Spider

Itsy bitsy spider, crawling in this game. Spider for the PlayStation is in its early stages. From the looks of it. this one seems to put you in the role of a spider, making its way through various troubles. From the shots shown. Spider has various camera angles and allows you to venture in all of the places a real spider could go. The rendered graphics make for some nice looks. It's a fresh idea for a game.

Creepy, crawly, and deadly, Spider offers slithery gameplay that should catch gamers in its web, enthralling them for hours.

Arach Attack

The premise: A scientist is accidentally turned into a spider by terrorists of a rival technocorporation. The now eightlegged scientist must fight through various obstacles to regain his geeky body.

The levels are diverse, such as a warehouse, a lab, or a city sewer, and involve leaping from area to area while avoiding wasps, rats, scorpions, and black widows. You gather cyber-legs to power up your arachnid ass-kicker and give him weapons like a flamethrower, missiles, and smart bombs. You can also hang and swing from a web.

You'll need all your Spider powers for this game, which can be frustrating (especially when precise leaping is required), but in the end you'll find it's worth it. Spider will snare you in a web of fun.

Graphics

The levels are sparse but functional, with rendered obstacles like falling beakers and lab walls. The cinematics are superb. You sometimes lose sight of the spider in tunnels, though.

Sound

The constant beat heightens the tension during the tough stages, but does little else. Unobtrusive music is just what a game like Spider needs.

Control

Learning the spider's moves means thinking like a spider, which soon becomes second nature. You easily pick up crawling around ledges and out of tight spaces.

Fun Factor

Smooth gameplay makes Spider fun, while long stages, multiple exits, and hidden items give Spider high replay value. Still, gamers looking for fast arcade action should stay away.

Sure we've been teasing you with preliminary shots of this eye-catching title for over six months now.

But its thrill never seems to fade away as this title inches its way toward completion. Spider, by BMG, blends both game-quality graphics with computer graphics and animation to bring players a new and exciting way to fill their inner desire to act like an arachnid. Spider is a side-scrolling action title where the player controls our eight-legged friend as he climbs, jumps and webs his way toward the end of his adventure. The action puts you in control of the mechanized spider with the embedded soul of its creator. Here you are supposed to stop the forces of evil using the miniature might of the arachnoid on a small level. This, in turn, causes things to happen on a much larger scale. But on the same note, small obstacles that normally aren't much of a problem become nearly impassible as a micro superhero. Spider's play is quick and intense, bringing players a new level of action that many other games dared never to reach for.

Undoubtedly, Spider is striving to reach new levels of game development where the beautiful graphics are actually topped by the fun factor of the mission objectives as well as the fluidness of the play. Sure we've been waiting a long time for a sign of this title appearing on the market, but what is an additional month or two when a title is developing into something as renown as this? Keep combing through future issues to watch for better info as the title begins its last leg of production.

Spider is almost ready to hit the shelves, and this hands-on preview version measures up to the hype surrounding the game. As you control a spider who's trying to return to human form, you pick up different legs (cybernetic appendages that spout flames, fire missiles, and electrocute enemies) to help you battle a host of creepy, crawly thugs. Beautiful graphics in this 80 percent version will help sell the game, but the solid, flawless controls, 32 levels, and different exit paths should make this a keeper. Now all we need is some lively gamepiay, and this one's ready to crawl into the spotlight.

Meet this Spider, man. You play a scientist trapped in the body of a small cybernetic tarantula, out to avenge the espionage team responsible for trashing your labs. Beautifully rendered levels, from a city sidewalk to a burned-out lab, enhance the gameplay, which also involves hanging and swinging from a tenuous thread and crawling under tables and ledges.

It's enough to give you a bad case of the willies, and the 30 levels offer tons of variety. The weapons you pick up (different metallic "legs" which shoot missiles, spew fire, and so on) are well thought out and incorporated seamlessly into the spider's body. Spider has bite--we'll keep an eye on this one as they work out the bugs.