Spiderman review - Sega Master System

FRAMED! A series of massive explosions have rocked the city, and it seems that everyone's too keen to point the finger of suspicion at your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man! The real culprit is the Kingpin, freshly released from prison, and he's out for revenge against our wall-crawling, web-slinging hero. So determined is he to get Spidey out of the way, he's massed the meanest bunch of terrorists and super-villain ever, and they're all out to get Spidey!

Spidey decides to check the situation out and finds that the Kingpin wants him out of the way so he can gain control of the city and use it for his own evil ends. As an emergency back-up, he's also planted a massive bomb somewhere in the city and it can only be made safe by collecting five keys to disarm it.

The Kingpin has given these keys to some of his best friends (and Spidey's enemies) including Dr. Octopus, Electro and the fearsome Hobgoblin! Spidey can only save himself from the slammer (and the city from terror) by finding the bomb, disarming it, and then going after the Kingpin himself!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

This is the best Master System game I've played for a long time! The Spiderman theme has been exploited fully, and there are plenty of wall crawling laffs and web-spinning japes. The graphics are very good indeed, with swift smooth scrolling backdrops, excellent cartoon-style still screens and a very nicely animated main sprite, and the action is fast and furious, with enough original features to keep you on your toes. If you're a fan of the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, or are simply a Master System player who's after a decent game, this should be put at the top of your shopping list.

I'm a great Spidey fan and the character has always had great potential for console conversion. I'm pleased to say that the Master System version uses this potential extremely well and the resulting game is sort of like Spider-Man meets Shinobi. I reckon that Spider-Man is better than the ninjitsu classic in that there's all the wall-crawling and web-slinging you could ask for and the control method is superb. My only slight gripe is that Spider-Man is supposed to have super-human strength and yet in this game even dogs and rats (?) are capable of wearing down his energy bar! Still, the graphics are excellent and the scrolling's super-speedy - essential for keeping up with Spidey's web-slinging antics. Anyone after a decent platform game should go forth and immediately check out Spidey, it's playable to the extreme and a lasting challenge too!