My Played Video Games Review: Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety for the Sega Genesis

in blurtgaming •  last year 

Image source

Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety is a side-scrolling action, beat 'em up video game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, and PC. It was developed by Software Creations and published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1995. It is the sequel to Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, which I posted a review before.

Being a fan of Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage, I thought this would be better by having a 2 player mode. Boy, I was mightily disappointed that it looked more like a prequel rather than a sequel.

The Story

Spider-Man's arch-rival Venom has been violently split from his living costume by the sinister Life Foundation, spawning 5 deadly alien Symbiotes. In fierce two-player action, Venom joins forces with his rival, Spider-Man, to face the new strain of evil brought to life. Between the merciless Jury and superhero allies like Ghost Rider and Daredevil, Venom is out to take his Symbiote genetic offspring from their miserable lives!

Game manual, box and cartridge of the game. (Image source)

The Graphics and Sound

The graphics in general just look less lively and detailed. Some of the backdrops look muted and some attempts were made at pre-rendered SGI-like graphics, but they all look really weak.

It is easy to notice right away that developers got really lazy with the enemy design. Many of the same enemies appear from Maximum Carnage, the stage even looks similar to the first level in that game. After that though, all you fight is a bunch of color-swapped Life Foundation goons. Most of the enemies you fight in this game are these guys.

The soundtrack is crap. The music is not only bad but also hard to listen to. The sound effects could make you turn the volume down to avoid grinding your ears. None of it sounds cool or really gets you into the action.

2 player gameplay video sample of Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety. Watch in 360p for near TV resolution of that time.

The Gameplay

It is a 2 player beat-'em up. It's the typical Streets of Rage/Final Fight clone that has Spider-Man, Venom, and their super friends thrown in for good measure. However, there's no difference between playing Spiderman and Venom. And the repetitive enemies do not make things any easier. At least the controls work well.

You do nothing but move right and press one button most of the time, with the other reserved for the occasional jump kick that sometimes doesn't connect.

The replay value is bad. 2 player cooperative play makes it bearable. Once beaten, the game is kind of forgettable.

My Verdict

As a sequel to Maximum Carnage, Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety continues the sequel tradition of being a bad follow up. While the 2-player mode is a good addition, the game basically did nothing to improve upon Maximum Carnage's gameplay and as a result, you are basically playing the same game with new levels minus the better graphics and good music tracks. If you really need to play a Spider-Man beat-em-up, play Maximum Carnage instead.

Play test it on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console or play it on a nice emulator. Try to play it with a friend.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!

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I just play game on smartphone. and i'm annoyed because the game i play is broke. ha ha. they closed the game. although I really like it.

Thank you for sharing a review about the game. You make me want to play games again after the "heartbreak". 😅

Smartphone games are mostly mediocre. I only play them to pass the time if I am travelling.