{sidebar id=1}Think hard about it, AbleGamers, I wish I would have.  This review picks up where I had to put down my controller due to visual inaccessibility a little more than halfway through the game.

The 4 dimensions Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions are as follows with a brief description of each.

• Ultimate Dimension - This is the dimension inhabited by the black-suited, symbiot-driven spidey. A visually unobtrusive dimension.
• Amazing Dimension - This is the dimension inhabited by the traditional red and blue suited wall-crawler. Visually, it is very similar to the Ultimate Dimension.
• Noir Dimension - This is the dimension inhabited by the spider guy who is dressed more like a burglar than a super-hero. This is a very dark universe where color is used as little as possible, but when it is, is almost too much. This universe’s camera is covered in static making it seem more like you’re looking at the world through night-vision goggles.
• 2099 Dimension - This is the “so sleek it’s almost got a sheen”-suited, futuristic dimension. It differs greatly visually depending on location; inside is calm to the outside’s being a frantic place with a lot of visual noise to it. Miguel O’Hara even takes flight as this dimension’s Spider-Man.

That doesn’t tell the entire story as each of the trips to a different dimension takes players to one of 3 locations; one game you might pose as a “contestant” on a reality television show, the next game may take you to a very dimly lit industrial setting, and the next game might take you to an electrical facility in the middle of somewhere.

Players are really left not knowing what they are going to get until they get it, unless it is in their capacity to recognize super-villains by outline alone. Then players will be able to jump to conclusions about certain things.

Gameplay can be divided up into combat and travel. Combat is usually strategic button mashing. Most fights can be conquered with use of the triangle, square, and circle buttons. Players will be able to do some cool stuff with those three buttons alone. If defense needs to be added to the mix, it can be done by way of the L! and X buttons. Of course, the right and left sticks need to be used almost constantly as the camera isn’t fixed.

During a couple boss battles, the camera quick transitions from a third-person perspective to a first person perspective. This makes sense, but it may present an issue for some. If pulled into combat like this, the right and left sticks act like Spider-Man’s arms, and it feels a lot like a cheap boxing game when this happens. This isn’t entirely pleasing, but it’s not the worst thing in the world.

Travel is another big part of gameplay. All 4 versions of Spider-Man know basically the same tricks: web-swinging and wall-crawling being the big ones, with web-zipping coming into play less often.

Web-swinging feels like it’s something that could be made a little more linear and wall-crawling feels like it should be done differently. A fixed camera would probably make both feel a little less stressful.  Wall-crawling only requires Spider-Man move to a wall then it takes over automatically, and as you’ve probably guessed, the camera will need to be moved with Spider-Man at times.

There’s a little more to web-swinging. The R2, right stick and left stick all come into play. A few of the other buttons on the controller come in handy at times, though it’s not required that players use any certain compilation of buttons.

Web-zipping is the most reliable way to travel as it only requires a quick press of the R2 button and you’re on your way to the little red icon that floats above where you’ll be landing. This is by far the most reliable means of travel - it’s even neck-and-neck with walking.

Finally, rapid button mashing made a few appearances in the game, especially when pulling down walls, taking enemies’ guns, and taking down larger opponents all make use of it.

Yes, there are subtitles in the game. They aren’t the best subtitles, but they aren’t the worst either. They are made from a white font with what looks to be a red glow surrounding them. As with all games that don’t make use of letter-boxing, the subtitles in this game do depend on the background to benefit their readability.

One very positive thing going for the subtitles in this game are its use of captioning the laughter of baddies - as witty as Spider-Man is, I have yet to read [laughing at own joke].

That brings us to the options menu, where the only accessibility options are raising and lowering the games brightness and the ability to turn on the subtitles.  Moving all the way back to the main menu, it should be clear that this was the focus of the game.

The Bonus Gallery is where players will be able to find character bios, alternate suits, figurines, concept art, and movies. This is the game’s unlock-able section; ergo the more you play the game, the more stuff shows up here.

Other notables on the main menu are the Web of Destiny, Combat Upgrades, and Character Upgrades, all of which can be gotten to in the game as well by pressing SELECT.

The Web of Destiny is done as if it were a spider’s web. It’s pretty easy on the eyes with the web being made up of a slivery color and the background a dark blue/black. Navigation is really easy, though I would have liked to have seen the D-pad being used as a means of navigation, but that’s only a matter of personal preference. This is where you’ll find your objectives once in the game itself. Most can be attained with one play through, but some will add a degree of replay ability to the game.

Combat and Player Upgrades are direct beneficiaries of the Web of Destiny as points earned in the web are spent to upgrade Spider-Man’s combat skills, increase your health bar, get the Spider’ some fancy new duds, or improve his abilities.

The menus themselves throughout Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions are very easy to read going right along with the overall comic theme of the game.

Overall, I can’t honestly say this is a relatively accessible game.

Accessibility a glance

Mobility:

This is not a motion impaired friendly game; the control scheme players are given is the option, buttons will need to be mashed during combat - sometimes even rapidly. Web-swinging and wall-crawling sometimes prove more challenging than they should be. Navigation, particularly in building, doesn’t make much sense.  No remappable keys.  3

Hearing:

Turning subtitles on or off is one of the only two accessibility related options in the options menu. Subtitles appear in an average sized white font that appears to have a red glow. Captions are done for everything, even [maniacal laughter].  Very deaf gamer friendly. 9

Vision:

All menus are very easily read; the main menu’s scheme is a white (while not highlighted)/yellow (highlighted) color scheme that scrolls to the right and left, and all other sub-menus make use of a white font on black/dark blue background.

The game is very stylized in the same manor a comic might be, and in the case of the cinematic scenes, a motion-comic. Red is used a lot in this game; sometimes as web-zip destinations, location markers, and possibly to surround subtitles in the cinematic cut scenes. While on the subject, the subtitles are an average sized white font with no background. Environments change from act to act and Spider-Man to Spider-Man the 2099 dimension is a bit visually noisy, and the Noir dimension is done mainly in a black and white color scheme with the introduction of color being almost shocking. Adjustable brightness is one of two accessibility oriented options in the options menu.  7

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