaming articles and extensive developers' blogs, it also doubles up as a massive friends network, ideal for meeting fellow gamers and joining like-minded communities

Live Marketplace Feed
The most up to date and reliable way to keep track of all the new Xbox Live Marketplace content, from new weapons and map packs, to movie trailers and game demos

Xbox Reloaded
360 backwards compatibility can be a minefield. This blog attempts to shed some light on the issue by playing original Xbox games for you and reporting back the results

GameFAQs
The ultimate resource for walkthroughs and cheats

Disposable Media
A wonderful (and free) E-zine, full of reviews and articles on gaming, movies, music and TV. Puts most high street mags to shame

X-Fire
A must-have for all PC gamers, X-Fire is a buddy list and communications tool that keeps constant tabs on what games both you and all your mates are playing, on or offline

Steam
A contender to the X-Fire throne that has pretty much overtaken it straight out of the gate. Valve's Steam client contains friends lists, downloadable games, Live-style achievements and plenty more to sink your teeth into

MyGamerCard.net
Convert your Xbox Live gamercard into an image, for use on forums and web sites for free. That's mine further down

Ain't it Cool News
The latest news, gossip and spy reports from the world of movies, TV and (occasionally) video games

Smodcast
Writer, director and actor Kevin Smith - he of Clerks fame - records a monthly podcast in which he and fellow pals discuss everything from trying to felate oneself, to the time his dog got covered in ejaculate. Riveting stuff

 

Matt Robinson, 2011

Please do not use anything on this site without credit
X-Fire Profile
Feel free to add me to X-Fire, Xbox Live or any of the other apps to the right
Xbox Live:
Diggler26
Wii Friend Code:
1224 7821 4721 8136
Playstation Network:
Diggler
Steam:
Diggler26
Twitter