Spider-Man has had a long history in the video game world. In fact, the first video game to ever use Marvel superheroes was a Spider-Man game for the Atari. The game that came after it was different to say the lest. Questprobe featuring Spider-Man was a text based adventure game that had some good artwork, but some terrible game play features.
In the game, created by Adventure International, Spider-Man swung into an office. There were strange things going on and some of his most famous foes were lurking about. You would type in what Spidey would do, such as open the door or go out the window. The art style was good, looking like it came from the comics. Seeing just a little animation on the old Commodore 64 was quite impressive in the mid 80’s.
The problem came from two sources. The first was that the commands could be typed in. This was great, but most of the time you would get the dreaded message “I don’t know how to (insert word) something! Try again.” This became frustrating as you would have to find the right word to get something down. You could not open the door, you had to pull it open. The second was a very unclear objective. You basically wondered around trying to make something happen. Even now, I can not tell you what the game was about. I think Mysterio was the main villain, but things were so confusing I am not sure. This game was important because it was the first time I was not amazed by a game, but certain that something better had to be coming.
Questprobe had two other games in the Marvel universe, featuring the Hulk and two members of the Fantastic Four. The Hulk game, being the first in the series, was a lot rougher then Spider-Man. I remember that one of the first choices led to death immediately. With the new Spidey game coming out this week, it was interesting to go back and look at a game that was not only the first superhero game I ever played, but also the first game that ever made me rage quit.
