Let's be honest here and reiterate a concern that never seems to go away - and certainly won't until the marketplace fundamentally changes - film-to-game tie-ins are about 90% awful. In the over-riding majority of cases, they're slip-shod, light-weight and nothing more than obligatory efforts aimed at extending the buck of the movie without consideration for the traditional governing features of gaming, like gameplay, level design - you know, the absolute fundamentals of game-making. But what we have seen of The Amazing Spider-Man tie-in suggests that that trend might be about to stop. Most excitingly of all for that game, the latest trailer features no less an auspicious a villain then Rhino. And it's not just any Rhino. Fitting in with the way Lizard is presented in the film, this Rhino is a mutant - an unGodly genetic marriage of horned mammal and human being, and he looks damn good. While the big grey wrong un won't feature in the upcoming rebooted film, he will be making an appearance in the Activision/Beenox game of the same name: http://youtu.be/ibcoObAWJgo Here's the accompanying press release, which reveals a little plot detail about the game...
Meet Rhino, the first classic Marvel Super Villain to be unveiled exclusively for the upcoming video game from Beenox; The Amazing Spider-Man. This new, re-imagined version of Rhino was created specifically for The Amazing Spider-Man video game and will not be seen in the theatrical film. The game picks up where the film ends. Parker is thrown into a new exciting storyline fighting a variety of baddies to try and save New York from devastation. This trailer shows Spider-Man putting his new web slinging skills to use moving seamlessly from buildings, New York landmarks such as the Brookyln Bridge before coming face to face with Rhino himself.
Looks promising so far, but it wouldn't be the first time a tie-in failed to deliver on its potential. So time will tell. Here's the original teaser trailer from December: http://youtu.be/FhP0abkGmJ0 The Amazing Spider-Man will be available on XBox 360 and PS3.