Patreon button  Steam curated reviews  Discord button  Facebook button  Twitter button 
3DS | PC | PS4 | PS5 | SWITCH | VITA | XB1 | XSX | All

Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety (Genesis) artwork

Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety (Genesis) review


"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. "

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.



lasthero's avatar
Staff review by Zack Little (April 28, 2006)

A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.

More Reviews by Zack Little [+]
Catwoman (Xbox) artwork
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 be bashed. Though I hope the great majority of people enjoy the read, know that I'm not aiming it at them. No, this is for the .001, the one soul on the planet ...
Mass Effect (Xbox 360) artwork
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) artwork
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. Kraven the Hunter, Calypso, the Lizard, the Rhino, the Scorpion, the Kingpin, the Sandman, the New Goblin, Venom - New York City is a battleground, and there’s onl...

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Spider-Man & Venom: Separation Anxiety review, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!

You must be signed into an HonestGamers user account to leave feedback on this review.

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998 - 2024 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site 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 & Venom: Separation Anxiety is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Spider-Man & 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. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.