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Critique of Spider-Man 2 DS
I often write critiques of games in my notebook - what I liked, what I didn't like, and how I would improve a game.
It's worth noting that Spider-Man 2 was a launch title for the Nintendo DS. The game succeeded in some areas, pioneering a 3D side-scrolling engine on the system, for example. But in an ideal world I would fix some additional design choices in the game, which I address below!
It's worth noting that Spider-Man 2 was a launch title for the Nintendo DS. The game succeeded in some areas, pioneering a 3D side-scrolling engine on the system, for example. But in an ideal world I would fix some additional design choices in the game, which I address below!
This critique helped me to earn a Design Co-op position at Vicarious Visions as a sophomore (Spring / Summer 2006), where I was initially assigned to work on a Spider-Man title!
> Look at a Spider-Man DS test level I designed and built
> Look at a Spider-Man DS test level I designed and built
Here I am, playing Spider-Man 2 on my Nintendo DS! I loved the game, with its pseudo-3D sidescrolling. Also, I thought Spider-Man was easy to control and his animations were incredibly fluid. However, I had some concerns with how smart some of the enemies were, and how hard it often was to find the last hostage in a level!
Above are two examples where I thought enemies were too smart. First, it's almost impossible to crawl up onto a ledge without getting shot back down. Second, enemies tend to know where you are even if you're crawling below them. How can I sneak around?
Sometimes I think it's smart to give enemy code some stupidity. For example, Goombas in Super Mario 64 charge past you and skid to a halt because you stepped out of the way. This is fun because the player feels challenged but not powerless!
Sometimes I think it's smart to give enemy code some stupidity. For example, Goombas in Super Mario 64 charge past you and skid to a halt because you stepped out of the way. This is fun because the player feels challenged but not powerless!
To go along with surprising enemies, I thought it might have been fun if Spider-Man could hop down over thin ledges. This is something that's been done before in games like Gunstar Heroes, and I always thought it was fun because it allowed me to have the upper hand, and be right in the enemy's face when I wanted to be!
Another concern of mine was the balance between literal and visual damage. Games like Wario Land 3 are entirely based on visual damage - Wario gets lit on fire and runs around uncontrollably, usually setting the player back a few steps. Other games, particularly shooters are strongly based on literal damage - you get shot and you lose a lot of health but knockback is limited, because you have to collect your senses and shoot back to survive!
Spider-Man has a combination of the two - which can be very frustrating especially on ledges where Spidey falls off an entire building, and loses a significant amount of health. Once he climbs back up the building, he'll likely lose even more health when he gets shot again! Pick one or the other, Spidey - get hurt, or make me climb up the building again!
Spider-Man has a combination of the two - which can be very frustrating especially on ledges where Spidey falls off an entire building, and loses a significant amount of health. Once he climbs back up the building, he'll likely lose even more health when he gets shot again! Pick one or the other, Spidey - get hurt, or make me climb up the building again!
With Spider-Man getting hurt so easily, falling into traps, getting shot, and so on, I found that I often lost hostage missions when I had one guy left to find, or worse yet, when that last guy was on my screen and I got killed at the last minute! It made me think that perhaps an extra hostage could be put into each level, and you wouldn't have to collect all of them. After all, you can easily get yourself killed even if you're just trying to backtrack!
...or perhaps Spider-Man could have some Spider-Sense integrated into his HUD! That would certainly help me find the last hostage!
My last idea would be a significant change for the Spider-Man game world, but I thought it would be a lot of fun if Spidey could web things up with the stylus. This idea came up mainly because I only have two hands - it felt odd to switch to the stylus in the middle of a boss fight - so instead maybe the stylus could be a key part of game play!
By touching the air, ground, or enemies, Spidey could jump, move, and throw punches and kicks. But if you hold L or R (whatever is comfortable to you as a left or right-handed person) you can then web anything you touch with the stylus! I'm picturing game play where I would be able to tie up enemies, swing them around like a ball and chain, and flick them away at other enemies with the stylus!
By touching the air, ground, or enemies, Spidey could jump, move, and throw punches and kicks. But if you hold L or R (whatever is comfortable to you as a left or right-handed person) you can then web anything you touch with the stylus! I'm picturing game play where I would be able to tie up enemies, swing them around like a ball and chain, and flick them away at other enemies with the stylus!
...of course we would need destructable terrain to emphasize how cool and powerful Spidey is!