Spider-Man 3 - hands-on

On the other hand, we encountered no difficulty with controlling Spider-Man in the 360 and PS3 versions of the game. Like Spider-Man 2, you'll use the shoulder pads to fling your webs to swing through the mean streets of Manhattan. Zipping through alleys and swinging from building to building feels great. While combat still holds much love for the button masher, unleashing a relentless series of attacks coupled with streams of webs on bad guys still feels great.

While the game doesn't appear to be a huge step forward on the visual front, everything has received an upgrade. Buildings look taller and more detailed, the streets seem livelier - with more citizens and cars - and Times Square never looked better. The game has been criticized as Spider-Man 2 with better graphics. But when we think about how much fun Spider-Man 2 was (despite the awful balloon chase and pizza delivery missions), and taking into account how excited we are about the new film, we don't really see how Spider-Man 2 with better graphics can be that much of a travesty.

Above: When dressed in the dark suit, Peter's attack animations have a more aggressive, mean-spirited feel to them

From the looks of the trailer for the film - scheduled to release on May 4 - there's going to be a lot going on in Spider-Man 3. For a recap on everything from the origins of the dark suit, to run downs of the main villains you'll see - including the new Green Goblin, Venom, and Sandman - check out ourSpider-Man Heroes and Villains feature. In the meantime, head over to the Images tab above for the latest screens from Spider-Man 3.