I haven’t been a fan of Gameloft as an iPhone developer, however profitable they may be. Similar to Electronic Arts, they churn out titles and typically value presentation over gameplay. Some of their recent releases, like the Hero of Sparta series or Assassin’s Creed series, have had spotty quality paired with high price tags. I was uncertain, but hopeful, about Spider-Man: Total Mayhem, only because the superhero genre is already underwhelming on the Apple platforms. In any case, Total Mayhem wraps a story of escaped super-villains around our favorite web slinger and it’s up to young Peter Parker to make New York City safe again. While the story is actually one of the weakest parts of the game, there’s definitely comic book flair to the presentation.



What makes the game particularly entertaining to play is the combat system. Spidey has a vast repertoire of combos at his disposal, many of which link webbing and thrashing baddies. You can hammer away at the punch button for quick combos or pull off more exciting moves like yanking enemies over Spidey’s head to slam them into the ground. Due to the intuitive auto-targeting system, you can chain attacks together fairly easily and bounce around from enemy to enemy. There are also instances of Spidey-Sense where you can counter moves and respond with a direct assault on the baddie. Additionally, the game cues you for dodging objects or saving people with Spidey-Sense.

Combat often slows the game down on purpose to pull off these incredible combos and it really works well throughout the entire campaign. Gameloft included the option to tweak the sensitivity of the virtual stick as well, for those looking for more responsive fighting. (I was fine with the default setting though) Other that throwing punches, Spidey can jump / swing his was around the city, although swinging is limited unless you are near the green targets that allow Spidey to swing farther.



As you progress throughout the level, you will notice glowing orbs that sprout from fallen enemies and smashed objects like boxes /cars. Orbs are also littered around the levels as well, typically in Spidey’s direct path. Orbs tie into an upgrade system that’s accessible in the pause menu. You have the ability to upgrade Spidey’s offensive, defensive and special power capabilities throughout the game. These are really crucial when playing the harder difficulties as well as the boss fights.

Speaking of bosses, the majority of the fights are well balanced for a competent player. Rhino can be troublesome until you learn his attack patterns, but even he’s nearly unbeatable at the extreme end of the difficult spectrum. The twelve levels in the game, while linear, have plenty of extras to locate in the form of game art spread all over the play. (It would be nicer to look at the game art on an iPad though) There’s a boss mode to unlock as well as the final difficulty mode and different spidey suits.

Graphics

• Visually, the iPhone 4 Retina graphics are really top notch and even look pretty good on the 3G. Most importantly, the framerate is great on both systems. The camera angles are typically pretty solid and moves quickly with the action, even if the levels are fairly linear.


• The colorful textures pop off the screen with the Retina display and I expect it’s going to look just as great on the new iPod Touch announced yesterday. If an iPad version of the game pops up in the coming weeks, I wouldn’t be shocked either.

Audio

• The music definitely holds the comic book theme together as well as the punching, kicking and webbing sound effects. The voice work isn’t terrible, but it isn’t outstanding either. It doesn’t detract from the overall presentation since Spidey (and the general theme of the comic) has always been a wise-cracking, corny character.

Conclusion

Combat is exceptionally entertaining for an iPhone title, even with the touchscreen controls. Stringing combos together is highly addictive as well as chaining actions like pinning enemies with your webbing or slinging people around. The game is surprisingly deep as well with plenty of collectibles and the black symbiote suit to unlock for a juiced up Pater Parker. This is the first Gameloft game on an Apple platform that I can easily say is worth the full purchase price on the app store, kind of shocking based off the quality I’ve come to expect from them. Anyway, Spider-Man: Total Mayhem is an awesome super-hero brawler that’s well worth your time if you love action titles or any of the Spider-Man movies. (Gameloft is also known to put their titles on sale, so watch the app store for that as well.)

Discuss This Game on Our Official VGT Forum