Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage

[Melf]

A lot has been done to ol' Spidey these last few years. He's been cloned, had two hit movies, and had a great run on recent consoles. He was pretty big on the Genesis too, with a string of releases that varied in quality. Among them was Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage, a beat-'em-up that was based on a major storyline of the time. How did it fare compared to its source material? Well, you'll have to read our full review (http://www.sega-16.com/2007/01/spider-man-venom-maximum-carnage/) to find out!

[InternalPrimate]

I was really excited to see this review. My grandparents bought me the SNES version of the game (glorious red cartridge and all) for Christmas.

I completely agree with everything said. Great review.

[metalliqaz]

Sweet! It made the site :)

Melf: found this error afterI had submitted it...

"perform the wrong combos as crucial moments"
should read
"perform the wrong combos at crucial moments"

-d

[Flash1087]

How odd, I'm wearing my Venom shirt right now.

A solid but unremarkable brawler. When I was a kid I was obsessed with both Spider-Man and Batman, so you can only imagine my excitement for both this and The Adventures of Batman and Robin.

Problem is, I can only still play Batman. This is still fun, but there's better beat-em-ups out there. The presentation is top-notch (except the aforementioned lack of sound effects), and seeing the actual comic panels recreated in the game is nice, but the game is really nothing spectacular, and honestly I never much cared for the Maximum Carnage storyline to begin with.

And how come we don't see stuff like this anymore? I mean, Ultimate Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction were decent, but they were 'new' storylines for their respective comics. I'd love to see a video game for a big recent comic event like Civil War or 52.

[Rodger]

good review, i didn't know the music in the game was actually from a real group. That's a pretty neat thing considering when the game was released.

[GeckoYamori]

This gets a 5 at most from me. Incredibly repetive gameplay even for a brawler, New York feels like a barren ghost town, and there's not even any 2 player mode. The music was the only redeeming quality, but even there they seriously mistreated the Mega Drive version.

The comic was kind of ass as well. Reading through it again, I can't believe I ever enjoyed this. Even a game based on the clone saga would have been better, if only to play as Ben Reilly.

[daminmancejin2]

this game is great i don't know why you guys gave it a 7 i give it a 10

[GeckoYamori]

Nice of you to provide some solid arguments to back that statement.

[Henry Spencer]

A 10? Pfft.

[redrum666]

for me the game was good it just get too hard after a few levles and theres 26 of them in the game the only way i got to beat it was with the game genie i do like the ending you think Carnage is dead and you get a fake ending but he comes back for one more fight

i rememer in EGM they talked about all the Spider-Man games (this was wane Spider-Man 2 the movie came out) they talk about Maximum Carnage being released as a red cart for a limited time but sines the game sold so poorly that they never released any gary carts (snes) or black carts (genesis) here the thing i had Maximum Carnage for super nes and it was the gray cart ver and i all so pick it up the week it came out ah you got to love EGM

[David J.]

I will say that it is kind of uncommon, and back in the day a lot of my friends really wanted to play it, and it was popular. I never played it, nor had any intrest in it.

[ary incorparated]

i played the snes version blech ugly game except the music was cool only a little bit strange use of rock sound, I found it horribly slow when i played it i tough move damn spider.ive played the genesis version I think the music is a bit tighter and a bit faster but still same dull game.

[108 Stars]

How comes I have to gisagree on every Spidey-related rating on this website?
The game was pretty awfull. It played bad and while the sprites were quite big, everything lacked detail. And that you have to beat up the same enemies all the time doesn´t make it any more exviting. In German magazines it got ratings of 40- 60 of 100 points, and that was exactly what it deserved.
But hey, since the Maximum Carnage-storyline in the comics sucked so much too, it just fits the game well.
Seperation Anxiety is just as bad.

[redrum666]

Seperation Anxiety is just as bad.

no that game was just crap Maximum Carnage is 10 times better

[Flash1087]

^^ YEEEEAH, GARFIELD SIGNATURES!

Anyhow, I think they were about even, although I'd rather play Seperation Anxiety for the storyarc it's based upon.

[redrum666]

Anyhow, I think they were about even, although I'd rather play Seperation Anxiety for the storyarc it's based upon.

the one thing i did not like about Seperation Anxiety was that it had no ending all you got was a pic of Carnage as your ending

[Flash1087]

Yeah, I'll grant you that. Did Maximum Carnage end like the comic? I never finished it, or at least if I did I can't remember it.

[108 Stars]

All the sprites in the damn game look kind of flat, like the programmers didn´t have the time to do some decent shading.

[Mendicant]

Um... wasn't Maximum Carnage a graphically rehashed version of Separation Anxiety? (Or is it the other way around?)

The control schemes and gameplay were exactly the same. The playable characters (Spidy & Venom, in both games) had the exact same functions (attack, jump, swing, throw, etc.) performed in the exact same way.

Come to think of it, the first levels in both games had the same layout, and some of the enemy designs were practically the same (girl with ponytail, guy in shorts & t-shirt, palette swapped girl with ponytail, palette swapped guy in shorts & t-shirt, etc.) ... with the aforementioned graphical rehash. (And I believe the flying robot things in MC were directly swiped from SA, without any graphical modifications at all.)

