Fritz, I totally get what you’re saying about sticking to what works. I think there will always be a place for tried and true gameplay formulas like the free-roaming Spiderman series. At the same time, I can also appreciate the value of breaking those formulas just for the sake of breaking them. The challenge then comes in trying to re-assemble the wreckage into something even cooler.
Take for example the abysmal Spiderman 3 on Wii. Imagine what a re-designed Wii version might have been like. Sure, it might not have resembled the other versions at all, but that’s what is so intriguing. Instead, Wii owners were treated to a glitchy crap-fest that didn’t even attempt to capitalize on the system’s strengths. And it shows.
Sure, I’ve heard good things about the Wiimote enhanced swing mechanic, but swinging around the city has never been the focal point of the Spiderman series. It’s fun as hell, but not the main point. Well, what if on the Wii version it was the main point? Now I’m not saying that that’s the right approach either, but imagine a Spiderman game of a different color… perhaps one where Spiderman never even touches the ground. Instead, maybe the whole game centers around manipulating Spiderman as he swings through the air, performing ever more acrobatic maneuvers along the way. I don’t know.
That’s not the point. The point is that developers need to start thinking beyond the quick port and start capitalizing on a system’s unique strengths. The days of platform-exclusive games may be long gone, but that only leaves the door wide open for a new era of competition among individual development teams within the same company to see who can make the most fun version of any given title. Spiderman 4 might not be exclusive to any one system, but perhaps the acrobatic airborne version is a Wii exclusive… or the hyper-realistic version lands strictly on PS3 and 360.
In the meantime, Wii owners looking for a spider fix get this:
The upside is we have this coming, which I hope does take a different approach. With a character like Spider-Man, there’s enough room for multiple kinds of games. (And enough fanboys, myself included of course, that will buy them.)