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"An...er, INTERESTING Spider-Man interpretation..."

What with the new movie out and all, Spider-Man has hit it big once again. And what a better way to celebrate his success than to bring up some of the...er, darker past of his legacy.

With that, I introduce a quick view into the world of the Questprobe adventure of Spider-Man.

Scott Adams, noted adventure designer of the classics Sorcerer of Claymorgue Castle and the aptly titled Adventureland way, way back in the late '70s managed to get his hands on the licenses of three major Marvel heroes: Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four. He then proceeded to do what many have always planned to do with characters created on a graphics medium...that's right, make a text adventure out of them. Despite this obvious handicap Adams had to overcome, did he succeed in creating a game true to the idea of the comics they were based on? Well...kinda. For now, let's discuss Spider-Man.

Number 2 in the Questprobe series (As these Marvel games were called), Spider-Man basically remains trapped in an office building for the duration of the game (Pictures of J. Jonah Jameson and a printing press suggest that this is the Daily Bugle's offices). While traveling through the building you, as Spider-Man, will encounter various foes, including Mysterio, the Lizard, Hydro-Man (anyone remember him?), Sandman, and more. Also scattered throughout the building are various gems which are found through exploration and conquering the game's baddies via solving puzzles (nope, sorry, Spider-Man does not get an opportunity to actually punch any of these people). Once you get the gems, you must leave them in a safe place (that safe place being a computer room containing, of all people, Madame Web, which even _I_ never saw in the comics). Basically, the idea is to collect all the gems and store them, and once you do, you win!

On the surface, the concept seems like a lot of fun. Rather than fight through foes and risk dying several hundred thousand times in difficult battle sequences, you must put your brain to the test and defeat the foes through indirect methods. Note the word above, SEEMS...problem is, the game never really clues you in on exactly HOW you are to solve these problems. Sometimes figuring out the solution is via countless attempts at trial and error. And some of the problems require exceedingly ridiculous solutions of a highly obscure nature. However, in order to describe exactly HOW ridiculous involves lengthy explanations and giving away solutions. To get an idea, imagine the solution to the motorcycle renting puzzle in Gabriel Knight III (if you don't know, look it up. It is a truly whacked out puzzle), only being inclusive of generally every puzzle in the entire game.

Another of Spider-Man's downfalls is its...oddity. Don't let the license fool you - the characters may be Spider-Man and several of his arch-nemeses, but the adventure is pretty generic. None of it seems to fit the world of Peter Parker that comic book collectors (and now moviegoers) have grown to know and love. When was the last time ol' Webhead went around collecting gems? For ANY reason? Plus, if by chance you should happen to die (despite what I say above, it does happen pretty easily...), you end up in Limbo, where Questprobe-only character Chief Examiner has conveniently left a sign urging you to continue. Yep, odd is putting it mildly.

The game's still fun, though, if you can get past the weirdness. Just the fact that you do get to sling webs IS worth the investiture. But buyer (if C-64 software can really be applied to being bought anymore) beware: two versions of this game exist for the 64. One is an earlier version with horrible graphics and a two-word parser. The other is an updated version with a much better typing interface and visibly nicer graphics. I definitely recommend the latter.

GRAPHICS: 5/8
The original version's graphics are exceptionally poor, even by 64 standards. They get the 5. The super-updated version is much, much better, with characters instantly recognizable and cleaner. Plus, it includes some animated sequences, notably Spidey shooting webs and tearing open an elevator door with his bare hands. Definitely worth an 8.

SOUND: 1
The original edition has no sound whatsoever. The update has a 'BING!' noise accompanying some of the text, mostly to stop it before it scrolls right off the screen. Absolutely no other sounds, which sucks because the game could've definitely benefited from a few pows and whaps.

CONTROL: 2/5
Except in Infocom and Sierra's case, I've never been particularly fond of parsers. Most companies never did them right, for one. The original adventure is a clunker with two-word sentences which, in this adventure, are highly counterintuitive. The update has a much more evolved and generally more tolerant parser, but the cursor moves irregularly slow on the screen due to memory constraints or something. Good, but not great.

GAMEPLAY: 6
Definitely a trip to Freakyland for anyone who's even read a single Spider-Man comic. It's cool to see all the bad guys who Spidey's fought through the years, but gems? Secret formulas? Thermostats? Hydro-Man? It all gets a little crazy. Plus, the fact that very few clues are given explaining how to defeat the various villains as well as unfair placement of some gems leads to some disappointment. More suited to oldie adventure gamers than to fans of the series.

In all, it really depends on your tastes. Despite its eccentricities, I have a soft spot for this game because I used to play it when I was real young and didn't really care about beating it. If you're just interested in seeing the olden days of computer gaming and Spidey in general, or are one of them old-time hardcore adventurers, I recommend it. If your idea of a good time is something more along the lines of the Monkey Island series or action-packed Quake-a-thons, it's probably best to leave it be.

