Last year, Beenox took a drastic departure from the Spider-Man video game experience by not only taking the open world sandbox enviroment out of play, but also for the first time creating a game that had multiple Spider-Men at the player’s fingertips with Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

This year’s iteration of the Spider-Man franchise brings a different experience as well. While the Spider-Men in Shattered Dimensions all shared a common goal, their actions were independent of each other.

Now, in Spider-Man: Edge of Time both Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 must work together to save the past as well as the future from a mad scientist who has interfered with the time stream by causing the death of Spider-Man.

Gameplay:

Much like the previous Spider-Man title, Spider-Man: Edge of Time focuses on contained levels instead of a free roaming city. The story is kept fairly on rails with little room for full exploration, though there are hidden collectibles that can be used to upgrade the powers of both Spider-Man and his 2099 counterpart throughout the game. As a result, the focus on much of the game revolves around combat.

As expected, Activision made a strong showing at this year’s E3. Of course, they headlined with their premiere franchise Call of Duty with Modern Warfare 3. But they didn’t forget about the rest of their games.

One of the games right now being most closely followed by us is Spider-Man: Edge of Time.  The followup from Beenox from Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Edge of Time tells a story about time being ravaged by the untimely death of the modern day Peter Parker and the ripples it sends in to the future.

In the latest trailer and screen shots below, one of the game’s first major villains is revealed with Anti-Venom. Anyone reading the current Amazing Spider-Man arc will be familiar with Anti-Venom who fancies himself as a cure on society’s cancers. Much like Eddie Brock’s former lethal protector mentality as Venom, Eddie’s personal delusions get in the way of his motives and inevitably put Spider-Man in the sites as one of his targets.

How this will play out in the game remains to be seen but it is refreshing to see Beenox putting newer characters in to their game instead of just rehashing the most famous of Spider-Man’s rouges over and over again.

Take a peek below at Spider-Man: Edge of Time featuring Anti-Venom, Spider-Man 2099 and of course everyone’s favorite modern day Spidey. Stick to The Flickcast for more on Spider-Man: Edge of Time as it becomes available.

This past weekend at WonderCon, Activision and Beenox gave the world its first look at their latest Spider-Man title, Spider-Man: Edge of Time. As we discussed last week, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a concurrent storyline between two versions of Spider-Man, Amazing in the present and 2099 in the future.

Visually, there are a lot of similarities that can be seen in the trailer between Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. It looks like even gameplay will be similar as well, as can be seen from the return of Spider-Man 2099’s freefall combat section shown in the trailer.

It has been revealed that two of the voice actors from Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions will be returning to Edge of Time as well, but strangely neither will be reprising their previous role. Sadly, Neil Patrick Harris will not be returning to the role of Amazing Spider-Man as it will be voiced by Josh Keaton who played Peter Parker in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon and the Ultimate Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions.

Spider-Man 2099 will be voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes who voiced Spider-Man in the 1990’s animated series and Spider-Man Noir in last year’s game.

Take a look at the screens and trailer after the jump and be sure to check back right here for more on Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

Writer Peter David must have found something very special within himself when he created Spider-Man 2099 nearly twenty years ago. Of all of the characters that came to be from the 2099 universe, Spider-Man 2099 is the one who keeps coming back.

Whether it was in Marvel’s “Time Stream” crossover or having a place on the Exiles or his most recent appearance in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Miguel O’Hara has earned his place as a true Spider-Man (unlike the much despised Ben Reily or Kaine).

Now, Spider-Man 2099 will be a part of Activision and Beenox’s latest adaptation of Spider-Man with the newly announced Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

Taking a cue from games like Singularity, Spider-Man: Edge of Time plays on the concept of actions in the past affecting the future as both the current day Spider-Man and the Spider-Man of 2099 both take actions to prevent a premature death of this generation’s Peter Parker which leads to a future that should never come to pass.

Here’s all the info you need to know from the official press release:

“The first Spider-Man entry by Beenox, Spider-Man™: Shattered Dimensions was touted as one of the wall-crawler’s best Spider-Man games to date from both critics and fans,” said Vicharin Vadakan, Director, Global Brand Management. “Beenox is once again taking a fresh and different approach to bring a fast-paced and high-octane adventure and unexpected story to life in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

As you have noticed, Activision’s new Spider-Man game has caught the attention of the Flickcast. Make sure to keep checking back over the coming week for our hands on impressions and a developer interview as well where we got the chance in San Diego to play both as the Noir and Ultimate (Black suit) Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

Activision has just released a new trailer for the game featuring none other than the game’s narrator, Stan “The Man” Lee. The ever humble Stan talks about how it feels being a part of the creation of Spider-Man, the concept of playing four different versions of Spider-Man and even mentions one of his favorite super villains that Spider-Man has encountered. In addition to some great gameplay footage, Stan gives the reason he feels Spider-Man is one of the most enduring heroes.

Check out the full trailer after the jump and make sure to stick to the Flickcast for all things Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

The night before Comic Con, Activision made the announcement that all Spider-Man fans have been waiting for. Joining the Amazing, Noir and 2099 dimensions will be Ultimate Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.  Not only would the Ultimate Spider-Man world be represented by Ultimate Carnage and Ultimate Deadpool, but the young Peter Parker would once again be donning his tendril whipping black suit.

In the game, a mystical artifact known as the Tablet of Order and Chaos is shattered into four pieces with each piece landing in a different dimension. A mystic within the Amazing universe will let Spider-Man know that he can traverse through the other three dimensions to help set things right through the help of the universe’s own Spider-Man.

So far, the game has revealed eight villains with the above mentioned Carnage and Deadpool in the Ultimate universe, Juggernaut and Kraven the Hunter in the Amazing universe, the Hobgoblin and Scorpion of the 2099 universe and the Goblin and Hammerhead in the Noir world.

It looks like Spider-Man will be getting some veteran voice acting behind it. Josh Keaton who voiced the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series in 2008 will be lending his voice to the Ultimate Spider-Man. Dan Gilvenez from the 1980s Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends series will be taking on the role of Migeul O’Hara as Spider-Man 2099.

From the 1990’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Christopher Daniel will be Spider-Man Noir. Finally, the most impressive of the list comes from Neil Patrick Harris from the short-lived MTV CGI Spider-Man series who will take the helm of the Amazing version of Peter Parker.