The game's storyline is set within the Ultimate Marvel universe, three months after the Venom story arc from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, and centers on Spider-Man's investigation of the company Trask Industries and their connection to the creation of the Venom symbiote and his parents' death. One notable feature exclusive to this game is the ability to play as both Spider-Man and Venom, who control differently and have exclusive storylines, which cross over with each other.
Like Treyarch's previous Spider-Man title, Spider-Man 2, the game incorporates an open world design, allowing players to freely explore fictious representations of Manhattan and Queens when not completing main missions to advance the narrative. A Limited Edition of the game was released for the PlayStation 2, and includes additional content such as a 'making of' documentary and an interview with Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee. The Windows version is a port of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, developed by Beenox. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions were developed by Treyarch and are drastically different from the handheld versions, which were developed by Vicarious Visions. The game was published by Activision for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, GameCube and Nintendo DS in September 2005. Ultimate Spider-Man is a 2005 action-adventure video game based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and the comic book of the same name.
