1.5/5 ★ – vr_'s review of Spider-Man: Battle for New York.

Unfortunately not good, and this is from someone who lived the DS version of Ultimate Spider-Man. Battle for New York feels like a cheap imitation, with none of the love the original had with some of the worst designed levels that barely make sense. The biggest issue is that the game is not fun. Levels are tedious and boring, and the cutscenes between them are not very inspiring either. Had I not Played Ultimate Spider-Man, I would never have guessed that this game’s cutscenes are trying to also emulate a comic book feel. This is subjective, but the artstyle used also looks quite cheap and kind of knock-off-y The levs in this game are pretty much all bad. Most of them felt like mazes, in which you essentially have to play hide and seek with hidden enemies in order to progress, resulting in running back and forth hoping to find the hidden enemy to progress. Other levels are just “reach goal” and can be completed in less than a minute. The game does not incentivise you to engage in combat, as there's usually no reason to / no one to save or interact with. The objectives in levels are also sometimes so nonsensical. In one mission Goblin has to destroy his own furniture in his apartment so his sprinkler will activate in order to open a secret door In another mission, Spider-Man is seemingly okay with murder and as he arms bombs in a gang headquarters and blows up an entire building. Overall, the gameplay is significantly worse than in Ultimate Spider-Man, as the controls and mechanics have been changed for no good reason. I nearly gave up after I got soft-locked on the first boss due to poor upgrade management. I died to the first boss probably 30 times before finally deciding to restart the game in order to upgrade my health. The rest of the boss fights in this game are also pretty shit, specifically the Kingpin boss fight, which was so absurdly bad it was almost funny. The new “mini-games” added to web up doors or stop alarms are also awful, and extremely infuriating to complete. It’s pretty ridiculous how much this game borrows from the original game, yet how little it feels like an actual sequel. There is a huge disconnect between the art styles, as Spider-Man uses the same character model from the original game, yet in cutscenes is clearly designed entirely differently. James Arnold Taylor is fine as Spider-Man, but his voice really does not compare to the genuinely teenager sounding performance in the original Ultimate Spider-Man. One of the biggest issues with the game is how uninspired and lazy iit feels in comparison. The original game had such unique menu and level select screen, music that played when finishing a level, comic cutscenes with moving parts, diverse levels, unique UI for Spider-Man and Venom, while Battle for New York has the same ugly metal tube looking UI at all times, and the level select screen is just text on a screen. The plot is loosely based off the first goblin arc in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, yet the fun characters such as Kingpins enforcers are replaced with mini goblin jobbers.Just not very good, and worse than uLtimate in nearly every way. Battle for New York feels more like a fanmade sequel mod, rather than something actually made by an actual developer. Had that been the case, I’d think it was a good attempt. Given the fact that it is not a fan game, it is extremely disappointing.