LEGAL PURPOSES: Any series, character, or company I have mentioned above are all properties of their respective copyrights. I do not own Spider-Man nor do I believe I'll ever have the money or clout to do so. Plus, Scott Adams is an all right guy by me, and best of luck to him in the future.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE: Although the Lizard looks a little scary, the game has nothing in it that would make it unsuitable for any age. General knowledge of the English language is recommended for completing the game, however.


Reviewer's Score: 6/10 | Originally Posted: 06/05/02, Updated 06/05/02

Producer: Adventure International
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £9.95
Language: machine code
Author: Scott Adams, conversion by Brian Howarth



Spider-man follows The Hulk as the second instalment in the Questprobe link-up between Marvel Comics and Scott Adams marketed in the UK by Adventure International. In keeping with the theme, the background to the adventure and the loading instructions are contained within a comic which features a long comic strip episode entitled ‘Mysterio times two!’. In it we learn how Peter Parker, a freelance photographer at the Daily Bugle in New York, dons a spider suit and uses his powers of spider-sense (which warns him of impending danger) and icky-sticky spider webbing to become Spider-man, a character often swinging spectacularly about skyscrapers in his never-ending fight against crime.


His assailant in this episode is the former Hollywood special effects designer Quentin Beck, otherwise known as Mysterio. He wields his power of hypnosis and illusion from behind a fishbowl helmet supplied with oxygen to isolate him from the thick gas emitted from his canisters which obscure Spider-man’s vision and spider senses. We can learn more of Spider-man’s friends and foes in a glossary of Marvel characters in the back of the comic. Details go as far as personal attributes such as Mysterio’s five feet and eleven inches height, 175lbs weight, blue eyes and black hair.

Two unusual objects, and one imposing character dominate the storyline. The objects are a matter energy egg and the other a bio-gem. The bio-gem is one of many such fragments each protected by an egg. Should the gem try to break free, or anyone be foolish enough to move it before neutralising its energy, the egg explodes. The dominant character is the Chief Examiner, familiar to those who have played The Hulk. At first Spider-man confuses the Examiner with Mysterio and hence the title ‘Mysterio times two’, but later realises, when he passes through the dark void of the Examiner’s portal, that he represents a great power which oversees all the Marvel superheroes. It is here that Spider-man has his mind stripped of everything he knows, every experience, every thought, every sensation he has ever had is laid bare to the probing portal. To find out what goes on in the portal we are directed to the adventure program.

Following the comic strip, and after a brief introduction to what adventures entail the comic goes on to give examples of valid sentence structures e.g. TAKE GEM FROM THE AQUARIUM and TALK TO MADAME WEB along with the extremely useful (especially early on) TAKE EVERYTHING and DROP ALL. Continuing in this helpful mode a list of 24 useful words are provided.


If you are over the tender years of fourteen or so, and you are wondering why you should engross yourself in the antics of a cartoon superhero then perhaps it’s worth noting that these comic strips can be, in a self-deprecating fashion, genuinely amusing, much as the classic Batman TV Series. Spider-man, for example, must swing about the skyscrapers on a sultry summer’s evening to keep cool wondering what sort of society has glamorous hero-types unable to afford an air conditioner. His finances are low because his editor at the newspaper wants something a little more than just shots of Spider-man in action (how exactly Spider-man can take pictures of himself is not explained).

The crux of the adventure is how you go about dealing with Spider-man’s friends and foes from Madame Web, a friend with useful psychic powers, to the likes of Sand-man, who can convert all or part of his body to sand, and the Ringmaster, another foe, who runs a circus of crime, hypnotising and robbing his audiences. Although the solution to the encounters with these characters can be gleaned from the information in the glossary, there are still one or two places which left me puzzled. Moving a crib is apparently beyond the powers of a superhero like Spider-man; there are one or two locations which lead to an abrupt ‘something stops me’ but I never quite worked out what, and, despite keen super senses, in the dark our hero falls and breaks his neck. There is one major programming niggle which you will most certainly come across. On picking up an object, or setting one down, the scene is taken from the screen momentarily and then redrawn so quickly it results in an awkward flash. Picking up several items quickly can leave you dazed by all the flashing. This is simply poor programming.

Spider-man is another good game from Scott Adams where the Marvel characters really give the game that edge. The graphics are superlative and capture the scenes right down to the smallest detail. The mix of comic book hero, fascinating plot and super graphics will ensure the game’s success.

COMMENTS
Difficulty: quite difficult
Graphics: in all locations, some repeated, generally excellent
Presentation: average
Input facility: accepts reasonably complex sentences
Response: fast
General rating: very good

Atmosphere 8
Vocabulary 8
Logic 8
Debugging 9
Overall 8