In Ultimate Spider-Man Total Mayhem Gameloft has taken Marvel’s web-spinning, wall-climbing superhero, drawn and animated him and his enemies beautifully, and brought a comic book to life in the palm of our hands. All it takes are a few simple touches to make you feel like a high-flying superhero. Do the kids of today know how good they’ve got it?

The ease and accessibility of this game will have you throwing multiple flips and combos within seconds as you fight to overcome a city overrun by evil and protect the good people of  NYC.  Spiderman’s punches, kicks, special attacks and defensive acrobatics are lightning quick yet you feel in complete control thanks to the simplest and most responsive touch controls ever seen in an action game.

Spiderman moves so fast that he’s hard to see unless you touch the Spidy sense icon that pops up next to the d-pad and send him into a spinning slo-mo while bullets whiz by.  Only then will you be able to clearly see his amazing acrobatics.  I was so enthralled by his evasive maneuvers, his punching speed (fist icon) and his web swinging (man icon) that I didn’t use his web firing abilities until the third level and by then I knew that no evil force could stand up to his powers. He also has a devastating super power that builds up under the health bar by gathering the red dots.

The settings provide great variety as Spiderman battles over rooftops, through the streets, in buildings and on top of a moving train to name a few.  With the multitude of attacks and combos at your fingertips, the fighting never gets stale or repetitive.  The bosses at the end of the levels are tough and in a nice touch Gameloft gives you the ability to redo the boss fights which you’ll never fight exactly the same.  The environments are full of destructible object that release power dots and you can spend experience points in building up the web heads abilities.
 
 

The only place where Spiderman stumbles is in the plat forming portions of the game.  The
d-pad isn’t as accurate or responsive as the touch buttons in lining up Spiderman’s jumps which can lead to  frustrating repeats.  You’re never thrown too far back but it breaks up the game flow nonetheless.  There’s a classic Spiderman sense of humor in the game as he tosses out his one-liners before kicking butt.  The sound, visuals and overall production in Spiderman are superb.

If you’re looking for high-flying non-stop action it doesn’t get much better or more fun than Ultimate Spiderman Total Mayhem.  4 ½ stars.

goyami@comcast.net