Recently, I had the opportunity to review Spider-Man: Edge of Time for the Nintendo Wii and gave it a mediocre score.  This week I was asked to take a look at Edge of Time for the DS.  Despite my less than stellar experience with Edge of Time for the Wii, I kept an open mind and gave it a shot. It is a decision, I soon regretted.
Spider-Man: Edge of Time for the DS shares the same story as the Wii version of the game. You play the lead characters (Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099) trying to prevent the villain, Walker Sloan, from travelling back in time and creating a sort of dystopia in the future through his advanced technology. Unfortunately, he makes it back in time only to be confronted by the Spider-Man of the past who is able to communicate with the Spider-Man from 2099 in “real time.” This enables the player to play both Spider-Man characters by switching between them throughout the game which also impacts the other’s future and environment.
That is basically where the similarities end between the Wii and DS end. Unlike the Wii version, this game is a side scroller where you control both Spider-Man’s as they fight, crawl and web sling along the way defeating enemies and clearing levels. The controls are straightforward and are easy to master, probably due to the fact that you can only go up and down and left to right using the D-pad and the other buttons control jumping, web slinging, attacking, and activating items.
 I was initially impressed with Spider-Man’s swinging abilities as it seemed natural and smooth. Swinging managed to propel Spidey throughout the games levels quickly and enabled Spidey to attack enemies with ease. The enemies in the game however are unoriginal and repetitive. They spawn once you leave the screen and have only slight variances when you switch between Spider-Man’s time periods.
The levels themselves are repetitive and also very frustrating. While there is a map on the top screen of the DS, it isn’t very helpful as it is not very accurate.  At some points of the game, I felt like I was in a maze (as that is what the map looks like) with no exit.  For example, after completing the first boss, I was unable to return to certain parts of the map (but able to go back to others) or unable to proceed further due to being blocked by these energy barriers. Now imagine wandering around a bland level switching between future and old Spider-Man trying to get to where the map is indicating for me to go but only encountering the same old crappy enemies. It was a frustrating experience to say the least. The games combat is uninspiring and the enemies I encountered either rotate around a set path, walk back and forth or just keep charging towards you with no sense of strategy. Defeating them is easy (just keep pressing one button), boring and tedious.
The conversation or dialogue moments between characters was also frustrating as there is no way to speed them up or skip them entirely which was surprising considering many games offer this as a choice for those who don’t care about the dialogue or are just fast readers. I happen to be both and I really do not care for reading it twice particularly after I die and then having to go through it again.
Generally speaking, the sound from the Spider-Man series is usually pretty good; however, the same cannot be said for this game. Â The actors they hired for this version sound like they are trying too hard. Â Often they don’t even match the character that they’re supposed to be playing (e.g. using a younger sounding voice for an older character just doesn’t quite fit no matter how hard they try). There was also a glitch after I defeated the first boss as there were no voices attached to the subtitled conversation but then after the next scene, they return. Fortunately, Spider-Man’s quips are as cheesy as ever which provides some unintended comic relief but they’re still groaners. Â The sound effects are also bland and the music is not very good either (it actually can best be described as semi-suspenseful noises put together by a keyboard).
 The graphics in the game are pretty simple. Spider-Man looks decent enough until you actually start seeing him run around and attack. His moves could have looked a little more fluid and natural. There are some initial cut scenes in the game which looked good in so far you thought you were watching a comic book movie but other than that, there isn’t much good to say about you see here. The enemies and levels designs are unsophisticated with only some attempts to make them look interesting.
Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a game that simply seemed rushed and incomplete. The DS is capable of handling a far superior product and the DS has seen some fantastic side scrolling adventure games over the years. The unfortunate part of Edge of Time is the fact I was reminded of far better side-scrollers such as Ninja Gaiden, Double Dragon, Metroid and Castlevania. Unfortunately, over two decades later, those games are still far more enjoyable that Spidey’s latest effort on the DS.