In an unrelated note, did the SNES version of Maximum Carnage feature larger sprites than the Genesis version?

[Flash1087]

I'm pretty sure Maximum Carnage would be the re-hash of Seperation Anxiety, because if I recall correctly the Seperation Anxiety story arc came first in the comics.

[108 Stars]

I´m not sure which storyline came first, only that the game Maximum Carnage came first. But it matters not cause both games suck. This is the thing they adapted extremely well for the MC-game: The endless Maximum Carnage story in the comic books sucked as well. It was a big fuss about a story that could have been told in 2 or 3 issues.

[Mendicant]

Back then, the comicbook companies were going through a "crossover" phase. Practically any and EVERY story arc was either a part of a crossover, or a collector's edition special issue, or a multi-cover-whatnot...

Separation Anxiety story arc, I believe, was a 6 issue affair. And while Maximum Carnage took 12 books (or was it more like 14?), neither series were nearly as bad as the year-long-collect-every-@#$&*-title-that-starts-with-the-letter-X-and-some-that-doesn't crossovers...

[Flash1087]

12 issues, and none of them were really that great. And yes, the constant X-Men crossover books were crap, except for the early 90's X-Men/Avengers crossover.

[108 Stars]

12 issues, and none of them were really that great. And yes, the constant X-Men crossover books were crap, except for the early 90's X-Men/Avengers crossover.

Those were dark times for Marvel-fans. But how is Spidey doing now? Have the stories become better again?
I had to stop collecting when Marvel took over distribution themselves and decided to let stories run through 3 or 4 different Spider-Man publications a month while it had always been one 50 page book monthly and quarterly specials before. I just couldn´t afford it anymore. Funny is, since then (9 years ago) Marvel Germany´s comic book price tags have gotten twice as big while they only have very few consumers left. Basically, Marvel Germany destroyed the entire marked of superhero comics here. 'They entered when it was booming and it only took them like three or so years to annoy everyone and destroy it.

[Mendicant]

Consider yourself lucky. I had to live through a decade of it. The X-Crossovers put an end to my collecting habits for a while. I came to the realization that I was better off spending my hard earned cash on videogames. :D

Atleast you missed out on the state-side "Special" fad. Some highly publicized sales of otherwise rare comics led some fans & companies alike to speculate that whatever gimmick they put out will automatically be worth millions in the future.

Suddenly there was a flood of multiple cover issues, foil covered issues, special edition issues, regular edition issues, issues in plastic bags, issues where the bar-code was printed differently... Complicating matters were squatters who bought the aforementioned books in bulk and sold them to collectors at a higher price. Collectors bought the books thinking that they could sell these books in the future at an even higher price.

Unfortunately, when the collectors tried re-selling some of the books they paid high prices for, they'd often realize that they wouldn't even get cover-price because either practically everyone owned a multiple copies of the book (and plans/hopes of reselling them), or the title/series/storyline had faded into mediocrity.

Personally, I ended up reallocating most of my funds into anime & videogames. (And ended up with multiple copies of Street Fighter II...)

[metalliqaz]

Looking back at those times, the Maximum Carnage books really didnt have the billiance that people should expect from Spider-Man, but, I was 14, and all I cared about was huge battles, so I enjoyed it.

-d

[Flash1087]

Those were dark times for Marvel-fans. But how is Spidey doing now? Have the stories become better again?
I had to stop collecting when Marvel took over distribution themselves and decided to let stories run through 3 or 4 different Spider-Man publications a month while it had always been one 50 page book monthly and quarterly specials before. I just couldn´t afford it anymore. Funny is, since then (9 years ago) Marvel Germany´s comic book price tags have gotten twice as big while they only have very few consumers left. Basically, Marvel Germany destroyed the entire marked of superhero comics here. 'They entered when it was booming and it only took them like three or so years to annoy everyone and destroy it.

Right now, Spider-Man and everyone else in the 616 Marvel universe, IMHO, is doing crappy. I HATE HATE HATE the Civil War storyline, it actually made me abandon all my old Marvel books except for Ultimate Spider-Man. I'm completely pro-DC, and having a wonderful time with it.

After Civil War is over, I might be able to go back, but in the meantime...no thanks, Marvel.

[108 Stars]

Oh yeah, we had that limited edition-crap over here too...
Like with the DC vs Marvel-crossovers, it was a good idea to do it sometimes, but it reached ridiculous numbers soon.

Is DC still independent (besides Warner that is)?
I had to see that German DC comics are now published by Marvel Germany too and there were some bizarre specials such as "What if Stan Lee created Batman?".
I always liked DC, their stories being a bit more naive, but with good series such as Grant Morrison´s JLA, Batman and Lobo.
I´m still pretty proud that an artwork of mine has been printed in German Lobo No.1.

[Jesse813]

Haven't played the Genesis version yet, but I have the SNES version which is good, but still pales in comparison to Streets of Rage.