Most gamers cringe when hearing "licensed property" in relation to gaming, as the phrase carries some heavy baggage. Whether it's the tight development schedule that such games follow to ensure a coinciding release with a companion movie, or the lack of available resources and talent, licensed titles, more often than not, fall short. Likewise, Spider-Man 3 for the Nintendo Wii fails to wiggle itself free from mediocrity's tight grasp. As with so many other superhero adaptations, a flimsy storyline, wonky combat, and weak visual design prevent Spider-Man 3 from accurately reproducing the excitement and nostalgia of Marvel's original conception.

The game is based loosely on Sam Raimi's film adaptation with which it was released. Players are cast into the role of Peter Parker as Spider-Man and are pit against a slew of infamous foes, including the Lizard, Craven, and Sandman. One of the major components of Spider-Man 3's narrative is the appearance of the black suit, which is a symbiote infested garment that grants Spidey heightened power. In the Wii version of the game, the suit also functions as a gameplay mechanic. Once bestowed the power of the black suit, players are able to switch back and forth between it and the regular costume. The black garment is a great aid in defeating bosses and taking on large groups of foes, as it buffs Spider-Man, enabling him to obliterate enemies. Of course, in the words of Aunt May, "with power comes great responsibility". After wearing the suit for too long, it starts to take over Spider-Man's body. Players must then switch back to the regular suit, a task that becomes increasingly more difficult as the black suit is used more. This balancing act, a feature exclusive to the Wii and PS2 versions, is a defining dynamic of the game.

Aside from the events surrounding the black suit, the game's narrative is unfortunately very incohesive, as random encounters with burglars trigger storyline events that occur in no logical order. Although scenes from the movie, such as Peter's fateful encounter with the symbiote, are sprinkled between for good measure, there is no real connectivity between any of the game's scenarios. You may think to attribute this incongruence to the nature of open-ended gameplay, but it seems invalid in this case. Side quests can veer from and illuminate the storyline, but the main narrative needs to flow, and that isn't the case here.

Sadly, the inconsistency carries over to the control scheme. The developers attempted to make good use of the Wii's motion sensing hardware, but the end result is more taxing than not. Web slinging, as implemented, makes the most sense of any of the features. By holding down the B or Z button, and respectively swinging the Wii-mote or nunchuk, players can web their way through the virtual streets of New York. Flicking your hands out at sharper angles makes Spidey shoot his web lines in a similar fashion. Once swinging, the analog stick changes the direction of movement, allowing you to wrap around buildings and navigate narrow alleys. In the end, this feature is the most intuitive and refined feature of the control scheme, and honestly, one of few reasons to spend some time with this game. The remainder of the controls are mediocre at best, riddled with shoddy detection and tedious move sets. Twirling the controller to throw a bomb or flipping both peripherals up to toss an opponent is only entertaining for so long. After a few hours of play, the motion controls become noticeably cumbersome and they lose their appeal.

Perhaps this wouldn't be such an outlying problem if the combat in Spider-Man 3 was multi-faceted enough to engross players, but the battle system is too rudimentary for its own good. In this case, the Wiimote itself prevents the implementation of complex combat, as the miniscule number of buttons limits the number of moves that players can pull off. Unlike the combat of the PS3 and 360 versions, on the Wii it is accomplished entirely via the shaking of the controller, which, as you may imagine, grows tiresome quickly. It is similarly frustrating that the enemy AI exudes about as much intelligence as a pile of mossy bricks. They swarm around and then take turns attacking, each time following a simple, set move list that becomes painstakingly predictable. Considering the insignificant variance between character types, this turns this problematic blister into a boil.

Spider-Man is known for his outlandish acrobatics, so it's a shame that the games visuals are so stilted. Firstly, the developers did little to harness the graphical power of the Wii. Of course, Nintendo's white wonder has no chance of competing with the other two next-gen systems in this arena, but should the game really look like a 1st generation PS2 title? Placing the blame on a short development period is a handy excuse for many poorly crafted titles; however, with Spider-Man 3, neglect is clearly a factor. The world is both crudely modeled and textured. Buildings, a homogeneous series of grey and brown cubes, pop into view as Spidey swings near, often times seconds before the textures even appear on their surfaces.

The character models are similarly atrocious. Apparently, each gang's resident goons share some sort of common heritage, as their bodies and facial features are strikingly similar (identical). Likewise, civilians and mission sensitive characters are continually recycled. Much to the game's disadvantage, nothing ever really feels fresh. With higher polygon counts and slightly smoother textures, Spidey's cast of infamous foes elicit a bit more interest, though the improvement is certainly not redeeming because they still animate like action figures, with movements that are rigid and limited. It seems that the development team spent the most time working on Spider-Man. His combat animations are not top-notch, but not particularly stiff either. Nonetheless, the webslinging animations are spot-on, which adds to the enjoyment of aimlessly swinging around New York.

And what huge city would be complete without hustle and bustle, one might ask? Well, since Spider-Man 3 is far from a complete experience, it makes sense that its sound design is equally sub par. The developers enlisted the vocal talents of those from the movie in an attempt to keep the two experiences, both film and game, consistent. Unfortunately, the actors falter, delivering half-hearted one-liners, left and right. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst's slack performances are offensively corny, trumped only by the B-grade lines themselves. On a positive note, the orchestral score sounds like it was taken directly from the movie, and is perfectly suited to high-flying, web-shooting action. It's just a shame that it sounds so out of place alongside Dunst's shrill delivery.

In the end, Vicarious Visions fail to deliver a suitable follow up to Treyarch's entry, Spider-Man 2. While the motion-controlled swing mechanic is entertaining in short spurts, the core gameplay is just too shallow to justify regular involvement with this title. It would be hard to recommend this game to even the most hardcore of Spidey fans because it defiles the legacy in so many ways. For now, Spider-Man could make better use of his newfound black suit by keeping to the shadows.