The Verdict
I admire development studio Vicarious Visions for taking the time and effort to create
an original, ground-up version of Spider-Man 3 for Wii. There are some smart ideas in place here, too. I really think that the game's fundamental swing mechanics are inspired once you figure out their intricacies. I really love the dichotomy between the red and black suit. I think the character-building element is well-implemented. And sometimes the sensation of soaring acrobatically through the city is portrayed on-screen well. But there are serious issues with this endeavor, too.
The sub-par visual presentation really hurts; the Wii version chugs with an inconsistent framerate despite lots of city pop- up and the fact that many 3D structures lack textures completely when viewed at a distance. The battle system, in spite of some gameplay- enhancing upgrades, feels clunky and unrefined. And many of the story arcs, while original, are neither very interesting nor very well executed.
I think devout Spider-Man fans will still find a lot to like about this project and I encourage everybody to give it a rental to check out the web-swinging mechanics, if nothing else. However, ultimately the Wii version of Spider-Man 3 -- like the PS3 and Xbox 360 builds -- falls well short of expectations for the aforementioned reasons.