Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety
	Genre: Fighting Action (Brawler) Developer: Acclaim Entertainment
Publisher Region Released Acclaim Entertainment NA ??/??/1994

Your Account Options

You currently have no privileges related to this game profile because you are not signed into an HonestGamers account. Please log in, or click to register for a free user account.

More Reviews by Zack Little
	Catwoman (Xbox) 99.999% of the people reading this review have either seen or heard about the horrendous Catwoman movie, and are coming into this review expecting it to ...
	Mass Effect (Xbox 360) The moment that made me realize Mass Effect was a great game came about thirty minutes in.
	Spider-Man 3 (Xbox 360) Gang wars take over the streets. An alien symbiote pops out of nowhere and gives him a new suit with incredible strength - but makes him a complete asshole. Kra...
	Pirates: Battle for the Caribbean (PC) If you're expecting me to break into some tirade about how Pirates is much more intricate than it seems, well, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed...
	Made Man (PlayStation 2) If you’re looking for a innovative game with blazing action and insane challenge, you could do a lot worse than Made Man…but you could do much better, to...

Best Genesis Games
	Shining Force II Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 3
	Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 3
	Ristar Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 3
	Toejam & Earl Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 2
	Phantasy Star II Average Rating: 10.0; Reviews: 2
	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 4
	Contra: Hard Corps Average Rating: 9.5; Reviews: 4
	Twinkle Tale Average Rating: 9.3; Reviews: 3
	Rocket Knight Adventures Average Rating: 9.3; Reviews: 2
	Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium Average Rating: 9.2; Reviews: 3

Looking for a good read?
Check out a selection from our database of more than 8000 reviews! overdrive has weighed in on Streets of Rage 2 for the Genesis and figures it rates 6 out of 10. What do you think? Read the review, then be sure to leave feedback or chime in with one of your own!

Staff Review

Review by Zack Little
April 28, 2006

To fully appreciate how much Separation Anxiety sucks, you must fully appreciate how much Maximum Carnage rocks.

Maximum Carnage had a definite and definitive comic book style to it. You had the moving comic book panels, the written sound effects with every punch, even the occasional sound bite of Carnage laughing his Joker-wannabe head off; damned impressive for their time, still cool for ours, faithful to the subject material. Like it or hate, it was there in full force.

Separation Anxiety, however, does not have that style. Not a bit of it. It doesn’t progress the story with comic panels; it gives you a wall of text before each mission and lets you go. The storyline it came from was weak in the first place, and there’s no attempt to hide that here; most of your time is going to be spent fighting color-swapped versions of the same enemy in exotic locales like the mall and the sewer for poorly explained reasons.

Maximum Carnage was full of throwaway villains like Shriek and Doppleganger, but at least they were quasi-interesting when they first appeared; Separation Anxiety pits you against a bunch of ill-conceived symbiote clones and the people who created the ill-conceived symbiote clones, the oddly named Life Foundation. Chances are, you don’t know what the Life Foundation is. Chances are, you’re not going to recognize any of the D-grade villains they’ll be sending your way, and you’ll wind up referring to them with names like ‘that guy in a green suit that shoots lasers out of his chest’ and ‘that guy in a gray suit who flies around on pads’.

But let’s just forget about the cosmetics for a moment. Forget about the way things move slower than Maximum Carnage, forget that the enemies are repetitious even for a beat-em-up, forget that almost every screen in every level looks like the one that came before it; hell, even forget that the Spider-Man and Venom and all the returning enemies actually look crappier and less detailed than they did in the predecessor. Push that all out of your mind.

Separation Anxiety still sucks.

Walk here. Beat up people. Walk there. Beat up people. Tap, tap, tap. Fight the end boss and move on to the next level. Yes, that’s pretty much the essence of any beat-em-up’s gameplay. But most beat-em-ups, most good beat-em-ups, usually have enough sense to keep things spicy. Maximum Carnage had that one level where you had to climb up a wall so you could get to Shriek, dodging sonic blasts from above and leaping from building to building. Streets of Rage 2 had that part with the aliens in the funhouse and that part on the bridge with the kung fu guy in the truck and that sweet part with the dominatrix girls in the elevator. A beat-em-up needs stuff like that, because if it doesn’t, it gets really old really quickly. Unless jumping over a gap counts, Separation Anxiety comes up short.

Do not buy Separation Anxiety or download the ROM or pick it up on that weird Wii thing Nintendo has going. Do not confuse it with Maximum Carnage (it’s not hard to tell the difference: Maximum Carnage is the one that doesn’t look like crap) As a matter of fact, it’s probably best to pretend Separation Anxiety never happened. You’ll live a healthier life for it.

Feedback

Facebook()

Forums(0)

You can click the tabs on the above bar to choose whether you wish to read comments from visitors who have posted on Facebook, or from registered site users who have left feedback on the forums. Please leave a comment of your own if you have anything to say!

Info | Help | Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise

© 1998-2012 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site--from reviews, guides, cheats and editorials to message board posts--may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.