Game review: Alien Spidy

I personally love platformer games. They are still relevant today as the old Donkey Kong days, so when Alien Spidy developed by Enigma and published by Kalypso Media landed in my inbox I was very keen to try it out and you know what? It isn’t half bad.
Alien Spidy.Alien Spidy.
Alien Spidy.

The story sees our hero spidy who upon losing contact with his explorer friend Virgi sets forth to Earth in his spacecraft to find him.

Of course, everything then goes wrong for Spidy as his ship breaks up on entry, thus leaving our intergalactic arachnid alone on a strange planet.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So the stage is set for an epic 2D/3D adventure as our hero takes on strange new enemies whilst looking for his missing friend and pieces of his broken spaceship.

Alien Spidy is basically a side-scrolling platformer and it is a beautiful thing to behold, with crisp, colourful graphics and dynamic (sometimes frustrating) gameplay.

The point of the game is to not only complete the level but also collect as many points as you can.

You are set a challenge at the beginning and that’s what you have to aim for. Easy you might think in theory, yet in practice it’s quite the opposite.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The control system took a while to get used to, with A being the jump button and X and the right stick being the web shooter. Now these work fine most of the time and like I said it does take a while to master.

If you’re one of these gamers that throws the controller at the TV when you fail to navigate a section of a game for the umpteenth time, then for your own sanity stay away from this game.

Alien Spidy can be incredibly frustrating yet thoroughly enjoyable as well, and I loved every minute of it.

With 69 levels to complete and three settings (forest, pond and caves) there is plenty to keep you busy and It quickly becomes addictive.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

With more than 300 collectables and some intricate puzzles this is one of the best side scrolling platformers I have played since Rayman origins.

The game mechanics can be frustrating at times with Spidy not always doing what he should do and the web slinging could be a little more accurate.

Yet once you get into the swing of things (sorry about the pun) it’s a highly addictive game.

Alien Spidy is a real bargain for 800 Microsoft points (£7.99) and is available on XBLA and PC with a PSN version planned soon.

Summary

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I personally love this game. It’s challenging, colourful and sometimes incredibly frustrating, yet you just want to keep on playing it, even though your brain is telling you to throw the controller out the window and jump around the living room screaming and pulling your hair out.

This has everything a good platformer should have, plenty to do, challenging gameplay and it’s great to look at. The only thing I didn`t like was the music which is incredibly annoying after a while.

Thankfully you can turn that off, leaving the pleasant background noises that help keep you calm during the more frustrating parts.

For the price Alien Spidy is a brilliant game and if you ignore the slightly dodgy game mechanics it is very addictive and a real challenge at times.

Alien Spidy

Developer: Enigma

Publisher: Kalypso Media

XBLA

PC

Genre: Side scrolling platformer

Release Date :20th March 2013

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Story: 4/5

Overall: 5/5

www.theleet.co.uk http://www.theleet.co.uk|www.theleet.co.uk|www.theleet.co.uk}

Related topics: