Review: Spiderman: Web of Shadows (X360)

Good or Evil. There are perilous choices that are given to every hero as they set out on their quest to save or conquer the world. Activision and Treyarch’s latest hero game has left the choices up to the gamer and given us Spiderman: Web of Shadows. Take the the skies once again as the web slinging hero and battle all your favorites from Mavel past, all the while deciding on whether or not you’ll remain true to your virtue or let the Symbiote take control.

Gameplay:

The game starts out with a post-apocalyptic view on what New York could turn into if the Sybiote that gave birth to Spiderman’s arch-nemesis Venom is allowed to spread. Buildings burning, friends turning against Spiderman, citizens being turned into stark raving symbiotic lunatics that fight him at every corner, utter chaos reigns supreme. After the chilling view of what’s to come, you’re taken a bit back into the past and begin Act I of the game as red suited Spidey. After a few brief tutorial type missions, you’ll be greeted by some familiar faces and eventually given the ability to switch between the fleet footed red suit Spiderman or the brute force brawling Symbiotic black suit Spiderman. This is where the real guts of the game come from. Decisions you make throughout the game, whether they be story related or just in combat will decide how you alter your path throughout the game. Stay true to Spidey’s virtue and you’ll be awarded red points and closer to saving the world. Do acts of cruelty or side with the villains too often and black points will flow your way. Each of your decisions in the game will alter the outcome and how the game shapes up for you.

This time around, Spiderman isn’t asked to take on the world alone. If you manage to fill your specials bar during combat, a simple press of the D-pad will bring out allies who will aide you in your plight for a period of time. Having troubles with a certain group of thugs? Call out Cage and pummel them into submission. As you progress through the game, certain plot points will unlock more allies who each have unique abilities of which you can use when the time is right.

Graphics:

Loading up Spiderman: Web of Shadows finds you in the sandbox world of New York City. Depending on which Act you’re playing, one side or the other of the city will be open to your web slinging needs. Its impressive to have the entire city accessible to swing through with no loading times, but as a result it appears that the textures and distance drawing of the buildings took a slight hit. The city gives off a gritty appearance which works, and the streets are bustling with uniquely disguised scripted activity, but small graphical glitches seem to pop up and take you from reality. Several times while fighting random thugs on the street, entire models that you’re currently fighting will disappear without a trace in mid-fight. On several occasions, I’d swoop in and begin fighting a group of five thugs only to find out that dispatching two will end the result because the other three wound up in another dimension somewhere.

Cutscenes play out nicely without any trace of slowdown but the models wont impress you above anything you haven’t already seen. The details in the heroes and the villains pay homage to the comic book look, but don’t really push the envelope for next generation graphics. I was impressed that in one close-up of Spidey, you were actually able to see the seam where his mask meets the rest of his suit. Nice little detail there.

Sound:

Sitting atop a building and listening to the sounds in the street below you can be breathtaking. You’ll notice sirens of police cars in the distance, clatter of people in the streets, sounds of mischief from random thugs causing havoc on a street corner. Also, swinging through the streets produce satisfying sounds of what you’d expect spider webs to sound like if they were shot out of your wrists and splatted against a high rise building. Diving from high atop a sky scraper will produce whooshing sounds of wind passing your ears and all the while, the background music picks up on action queues to ramp up at the appropriate times when doing your superhero deeds. All in all, I was quite impressed with the sounds in Spiderman, even down to the voice acting which was done quite well.

Controls:

Being an Activision/Treyarch Spiderman game, you can’t help but compare it to previous installments. Gone are the days when the beautiful swing mechanics of Spiderman 2 where you could sling multiple lines or web to brilliantly control the acrobatic hero into just about any spot you could think of. Although swinging in Web of Shadows is still fun, its not nearly as complex as it once was in the past and with every iteration, I keep hoping they bring back what once was so great about their previous title. With that, controls don’t seem readily very fluid at first and take a bit of time to get used to. There were a few times when I would be forcibly trying to press against a wall after a web-flight only to find myself slide all the way down to the ground because I didn’t press the awkward RB button. Spidey should stick to just about anything and if I swing 50mph into the side of a building, I should stick there too without the necessity of pressing a button.

Conclusion:

Treyarch and Activision have produced yet another web slinging game that can be fun for fans of the comic. I personally have always had a soft spot in my heart for Spiderman and love taking control of him any chance I get. Web of Shadows has quite a few faults with graphics and controls, but the story is solid and the game is still fun to play. While it may not win itself any medals against the fierce competition out this holiday season, it could still be a sleeper hit for those wanting a Spiderman game to help them through.