Mobile Game Reviews: Super Spider Hero City Adventure

In an age where smart phones are in nearly everyone's hands (and almost definitely in the hands of people under a certain age range), mobile games are big business; Konami, Capcom, Sega and Nintendo all have a mobile game division in their companies, and they were some of the biggest game developers in the 80s and 90s.

However, if you've been playing video games as long as I have (since 1989), mobile games have a bad reputation, and for good reason.  You see, mobile games have one major obstacle to sucking in people like myself; control. Touch screens lack the precision control that a keyboard, mouse or controller have, so certain types of games are difficult on mobile devices unless they offer Bluetooth controller support.

And that's where this new series comes in; I download a game, play it for at least a week, and let you know if they're worth your time.  I'll be judging on a few criteria; control, graphical fidelity, sound, and frequency of ads, if any, and fun factor. And then, I'll round it up to whether it's worth your time and money. And with that, welcome to Mobile Game Reviews.

Today's game is something I found via an ad; Super Spider Hero City Adventure. Published by Onesoft Global PTE, Super Spider Hero had you play as Not-Spider-Man as you use a web to swing across Not-New York, dodging light posts and robots as you try to stop Not-Mysterio.  And I say things the way I did because, even though the assets fall under Fair Use, the names of the characters do not.

Control: Super Spider Hero's controls are simple and tight. You tap to leap off the starting stage, hold to shoot and swing on the web, and let go to release the web.  And the controls are so tight that you can actually build some pretty good momentum in your swings; any mistake is your fault.

Graphical Fidelity: Super Spider Hero is a modern game with chibi, or character's who are small bodied but with big heads, design.  Everything is crisp and clear, and all the text is large and easy to read.  All the colors are bright, but not so much to hurt the eyes.  And as you go on, you can unlock different skins, including Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen/Ghost Spider, as she's called now. I'm trying my best to get the Ghost Spider skin, but I've got a long way to go.

Sound:Super Spider Hero is simple in terms of sound design.  A sound for the web shot, a sound for impacts, a small explosion sound if you're hit by an exploding enemy, and a little jingle at the end when you win.

Ads: As Bricks Breaker Quest, ads are unavoidable, and are of the "pop ad" type after a few failures. However, I noticed something new recently; if you fail pretty close to the end, you're given ten seconds to tap for a viewable ad to continue on your mission.

Fun Factor: Super Spider Hero is an easy to play, difficult to master game.  The web swinging has significant momentum, and you can actually skip some of the dots you can shoot your web at if you're going fast and high enough.  The only frustrating thing is that enemy placement is random; they're always in the same place horizontally on the map, but sometimes, they can be placed in unfair places vertically, making dodging them difficult. However, it's random every time, so it's not that frustrating.

Final Analysis: Super Spider Hero City Adventure is a great game to play when you've got a few minutes to kill. Stages are quick, respawns are quicker, and the only thing that slows down the action are semi-frequent ads. Download it and you won't regret it.