It cannot be stated enough how weirdly good-feeling the combat in this is while also have basically nothing else to support it.
it doesn't even have tobey maguire
Look man there's a lot of issues with this game. Hardly any enemy variety, all the levels are basically generic city streets, and the difficulty is a bit absurd. But you gotta realize when I was five I got to be Venom.
I GOT TO BE VENOM
I
GOT
TO
BE
VENOM
I GOT TO BE VENOM
I
GOT
TO
BE
VENOM
I watched a fair bit of Angry Video Game Nerd back in the day, so I know this as "the one good LJN game". And perhaps while this game doesn't plumb the same depths as the Terminator or Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, I believe the only reason it's "better" than other LJN games is because it's a beat-em-up: a formula that is difficult to completely screw up.
They tried, though.
On a purely surface level, the game suffers from many of the same amateurish design quirks that are a hallmark of LJN games: out-of-place enemies (umbrella-wielding dudes? Really?) with garishly-colored palette swaps, out-of-context cutscenes that don't flow, and an endgame credit crawl that doesn't actually end in a satisfying way, merely bumping you back to the title screen mid-track.
But it's in the gameplay where this game really shows its cracks. The lack of enemy variety and especially boss variety - you mainly fight the same five bosses over and over and over again - means the game starts to feel monotonous after a few minutes. And while the beat-em-up formula means that even a tedious game can make for a fun switch-off-your-brain experience, the controls have to feel good to qualify. The controls here feel stiff, and everything from the hitboxes to priority to the dearth of invincibility frames just feels awkward. Possibly the worst quirk of the controls is how long the game 'remembers' your directional inputs when it comes to dashing. This scenario played out way too many times as I played:
- I'm moving right when I see an enemy approaching and so I decide to dash
- I release the D-pad for about half a second - which in any other game would be long enough for the game to 'forget' the input
- I double-tap right, which should result in a dash. But because the game still hasn't cleared the previous input, my first tap triggers the dash and my second tap cancels it.
The timing was nearly impossible for me to get used to, and the above scenario actually happened much more often than me actually being able to do the dash. And in a game that punishes slow movement and suboptimal positioning as much as this one does, the dash controls ring the death knell for any possibility of fun.
It might seem like I'm being overly harsh on a serviceable licensed game, but I really find it quite hard to think of a context in which this would be considered a good game. As a beat-em-up? Not good. As a licensed Spider-Man game? Well, the wall-crawling is one of the stiffest parts of your moveset and generally seems like an afterthought, so it's not particularly effective in that regard. Was it good for its time? It came out in the same year as Streets of Rage 3, so no. I suppose, if I owned this back when I had seemingly unlimited free time and not enough money to buy many games, I would be able to carve some fun out of it. But for anyone playing this without nostalgia goggles I would recommend to give it a miss.
They tried, though.
On a purely surface level, the game suffers from many of the same amateurish design quirks that are a hallmark of LJN games: out-of-place enemies (umbrella-wielding dudes? Really?) with garishly-colored palette swaps, out-of-context cutscenes that don't flow, and an endgame credit crawl that doesn't actually end in a satisfying way, merely bumping you back to the title screen mid-track.
But it's in the gameplay where this game really shows its cracks. The lack of enemy variety and especially boss variety - you mainly fight the same five bosses over and over and over again - means the game starts to feel monotonous after a few minutes. And while the beat-em-up formula means that even a tedious game can make for a fun switch-off-your-brain experience, the controls have to feel good to qualify. The controls here feel stiff, and everything from the hitboxes to priority to the dearth of invincibility frames just feels awkward. Possibly the worst quirk of the controls is how long the game 'remembers' your directional inputs when it comes to dashing. This scenario played out way too many times as I played:
- I'm moving right when I see an enemy approaching and so I decide to dash
- I release the D-pad for about half a second - which in any other game would be long enough for the game to 'forget' the input
- I double-tap right, which should result in a dash. But because the game still hasn't cleared the previous input, my first tap triggers the dash and my second tap cancels it.
