E3 2011: Watch Spider-Man Die in Edge of Time

There's something intriguing about watching a superhero die. Most of the time, you've known the character for years as someone who triumphs no matter the odds, so when you know that he or she is going to finally fail, you have to watch. 

That's why I find myself drawn to Spider-Man: Edge of Time. The haunting image of Spider-Man 2099 carrying the broken body of the Amazing Spider-Man was how Beenox Studios introduced Spider-Man: Edge of Time to the world in April, and it has stuck with me ever since. Yes, I gave the game some good natured ribbing by making sure to point out that while this game is not Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions 2 it sure seems like it is (same voices, art style, Spidey-switching idea), but the thing I took away from that initial taste was a desire to dive deeper into this story that hinges on the wallcrawler's death, and that's exactly what the E3 demo gave me.

Maybe I'm jumping ahead of myself, though. Spider-Man: Edge of Time follows up on Beenox's success with Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Here, a scientist from the future travels back in time and kills the Amazing Spider-Man (that's the red and blue hero we all know and love). This sends a shockwave through the universe that instantly changes the timestream. The time-traveling scientist sets up an evil company that shouldn't exist for dozens of year and molds the future in his image.

Spider-Man 2099 is the only one who knows how things used to be -- how things are supposed to be -- because he went through the time portal with the evil scientist. Now, Spider-Man 2099 has to work through time and a telekinetic link with Amazing Spider-Man to keep the hero from getting killed and unspooling everything.

Players take on the role of Amazing Spider-Man and use his web hammers and such to quell enemies from a distance. Spider-Man 2099 is much more melee based and meant to get up close and personal with the bad guys. As I've said before, though, that's not all that shocking as that's how both of those characters played in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, but the E3 demo introduced "Hyper Sense." This ability allows Spidey to slow down time and dodge enemy attacks while getting in some shots of his own.

Hyper Sense is critical because it's needed to take on Anti-Venom. Of course, Anti-Venom is Eddie Brock. In the comics, Brock used to be Venom and be a bad guy, but as Anti-Venom he's a force for good and can cure people of aliments. That doesn't matter here as the evil scientist has taken control of Anti-Venom and is going to use him to fight the Amazing Spider-Man. That fight might sound like every other fight in a video game, but Anti-Venom can "cure" Spider-Man by removing the radioactivity from his blood. Basically, if he gets his hands on Spidey, he can make him a normal dude.

!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!!!!

PWNED!

This is what kills Spider-Man. Activision confirmed that Anti-Venom is the foe that takes Spider-Man's life and kicks off the entire game. I'm not sure if what I saw in the demo was the second time Spider-Man faces off against Anti-Venom or if this truly was the fight that ends his life, but when I found out this is the man that would finally kill Spider-Man, the fight meant so much more. Anti-Venom kind of hulks up and lunges at Spider-Man. The hero tries to talk him down, but eventually Anti-Venom pins him down and -- the demo ends in desperation.

It sucked for me, but it was a good place for Beenox to stop it. Back in April, I saw Spider-Man: Edge of Time for the first time and didn't think too much of it other than that image of a dead Spidey. Now, I want to see that Anti-Venom fight end. Were those the final moments of Parker's life? Do you play through them? I assumed the game started with a cutscene of Spidey dying and then players took over the task of Spider-Man 2099 trying to stop that from occurring. Now, I'm thinking we start on a fool's errand to beat an unbeatable foe.