Spider-man: Web of Shadows (V)

Originally posted on PushingPlay.com for their review feature called Hour Play. This basically means I reviewed one hour of gameplay and gave my impression on what I've seen so far. This version is adapted for my own purposes. Enjoy!



If I had to choose a 'favorite superhero,' my choice would be Spider-man, hands down. Unfortunately, this admiration has led me to some very disappointing times when Spidey has transitioned from the familiar pages of Comic books to video games, and three unfortunate movies. This time, however, the trailer and news of Spider-mans adventure entitled "Web of Shadows" has been promising. I do realize looks can be and often are, deceiving, but that doesn't stop me from giving Web of Shadows a shot.

Developing team: Shaba Games.
System: Xbox360 (reviewed), PSP, PS3, Wii, PS2, Nintendo DS, and PC, Whew.
Genre: Action/webslinging/adventure.
Rating: Teen – some language, suggestive themes, and loads of spidey-violence.
Suggested for: Definitely a game for fans of Spider-man and action games, and probably a select few that just enjoy being a superhero for a few hours a day.

Story

What do we know about Symbiotes? Well, to summarize, they're slimy, space goo that have a tendency to take over other beings and imbue them with super-strength, while turning them an unsightly shade of gooey black – at least, that's what they are in the Spider-man realm. With Web of Shadows, the storyline appears to be focused solely around Spider-mans temptation with the power he possesses while “wearing” this Symbiote.

Symbiote storylines are always the super-villain Venom's storylines, so expect to run into him, and his slimy minions a lot.

It has been said this is a game of choices - meaning you, as the player, get to decide Spider-mans, and New Yorks fate. Will you allow him to succumb to the Symbiote black suit and be all-powerful, or depend on your own strength to banish the Symbiote and be remembered as the “good guy”. Where you start out the game, New York City is covered in Symbiote slime, and Spider-man is to blame. With the tried and true form of flash-back storytelling, you end up playing through previous events to discover exactly how you got there, before you're allowed to move forward.

Characters

Spider-man has a few friends to help him out along the way; including Wolverine, Luke Cage, and Black Cat. Each of these allies has their own set of missions, but the one I became most acquainted with in my Hour was Luke Cage. Apparently in charge of inspirational training, as only the bulletproof Defender of the streets can be, Luke Cage provides me with my initial missions fighting street gangs. There are seven Ally character slots available – who knows who else is bound to come along?

As the Marvel universe tends to do, there are a few references to unrelated characters throughout the streets of New York as well. Including a billboard hosting Iron Man advertising for Stark Industries. Keep an eye out as you're web-slinging around New York, other tidbits may catch your attention.

The Good Stuff



One of the primary selling points developer Shaba games used to advertise Web of Shadows, was the fluid combat. In previous Spider-man games, the combat felt like a bulky afterthought that was very boring, and took effort to switch between movement and fighting. This time, however, the combat system is more fluid than I could have personally imagined. Fortunately, they paid attention when spider-man was able to attack mid-swing in the comic books, and they allow us to do that very nicely. As Spider-man, you can switch between air combat and ground combat seamlessly.

They even added a wall combat, for those sticky situations against the wall-crawling symbiotes. The wall is your base of attack, and you fight sideways very stylishly. The only problem I had with this combat, was switching from ground-to-wall, or air-to-wall. Spider-man seemed to have a slight problem with grabbing a wall and holding on, without standing still in front of said wall, and crawling to his destination. This wasn't always the case, but it did get irritating when trying to defeat enemies crawling around on walls.



Web-slinging has been a great deal of fun ever since the Spider-man games have given the player the option to explore any part of New York City they desire – called Free-Roaming, or Open world gaming. Fulfilling random missions took a back seat for me, while I had the ability to swing wherever my heart desired in the city. This time, it's not only fun to swing around, it looks good, too. Spider-man will perform twists, spins, mid-air dives, and much more, as you're speeding through the city on your trusty webs.

Since the game is based around the Symbiote invasion, there has to be a black “Symbiote suit” Spider-man, plain and simple. The Black suit, while making Spider-man abrasive and rude, adds quite a bit of bite to his attack. Single button costume change is an amazing advancement in the Spider-man games. Spider-man 3 did have the option for black suit Spidey, but you had to bring up the menu to change into the power machine, which really dampened the flow of combat. You can now switch between two entirely different fighting styles mid-combat without interruption, simply by clicking in the left thumb stick.

Right from the beginning I was impressed with how closely they modeled Spider-mans New York City, to the real New York City. A few recognizable places, such as Times Square and Central Park were fairly accurate depictions of what I saw only two months ago. I suppose what I'm getting at, is the graphics are amazing, and a lot of research went into showing me New York City from a different point of view.



There was disappointment, too

My absolute favorite thing about Spider-man, is his sense of humor – which should be easily translated through different media sources. Whenever he gets nervous, he tends to crack one liner jokes, and clever quips. Unfortunately, whoever wrote this spider-man decided his humor attribute was overrated, and this Spider-man has become a very annoying, whiny superhero. His best line so far was: “These guys shoot first, and aim later”, in an hour of gameplay, that's just pathetic. I heard an interview with Stan Lee, where he said he'd wanted to write the story. Now more than ever – I really wish he had.

While the primary storyline is supposed to be Spider-mans internal struggle of Power vs. Will, there isn't much depth besides that. Maybe it was the bad, whiny voice acting that turned me away from the story – but I found myself not caring about that aspect as much. Since comic books are supposed to be books, it was a let down to see such potential go to waste.

Even though the combat system is beautiful and a lot of fun, it tends to be a bit mundane after you've bashed an hours' worth of enemies into submission with very few cut scenes, where you listen to Spider-man whine a bit. Some more focus on the storytelling may have fixed this issue, but there isn't much I can do about that



Many video games have taken to the “choose your own adventure” style of gameplay, where your actions effect the overall outcome of the game. I found an alignment bar in one of the menus, which apparently is supposed to tell me if I've been a good Spider-man, or an evil one. Helping injured civilians, and protecting things earns “red points” which are good, and neglecting or hurting people earns you “black points”. Sounds pretty straight forward to me – and if you really couldn't care less, ignore it. If I weren't looking for it, I certainly would have.

Will I play it again? I believe I will. But, for the level of depth offered by the story, and the somewhat repetitive fighting – I will be waiting until the price drops to something much more acceptable. Take from that what you will.