Game: Spider-man
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Technopop
Release Date: 1991
Depending on what you want out of a Spider-man video game, it's possible that Spider-man on the Master System will be tolerable. The classic web-swinging movement through levels is nice and fluid and works well with the control system, and it's easy enough to wrap up baddies in webbing and dispatch them off screen. The issue comes with the game's overall premise though; players are given 25 minutes to collect 5 keys from 5 Spider-man arch-enemies and disarm a bomb.
The story begins with The Kingpin blaming Spider-man for placing the bomb, and since everyone appears to believe him, Peter Parker must clear Spider-man's name by stopping it from going off. Most levels consist of platforming, beating up baddies and bosses, and swinging around by web. Inbetween levels the story is advanced via pictures and hard to read text.
Graphically the game is pretty average for the era; the sprites are small but it's easy enough to tell who's who, and the locations are recognisible but not particularly detailed. The music isn't all that memorable, but it's the mix of an overall time limit, some tough sections of the game and repetitive gameplay that lets Spider-man on the Master System down the most.
Overall the story isn't all that exciting; collecting 5 keys to disarm a bomb supposedly planted by you seems contrived, and we'd have to wait for the Spider-man games on the Playstation 2 before we got the web slinging action we truly craved from this sort of licensed video game. A version of this game also came out for Mega Drive, but this is one of the rare cases where the Master System game appears to be better than the 16-bit version.
Rating: 60/100
Grade: D
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