Time Is On Your Side, Yes It Is

Continuing my new Monday habitat of discussing games that disappointed me, we turn to Spider-Man vs. the Kingpin, for the Game Gear. In this game, Kingpin has framed Spider-Man for stealing a nuke, and Spidey has 24 hours to defeat a host of bad guys, which will get him the keys to the nuke, and clear his name. If the 24 hours runs out, Kingpin detonates the nuke for some reason. I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either. If you run out of lives, you go to jail. Boy, are the cops faces going to be red when Fisk detonates that bomb. Also, why would Fisk give the keys to a bunch of Spidey's enemies like the Lizard or Hobgoblin? And are Hobgoblin and Doc Ock really cool with Fisk possibly blowing up the city they're living in at that time.

I've never been a fan of timed games, because it feels as though you have to rush through things without getting time to explore. Granted, there isn't a lot to explore in this game, but as a general rule I like to be able to spend some time poking around for Easter eggs and hidden power-ups or whatever. No time for that in this game. Contrast that to another game I had for the Game Gear, Spider-Man and the Return of the Sinister Six. That game was simple, in that the Sinister Six are out there, and you've got to hunt them down one at a time and defeat them. But, there's no time limit, so you can spend as much (or as little) time as you wish on each level. If you want to take your time and move through the level trying to get every web cartridge, and take out every hood in the safest manner possible, you can. If you want to charge past all the cannon fodder and go straight to the boss man, you can do that to, once you find any keys or other items you might require (Mysterio's level has infra-red goggles to help you see his traps. As he has no henchmen, I'm not sure what those are lying around for, but game logic is an odd bird.) But either way, the option is yours.

One other odd thing about Spider-Man vs. the Kingpin: how Spider-Man runs. I shouldn't say runs actually, as he really just walks, and very oddly too. He keeps his arms swinging in front of him, and appears to be shuffling his feet. It's reminiscent of either a child pretending to strut around like they're someone important, or someone trying to build up static electricity. It's just odd. I kept jumping almost all the time, just because it looked less weird. Oh well, at least neither game had escort missions, at least not in the stages I played. I may have to complain about escort missions somewhere down the line. Not today though.