Developed by Activision-owned studio Beenox, Spider-Man: Edge of Time challenges the player to take on the roles of both classic Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 to correct a timestream gone awry and prevent a catastrophic future brought on by the early and untimely death of Peter Parker...

In Spider-Man: Edge Of Time, Spider-Man faces one of his greatest challenges ever - saving Spider-Man. The game is set in two connected and evolving timelines, from the contemporary times of the Amazing Spider-Man to the corrupted future world of Spider-Man 2099, against the backdrop of a narrative by acclaimed Marvel veteran Peter David (co-creator of the comic book series Spider-Man 2099). The game features all-new "cause-and-effect" game play, where players will see how the immediate and sometimes unexpected effects of their actions as one Spider-Man changes the timeline of the other Spider-Man.

When this disc came into the office for review it was in my in-tray for 20 minutes before someone saw it, and begged me to let them play it. They assured me they would play on their own account. When I came to play the game it started in such a bizarre way that I was convinced that I was picking up the game where my workmate had left off. But, no, that's how the game starts - right in the middle of a boss fight. However, it's not a fight you can win or lose - it's just a quick way of introducing you into the game and emerging you into the time travel story.

Then we move to a very slow, and painfully dull, opening credit sequence where you, as 2099 Spider-Man, have to crawl through air ducts while the creative teams details appear on the screen. This looks great at first, but several minutes later and I was thinking: "For the love of God, let's get on with this."

When the game does start proper it doesn't take long for you to spot that development time maybe wasn't quite what it should have been. To be fair, the developers try to paper over the cracks and what we end up with is a good game that could have been so much better.

Probably the biggest complaint is that the entire game is set inside one building (or two if you wasn't to count the different times as two separate locations) and that can get a little boring very quickly. While the challenges and game play throw everything at you in a bid to keep you realising your bland environment, it's not quite enough to keep most gamers glued to their console.

It's a shame, because this misses out on being a hit by a very narrow margin.

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Nick Smithson