After the kid focused Spider-Man: Friend or Foe and the somewhat redundant nature of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Spidey fans have been clamoring for a change in the Spider-Man formula. Since Spider-Man 2, most titles have revolved around a sandbox view of Manhattan where everyone’s favorite webslinger traverses back and forth in the city, sometimes racing against time, to match up against his more fearsome foes and crossing paths with various small time criminals committing minor offenses along the way.

While it has proven a successful formula, it had started to grow stagnant. Influenced by that criticism, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions puts together four versions of the Marvel icon, including two who have never been seen in video game form, in a variety of diverse levels and constantly changing gameplay.

Gameplay:

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions plays differently than most previous Spider-Man titles, and not just because of the change away from open world environments. While button mashing combined with Spider-Sense dodging is the focus of combat, traversing through the levels seemed looser in terms of control.

Slinging through levels doesn’t feel as natural or fun as it did in Manhattan in days of Spider-Man’s past. Possibly because of the level design system, less emphasis was put on traversing areas at fast speeds.

Combat also doesn’t feel as diverse. Because each Spider-Man only has three individual levels, there is not a huge diversity in combat abilities. Previous titles, because of only having one or two versions of Spider-Man, had a larger number of different attacks to work with.

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With just under a week from the release of the most hyped Spider-Man video game release in years, Activision and Beenox have unveiled the final launch trailer for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.  In it, a majority of the game’s villains are spotlighted as well as the voice actors of all four versions of everyone’s favorite web crawler after the jump.

As we are sure you have seen, we’ve kept a close watch on the upcoming title. We have brought you video of the alternate unlockcable attire, interviews with developers,  and even hands on feedback from our time with the game at San Diego Comic-Con.

But we’re not done yet. Be sure to check back for our review of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions following the game’s September 7th release date. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions will be coming out for PlayStation 3, XBox 360, PC and the Nintendo Wii.

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Recently following our developer interview, we revealed all of the alternate costumes for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Two of the most intriguing reveals for the alternate costumes include the Scarlet Spider and the Negative Zone Spider-Man.

The Scarlet Spider was the center of the infamous Clone Saga of the 90s that some people view as one of the most confusing times in Spider-Man’s history. Yet, years later, the Scarlet Spider is still revisited through flashbacks, reboots, toys and now video games. The Scarlet Spider will be the unlockable skin in the Amazing Dimension.

A more obscure costume comes from Spider-Man’s Negative Zone attire. Appearing in the adjectiveless Spider-Man title in issue #90, while trapped in the Negative Zone, Peter was lent the Darkforce powers by a hero named S.H.O.C. which altered his costume. Haven’t heard of this story ever? There’s probably a reason for that. Regardless, this incredibly dark (and we do mean dark, it is almost entirely black) costume is a perfect fit visually for the Noir world of Spider-Man which is devoid of any color in it.

Make sure to check out the two vignettes after the jump of these two costumes in motion and stick to the Flickcast for all things Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions as it approaches its September 7th release date.

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On Marvel.com, Activision has revealed all of the unlockable skins for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. By playing through the game, players will have the opportunity to unlock new looks for their favorite wall crawler across the four dimensions of gameplay. Make sure to check out the gallery at the bottom of this post for screen shots of all the new costumes.

At Comic Con, we had the opportunity to sit down with Studio Head over at Beenox, the developers behind Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Dee Brown. In our short time with Dee, he discussed with us the choices behind dimensions of the game.

He also mentions creating new villains for the game as well as the hype that has been coming out leading to the game’s release.

The Flickcast: First question I have, what was the thought process behind the four dimensions Beenox picked?

Dee Brown: Well, what we do when we start a project, we did what we always do when we start a project, a deep dive into the brand and we dug up a lot of the comic stuff of Spider-Man, and we did this big presentation to the team and the entire company.

Everybody loves Spider-Man of course, but nobody knows all the different universes and everything, so we did this presentation and showed shots of 2099 and Noir and all the amazing universes. People, like me for example, I didn’t know about Noir and when I saw it I thought “That’s amazing, that’s so great.”

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With E3 fast approaching, we’re going to have a lot of news coming your way from the show. First up comes Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions’ E3 trailer. Last week, we reported that the third dimension of the game would be Spider-Man 2099′s world.

Here we get to see it in motion for the first time. The gameplay looks to take a new turn with the vertical freefall style of travel and combat. The dimension also has a great contrasting art style with its super sci-fi overtones compared to the gritty greyscale of the Noir universe and the cell shared appearance of the Amazing world.

As far as villains, the best I can tell is the flying menace shown fighting Spider-Man 2099 is a new take on Spider-Man’s foes as screen shot titles from Activision entitle him the Hobgoblin (which never actually appeared in Peter David’s run of Spider-Man 2099).

Also announced for the Spider-Man 2099 dimension will be an Amazon.com preorder bonus of a special Iron Spider skin to play as. Though Iron Spider was the costume Spider-Man wore during the Civil War and is down the attire of the Scarlet Spider (formerly the three clones of Avengers: Initiative member MVP) and has nothing to do with the Spider-Man 2099 dimension, it looks pretty cool none the less.

Take a peek below at the new screens and trailer for the third dimension of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

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Okay, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe wasn’t exactly an impressive showing for the mighty Marvel franchise. It was actually pretty much a kids game when it comes down to it. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows however reignited the Spider-Man franchise with more grounded gameplay reminiscent of the style and strategy used in Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Now, right before E3, Activision has unofficially had some screens leak for the third dimension of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, the next iteration of the franchise. Already revealed have been the Amazing universe featuring Kraven the Hunter as its villain and the Noir universe with the Goblin and Hammerhead as the lead antagonists. Now, it looks like the world of Spider-Man 2099 will be featured in a game for the first time.

For those who don’t know, the 2099 world came about in the mid-nineties with visions of Spider-Man, Doom, the X-Men and various other characters who were based on historic entities from the Age of Heroes. The longest running of this line was Spider-Man 2099 who encountered future versions of the Vulture and Venom in his tenure. Miguel O’Hara, Spider-Man 2099′s alter ego, has made various recent appearances in Marvel comics while others from this period have been forgotten.

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With Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 being a very fun game we are definitely looking forward to another upcoming superhero based game from Activision called Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Previously, we brought you the first trailer for the game and some screens. Now, to further illustrate how cool this game is going to be, we’ve got a new trailer from it to share with you today featuring some of the villains of the game including Kraven, Hammerhead and Goblin.

In case you’re not familiar with the game it is, according to Activision, a “thrilling action-packed adventure set in four dramatically different universes from legendary Spider-Man lore, each with a distinct Spider-Man armed with unique skills and strengths, in one original storyline.”

As a player you will be “transported to new locations never before seen in a Spider-Man game, from lush jungles and dusty deserts to various urban terrain.” The game is written by comics writer Dan Slott and “takes players on a mission to contain the magical energy of the Tablet of Order and Chaos, which has been shattered and sent hurtling across parallel universes, and battle fan-favorite villains in a quest to restore the fabric of reality.” Sounds cool, right?

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is in development by Beenox for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, and by Griptonite Games for Nintendo DS. It will be released sometime later this year or early next year. Until then, check out the trailer after the jump.

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