Spider-Man: Edge of Time

3DS already has two superhero themed duds in the form of Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters and Thor: God of Thunder.

Now players can add Spider-Man: Edge of Time to the growing list.

In this latest adventure from Activision and Beenox, players take control of both Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 as the two work together to prevent the villainous Walker Sloan from messing with the past, present and future. The tale, penned by Marvel veteran Peter David, is a bit silly, as the characters flawlessly communicate with each other despite being decades apart, but it's typical summer movie fluff.

What's more, the voice acting is top notch, while the cut scenes do an excellent job of pushing things along, though you cannot view them in glasses free 3D.

On top of that, there's a cool cause and effect mechanic, where actions of one Spider-Man affect the other, though the developers use this feature as more of a plot device, instead of empowering the player in a more choose your own adventure sense. Regardless, thumbs up for at least trying something different.

That doesn't mean, of course, that Edge of Time is a quality game.

On the contrary, it's a boring and lazily designed action adventure where, in a way, the title is apropos, since it closely resembles a video game from ten years ago.

The entire experience involves moving to similar looking rooms and pummeling bad guys, then locating switches to open doors that lead to more bland looking areas.

Speaking of the environments, much of the game takes place within buildings that are so huge they're borderline unrealistic. No company, no matter how profitable, has a headquarters this obnoxiously big.

Combat, meanwhile, is fairly basic, with punches, kicks and the usual Spider-Man powers, such as web slinging, Spider Sense and Hyper Sense, depending on the character being used. There's also an upgrade system, though it does little to save Edge of Time from being tedious.

Then there's the bothersome camera. Perhaps Activision should have waited for Nintendo to release that slide pad attachment, because the current system of using the circle pad to move and then the d-pad to change perspective simply doesn't work as effectively as it should. What's more, the camera tends to zoom in whenever Spider-Man gets too close to the screen, obscuring a player's vision.

Had it debuted several years ago, Spider-Man: Edge of Time may have received praise despite its many flaws. Sadly, its shortcomings are unacceptable today, making it yet another casualty in the ongoing terrible comic book video game saga.