New mobile games: double the Spider-Man and hundreds of monsters

By Benjamin Krueger Oct 23, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - Mobile gaming is all about numbers this season. There are two Spider-Men, 10 Kirbys, 250 monsters and 450 basketball stars - and all of that in only five games coming out in October.

The two Spider-Men come courtesy of Activision Blizzard's Spider-Man: Edge of Time, which involves a time-travelling adventure including both the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker, and the Spider-Man of 2099, Miguel O'Hara. A villain has opened a window in time, which he hopes to use to kill Parker in an effort to change time to his favour. Mercifully, 2099's Spider-Man gets wind of the plan and manages to intervene.

The two then have to join forces, despite the time barrier. That means players can draw on the strengths of both superheroes. Whereas Parker uses his special spider senses, which he gained after being bitten by a radioactive spider, O'Hara has the technical advantage of his weapons.

In the parallel action, players can take actions in their present to change the future to their partners' advantage. The two stay in contact via a picture-in-picture function, allowing the player to see what his actions have meant for the future.

Anyone who wants to adventure in both the past and future simultaneously needs to check out the game, available October 28 for both Nintendo handhelds - about 40 euros (55 dollars) for the DS, 50 euros for the 3DS, and all console machines.

Heroes are also in action on the Playstation Portable. In this case, Naruto and his Ninja colleagues are putting their jutsu powers to full use in Naruto Shippuden - Ultimate Ninja Impact. Players are given the option of playing all the past versions of the game, this time in two-player mode.

The game focuses on fighting, which remains very tactical, even if gameplay has been kept simple, especially with one-button combos. Every mission ends with a cinema-worthy no-holds-barred fight, made more sensational with anime film sequences in English or Japanese. The game comes from Namco Bandai and costs 40 euros.

Unlike Naruto, Kirby is not really known for his fighting. Nonetheless, the new Nintendo DS game is called Kirby Mass Attack. As the title suggests, this game is not just about Kirby, a pink, spherical character familiar to gamers. In this version, Kirby has been split into 10 little Kirbys by an evil sorcerer, meaning the player must get all 10 through each level simultaneously if he ever hopes of having a single Kirby at the end.

The game starts with a sole, small Kirby. But, as soon as he's gathered enough fruit, he draws out other Kirbys. The more Kirbys at a player's command, the easier some tasks become to complete. If you want to explore Kirby's colourful world, the game will be out on October 28 for a cost of 40 euros.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 is also for the Nintendo DS. The spin-off of the successful role-playing game is a mix of Monster Hunter and Pokemon. Just like in the original, players find themselves in a huge world on the search for 250 monsters. Players who master a beast can tame, train, raise and use them as fighters, just like in Pokemon.

Players are allowed to send up to three monsters into a fight against monster scouts. The tactical possibilities are immense, given the huge number of creatures, each with their own set of skills. Thanks to wi-fi capability, players can do more than just fight monsters from another person's console: they can also swap monsters from other parts of the Dragon Quest series. Nintendo's monster hunt is set to sell for 40 euros.

Basketball fans can brace themselves for a duel of a different kind with NBA 2K12 for Sony's PSP. If you've always wanted to know how a match-up between German superstar Dirk Nowitzki with the legendary Michael Jordan might turn out, this is the place to look.

That's because the game doesn't just feature contemporary NBA teams, but also the lineups of 15 historic teams. That means a competition between the legendary Magic Johnson and contemporary superstar Kobe Bryant no longer has to be strictly imaginary.