Score
Gameplay:	7
Graphics:	8
Sound:	6
FunFactor:	7
PlasmaFactor:	7
Overall:	7

Spiderman: Web of Shadows Review
November 9, 2008 by Jereme Puik

Spiderman 2 was probably one of the greatest sandbox experiences of any Spiderman game that one could ever play. Ever since then it seems as if developers haven’t found that right hitch to give the Spider a jump into the next-generation. Last year saw the release of Spiderman: Friend or Foe, which for all intents and purposes failed. Activision decided to hit the books and try again, with this year’s release of Spiderman: Web of Shadows. With no movie inspiration to draw from, it was up to the people at Marvel who came up with an entirely new storyline in hopes that it will please the casual crowd along with the hardcore Spidey fans. Web of Shadows certainly takes some interesting directions but, it is also too convoluted for its own good.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider?

Spiderman: Web of Shadows hits its core plot with the appearance of Venom who has brought the evil symbiote with him to the heart of New York City. He plans his ultimate devastation of the city while also trying to destroy Spiderman in the process. With the help of his symbiote he is secretly infecting the citizens of the city turning them into zombie-like creatures. Along the way, Spiderman also has to deal the myriads of crime in the streets while struggling with his own emotions. Spidey’s decisions will affect whether he will save the city or cause its ultimate destruction. It’s a lot to take in, and its one of the reasons why Web of Shadows struggles to keep everything in place.

In this sandbox adventure you will encounter countless allies and villains. Each of them either providing some kind of tip to use on attacks or just giving you objectives to run through in fighting the crime around the city. The boss fights take a bit more skill to uncover as its mostly trial and error depending on how far along you are in upgrades and level. It’s always a good idea to practice on the crime in the streets of New York as you’ll get plenty of experience to make boss fights easier. One mission for example will test your speed as you work towards keeping a bomb away from the city courthouse before Kingpin’s army takes it down. There is a lot to do in Web of Shadows and it might seem overwhelming at first, but once you get deeper into your levels and experience, it’ll all become clear.

One of the things that always made Spiderman games a joy to play was the web-slinging. Since this was a sandbox adventure, the developer gave you the chance to roam free as you fly through the city. The web-slinging is done fairly well for the most part although a bit shaky at times. The camera gets locked onto you as you are traveling up the side of buildings and moving. This creates problems when you want to find out where you are and where your enemies are. It gets worse once you hit the skyscrapers and are running around on rooftops trying to collect skill points to increase your level. The camera just never seems to want to play nice. The web, of course, only sticks to solid surfaces and therefore you’ll more then likely see yourself falling towards the street longer then needed before your web catches on to something. However, when it works web-slinging feels natural and smooth and you really feel like your controlling Spiderman.

Another beef that might not sit well with some is the spider-sense. When you get deeper into the game and the spidey-sense is tingling, a red spark will shine above spiderman’s head and your radar will point to the nearest crime in progress and highlight what’s going on. This becomes more of an annoyance when there are multiple crimes at the same time. As you’re trying to get yourself in a hurry to one crime, another pops up on the next block and the camera will flip back and forth. This makes web-slinging to a crime difficult because you’ll end up going in a completely different direction then your intention and screw everything up. The targeting system could’ve been made a little less difficult to deal with had only one crime at a time is the focus and not 5 of them.

 Graphics

Personally, I’ve never seen Spidey and his friends look so polished. The game has a nice art direction going for it and the cut-scenes show the effort that was put into refining the graphics. Spiderman himself harkens back to his comic book roots and literally jumps off the pages. Now the voice acting is a completely different story of course, but character wise, Spiderman works. New York City has never looked so detailed and colorful. The city that never sleeps certainly seems like it here. The day/night cycle that’s included throughout the story is a nice touch and gives that fair bit of realism that you like to see in comic book games every once in a while. Trade landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building just wow you as your web-slinging your way towards them.

Sound

While Spiderman may sound whiny at times he can give that sense of realism to him at certain points during the game. Other characters are fairly voiced and don’t have too much to con them about. The sounds of the city are all here. Bustling traffic through the streets and explosions are nicely done and have their own charm. Venom’s infected even have their own spark as they try to eat you alive, and Venom himself was a nice treat and thankfully was done right this time around. Other characters weren’t so lucky such as that special appearance by Wolverine but that’s another story all together. The screams of the crowds in danger and the bullets from the cops trying to chase you off all are nicely produced to their given effect.

Plasma Factor

I will have to mention the transition between the symbiote suit and the classic suit was the tipping point for the game. Switching between each suit gives you the chance to test out new abilities and moves that you learn through your upgrades. The symbiote suit gives Spiderman more strength and accuracy in attacks. With the classic suit, you are aiming for and increase in agility and skill. Each suit gets used widely through the game and helps in the direst situations. As part of using each suit you’ll earn either red or black points that add to your upgrades in level as well. An interesting little trick with your spider-sense is that your symbiote suit also has a sense and can detect the infected that Venom has spread throughout the city and gives you the ability to easily stop them before it gets out of control.

Conclusion

Spiderman: Web of Shadows is a pretty decent effort to bring Spiderman back to the market. With no film release in the near future, it was the whiz kids at Marvel who were able to come up with a story that is respectable in its own right but could’ve used a little more fine tuning. The characters and voice-acting may be cringe worthy at times, but it’s something that can be dealt with for the most part. The use of choice in the game to affect the overall outcome of the game is a nice bonus, but can really go either way depending on how you look at it. There are several things that can certainly be improved upon and given a tightened up story with less confusion, and a bit more direction in script we could have another golden Spiderman game on our hands to take over Spiderman 2. But, until that release comes, Web of Shadows is certainly something that can hold us over for now.