Apple Arcade review #101: Spyder
Spyder, a game about a spying spider, has a ton of potential. It looks and sounds great, the touch controls are, for the most part, pretty good, and it’s a fun concept. It’s let down, however, by the camera, which managed to make me seasick, and by a few other usability issues.
The camera is generally well-behaved, but when you start climbing up, over and under surfaces (which, it has to be said, looks and feels great, as your spider is able to traverse all surfaces in every dimension), the camera readjusts itself, making your spy-spider change direction, which makes the camera readjust again, which affects the spider’s direction, repeat literally ad nauseam. It ruined the experience for me.
As for the controls, as virtual joysticks go, it’s not bad. You can tap anywhere to bring up a joystick to control the spider. However, the inconsistencies in how interactions work — sometimes you tap and hold on whatever you want to interact with, sometimes you tap a virtual button — never gelled. I kept doing the wrong thing. Sticking with the tap-and-hold to interact with something would have been a better option than the dynamic virtual buttons, in my opinion.
I also found mission markers to be obtuse, and combined with the awkward camera controls — two fingers to look around, which means letting go of one side of the phone — made it hard to figure out where to go next.
It’s a shame that Spyder has these issues, because it’s a really fun and personable concept that’s artistically well-executed, and controlling the spider itself feels great. But playing on the iPhone became a chore, and after watching the camera drunkenly swoop around as I tried to make my way around a table, I had to put the game down: I felt queasy.
Before posting this review, I did give it a go on the TV with a controller, and…it’s better? But there’s still something off about the way the camera behaves, which doesn’t sit well with me. I didn’t feel in control, and it made climbing and moving an annoyance when it could have been, should have been, and almost was, pure joy. Also, on the TV, the art looks flatter and less detailed, and the frame rate (on the Apple TV 4K) wasn’t great.