The timing was nearly impossible for me to get used to, and the above scenario actually happened much more often than me actually being able to do the dash. And in a game that punishes slow movement and suboptimal positioning as much as this one does, the dash controls ring the death knell for any possibility of fun.
It might seem like I'm being overly harsh on a serviceable licensed game, but I really find it quite hard to think of a context in which this would be considered a good game. As a beat-em-up? Not good. As a licensed Spider-Man game? Well, the wall-crawling is one of the stiffest parts of your moveset and generally seems like an afterthought, so it's not particularly effective in that regard. Was it good for its time? It came out in the same year as Streets of Rage 3, so no. I suppose, if I owned this back when I had seemingly unlimited free time and not enough money to buy many games, I would be able to carve some fun out of it. But for anyone playing this without nostalgia goggles I would recommend to give it a miss.
A musica é boa mas a gameplay é uma merda
Pretty fun, but too much really too much repetitive
Fun, but repetitive, and enemies become damage sponges in the end, especially ones that shouldn't be like the Carrion boss. Also, borderline unplayable without an infinite continues cheat.
Played on bsnes emulator.
Played on bsnes emulator.
I love this game and got many many hours out of my cartridge. It has nice visuals with actual comic book inserts for cutscenes from the actual comics. The graphics sell the atmosphere and look great. There are a ton of marvel cameos ripped right from the comics too. Both Spider Man and Venom play great and are good representations of them. As for a single player only beat um up goes it's really fun. Hitting enemies feels good, real good. There's enough moves and specials at your dispersal to dispatch the good amount of enemies the game has. It's probably my favorite beat um up on the system only behind the streets of rage games. The music rocks too. The shocking thing is this was made by LJN. Maybe their only good game they ever made.
This game is decent, and actually a bit fun. Nothing special (aside from that sexy red snes cart) but that alone makes it the best thing LJN has ever made.
Okay-ish beat 'em up. It has a lot of problems, wish it was more polished.
The other Streets of Rage 3
its a whatever game but an extra half star cause da cart is red
The fact that the Venom 2 trailer did NOT bother getting "Mob Rules" by Black Sabbath is a gigantic misstep in its marketing.
That's all I wanted to share. The beat-em-up mechanics within are solid enough, but the difficulty is horribly off-balance. Great soundtrack, though.
That's all I wanted to share. The beat-em-up mechanics within are solid enough, but the difficulty is horribly off-balance. Great soundtrack, though.
Presumably known at the time for having a blood red cartridge that sticks out like a sore thumb, these days it's more known for being an actually competent game published under the LJN brand. Would you believe it's by the same developers as The Tick as well?
Well actually, it's just okay. It kicks ass at first, I do love the cutscenes especially and the music is cool too (although it's by Green Jellÿ, who otherwise do ""comedy rock""), but it doesn't have a lot of enemies and it gets pretty monotonous with time. You always fight the same few bosses as well, none of which are particularly fun and later on they kind of become damage sponges, although not near to the extent of Streets of Rage 3. Carnage in particular is just miserable to fight, especially at the very end.
Despite its flaws, though, it's probably the best Spider-Man game released up to that point, and as for Software Creations it's a big improvement over stuff like The Tick and Plok. In the grand scheme of things it's kind of just alright, but it stands out across superhero games as a whole at that time.
Also, Morbius is there according to the opening credits and he's a fucking laughingstock as of recent, so that was amusing to see, but I never actually saw him during the course of my playthrough. Oops.
Well actually, it's just okay. It kicks ass at first, I do love the cutscenes especially and the music is cool too (although it's by Green Jellÿ, who otherwise do ""comedy rock""), but it doesn't have a lot of enemies and it gets pretty monotonous with time. You always fight the same few bosses as well, none of which are particularly fun and later on they kind of become damage sponges, although not near to the extent of Streets of Rage 3. Carnage in particular is just miserable to fight, especially at the very end.
Despite its flaws, though, it's probably the best Spider-Man game released up to that point, and as for Software Creations it's a big improvement over stuff like The Tick and Plok. In the grand scheme of things it's kind of just alright, but it stands out across superhero games as a whole at that time.
