Spiderling

I need a tutorial.

Unfortunately it is unplayable with a non-US keyboard since jump is mapped to "Z". I can not even pass the second "jump" tutorial screen because I can not switch between pressing X and Z fast enough without getting a knot in my fingers :-(

I really enjoyed this game. The character graphics were unique, the music was cute but not annoying, and the learning curve on the controls was well paced.

I found three things, though, that made this game less of a memorable experience than it could have been:

1. The story was pretty bland. I was actually surprised at this, given the quality of the aspects mentioned above.

2. The direction you were supposed to head in was unclear. Not such a big deal if you can double-back. But in this case, it was possible to cut yourself off from being able to double-back. This meant that I had to start the whole thing over a couple times.

3. There was no option to skip the cutscenes. I understand that the wording was paced to convey the tempo of the characters' speech, but it hugely decreases the replay value.

Oh, great!
The good old "everyone in the world uses a QWERTY keyboard" way of thinking.
Unplayable for me this way.

Had to look this one up so I could say this right...

This game has a few bits of negative possibility space, and the biggest one is the secret treasure things. They are there, you can collect all 6 of them in a single run, and your reward for doing so? Getting to see all 6 of them. That's it. Kinda disappointed by that one.

That, mixed with the control issues mentioned above, kinda gives the impression that this is a game with well-polished visuals and gameplay that might have really benefited from a bit more polish in other aspects of the game as well. A good game with the potential to have been better.

Also, in regards to the QWERTY bias in games: have you considered something to the effect of buying a controller that has mappable buttons? It's not exactly the optimum solution, but you could have a control mapping that would allow you to play games that lack the control scheme options you would otherwise need. An example would be a classic x-box controller and x-padder.

Best Spiderman game on the internet. Really hope they do a second chapter.

Thanks JoelyBean, the walkthrough helped. As Montante said, I got stuck by taking the wrong road and had it not been for the help, I'd probably still be wandering around the cave. Excellent atmosphere and graphics; the mechanics took me a bit longer than usual to use effectively.

About the keyboard layout issue: while I agree that game designers should think more about the fact that not everyone uses the same keyboard layout, also remember that every OS available these days has switchable keyboard layouts! You can set your OS to a US keyboard to play the game, then back to whatever you'd been using. Check your OS's documentation for how to do this. No need to spend money on additional hardware or software.

Marnen:
I'm well aware of that.
But switching keyboard layouts for a quick flash game has proven to be a bit tedious so I refrain from it. :)

AWFUL key layout & mechanics, this MIGHT be vaguely playable if up were jump. And that shot/swing were easier.