This past weekend, I was looking to show my wife the new iMac at The Computer Store, my favorite local dealer. We had no luck with the iMac (later this week, they hoped), but they did have the [drool] dual 1ghz machine - very nice!. On the way out, I noticed that Aspyr's Spiderman game had been released. This game is based on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 engine, and has some interesting visual effects. Showing my background has a gamer and OS X supporter, the "Supports OS X" sticker on the box was enough to sway my purchase decision :-).
When I tried to install it, though, I thought I had made a Bad Decision. When you run the installer, it will look like it's hung up - all you see is the spinning beach ball. I would have force-quit it and become a little angry with Aspyr, except I happened to have a Finder window open to the target Games directory, and I noticed a "Spiderman" folder there while the installer was still spinning the beach ball. Opening it revealed that files were continually being added, so it was obvious the installer was doing something. A few minutes later, it finished normally. There should obviously be some sort of progress indicator in the installer!
This same glitch affects the game itself at times - when Spiderman goes to load a new level or new video, you won't see anything other than a black screen for up to 30 seconds or so. Eventually, though, the video will change and things will continue normally.
Outside of the installation and in-game lack of progress bars, I've had no problems with the game and it's quite fun (the semi-transparency when you're crawling along a roof is very interesting). There's even a kids-mode that makes it easier for young players to control the character and progress through the levels.
When I tried to install it, though, I thought I had made a Bad Decision. When you run the installer, it will look like it's hung up - all you see is the spinning beach ball. I would have force-quit it and become a little angry with Aspyr, except I happened to have a Finder window open to the target Games directory, and I noticed a "Spiderman" folder there while the installer was still spinning the beach ball. Opening it revealed that files were continually being added, so it was obvious the installer was doing something. A few minutes later, it finished normally. There should obviously be some sort of progress indicator in the installer!
This same glitch affects the game itself at times - when Spiderman goes to load a new level or new video, you won't see anything other than a black screen for up to 30 seconds or so. Eventually, though, the video will change and things will continue normally.
Outside of the installation and in-game lack of progress bars, I've had no problems with the game and it's quite fun (the semi-transparency when you're crawling along a roof is very interesting). There's even a kids-mode that makes it easier for young players to control the character and progress through the levels.
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