Also, Morbius is there according to the opening credits and he's a fucking laughingstock as of recent, so that was amusing to see, but I never actually saw him during the course of my playthrough. Oops.
Nails the comic book aesthetic along with a great, pure 90's soundtrack, but becomes extremely repetitious rather quick. You'll fight every boss in the game at least three times; twice you fight the entire ensemble altogether.
The gameplay has some damning issues. Bosses can break out of hitstun seemingly randomly. You're never sure if you can connect a full combo, or if the boss will interrupt you mid-string. Before the halfway point you'll have fought every enemy in the game, and the game just repeats the same enemy layouts thenceforth. Sometimes the game moronically obscures the screen with foreground elements.
Maximum Carnage is not terrible. Spiderman/Venom have a sufficient moveset. The hitboxes on their jump moves could be better, and grab & throw animations having no sort of i-frames is awful, but their attack repertoire & mobility are quite fun to use. They have options to chase, bind, wall cling, various air options, and more. The only thing perhaps missing would be some z-axis evasive option like a quickstep or roll. The critical problem really just lies in how the game quickly falls apart 20-minutes in with its repeating structure. There is little motivation to continue playing when your reward for pressing forward is fighting a lacklustre boss from 10-minutes prior, yet again.
If you wish to play Maximum Carnage, play the SNES version as it contains the better music & SFX, but I'd forgo playing this one entirely.
The gameplay has some damning issues. Bosses can break out of hitstun seemingly randomly. You're never sure if you can connect a full combo, or if the boss will interrupt you mid-string. Before the halfway point you'll have fought every enemy in the game, and the game just repeats the same enemy layouts thenceforth. Sometimes the game moronically obscures the screen with foreground elements.
Maximum Carnage is not terrible. Spiderman/Venom have a sufficient moveset. The hitboxes on their jump moves could be better, and grab & throw animations having no sort of i-frames is awful, but their attack repertoire & mobility are quite fun to use. They have options to chase, bind, wall cling, various air options, and more. The only thing perhaps missing would be some z-axis evasive option like a quickstep or roll. The critical problem really just lies in how the game quickly falls apart 20-minutes in with its repeating structure. There is little motivation to continue playing when your reward for pressing forward is fighting a lacklustre boss from 10-minutes prior, yet again.
If you wish to play Maximum Carnage, play the SNES version as it contains the better music & SFX, but I'd forgo playing this one entirely.
Spider-man vs the big red venom. Cool graphics and a killer soundtrack.
Spidey + Venom team up to take down Carnage and it's effin' cool as all hell
One of the best LJN games, but super difficult due to the low amount of continuous and life’s. Would be a lot higher if they weren’t so limited. I thought I beat the last carnage fight and had to give up when you had to fight him for the very last time due to him being so jenky and broken.
Alright adaptation, alright beat em up. Soundtrack is decent for the time and the cameos are nice, but the repetitiveness of the gameplay and bosses keep it from being great.
Straight up from the 1993 comic, Spider-Man and Venom have to team up to defeat Carnage.
Both of these characters feel great to play and have various moves, Venom (who can be selected after stage 1) in particular has an overall hefty feeling to him as the ground shakes when he moves, he's stronger than Spider-Man though not by much.
The story is told with comic style cutscenes that do a good job filling you in.
The level design is not very good and there's not a lot of variation. The game suffers from repetitiveness, I fought the same bosses like 6+ times and they're not that exciting to fight. Some are just generic enemies which is just lame to do in a Spider-Man game.
Though it might look like it, this game does not feature co-op which is something that it could have benefited from, specially back in the day. However the sequel Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety does.
Both of these characters feel great to play and have various moves, Venom (who can be selected after stage 1) in particular has an overall hefty feeling to him as the ground shakes when he moves, he's stronger than Spider-Man though not by much.
The story is told with comic style cutscenes that do a good job filling you in.
The level design is not very good and there's not a lot of variation. The game suffers from repetitiveness, I fought the same bosses like 6+ times and they're not that exciting to fight. Some are just generic enemies which is just lame to do in a Spider-Man game.
Though it might look like it, this game does not feature co-op which is something that it could have benefited from, specially back in the day. However the sequel Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety does.