Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

"Amazing storyline weighed down by gameplay issues"

've been hoping for a game like this since Spider-Man 2, and when I saw things about this game, like the Hydra/Cerberus Venom and the Symbiote Wolverine, I was thrilled. I enjoyed that they took away from the game and offered a new story with the spreading of the symbiote, and have been a fan of the idea of "what if" with other characters in the Marvel Universe being infected. Needless to say, I awaited every day for this game, not going further than the trailers to keep the full enjoyment to when I actually played the game.

I wasn't disappointed. Mostly.

This game is amazing in the fact that it brings that open world sense to things, and really shows the two sides of Spider-Man. The portrayal of how the Symbiote affected him was great. It was spot on most times, and if it wasn't, it was still believable. The storyline provided many twists and turns that made it very captivating. However, there were still many flaws.

Story:

Ever since reading a "what if" comic that had the Symbiote infect other heroes/villains, I've always wanted to see more. Venom is, in my mind, one of the most captivating villains of all time. The Idea of the Symbiote spreading and multiplying was wonderful, but wasn't really explained. Spider-man get's part of the Symbiote back, and then all of a sudden they can multiply and it's because of Spider-man? As well, certain key characters are present for moments before disappearing for large chunks of the game, like Moon Knight, MJ, and Luke Cage. Besides that, during development, there was information that there would be numerous cameos, yet after I have completed the game I come to find many are missing. They had many opportunities to bring in big names and didn't. It was almost disappointing spending a good amount of time near the Stark Tower and not seeing an appearance by Iron Man at all. Likewise, on a mission to Hell's Kitchen, I expected a Daredevil cameo. Never happened.

The story feel's a little dry to start, and doesn't even get into the Symbiote spreading until the 3rd and final chapter. You spend the first two chapters fighting gangs and the Kingpen's goons, wondering when the actual Venom side of things comes into play. When it does, it feels rushed, and there isn't enough left in the game to make you feel like it was centralized fully around the spreading of the Symbiote. Some of the boss battles feel like they're just haphazardly tossed in the game to move things along, and could have been better with some decent build up.

Choosing the Black suit with Black suit ending, the final video ends on a note that's leaving open to a sequel, and I hope they bring it about. I won't spoil it, but it brings about almost the same enjoyment as hearing GLaDOS was "still alive" in the end credits of Portal. Hopefully I'll find more to enjoy with the other endings.

Gameplay:
This is where the game ends up falling on it's face quite a bit. First thing I noticed while playing was the camera, and how much it was fighting to find that "perfect angle" for you but kept changing it's mind. Going from upright to wall climbing can be a headache, and during combat you end up "guessing" where someone is when you're up in the air and can't see any enemies on the ground. About 80% of the game I was hitting the Y button, hoping there was an enemy in range that I could attack. This was especially awkward during air battles and missions that require you to "web-bounce" off enemies.

Second thing I noticed was the spider pieces. This, in all honesty, was done completely wrong. There is an achievement for getting 100 collection pieces, half of the collection pieces in the game, and all of them. I ended up at 382, and I still didn't hit the half way mark. These pieces are littered everywhere and finding them all would be a chore in and of itself. Many times they end up being in pairs or triples on rooftops within feet of each other. The Stark Tower ends up having about 14 scattered around it, each one within sight of atleast 3 others. If a game has collection items, it shouldn't be integral in any way (in this case, leveling Spider-Man up), and it shouldn't be in such a mass. As well, it should offer other thing's that make us WANT to collect them, even if it's some ridiculous amount. Unlockable costumes, secret missions, extra bonuses, and so on. I went through the game realizing they really didn't end up being necessary at all, unless you're hoping to get the 1000 achievement points out of it. I was hoping to do that and gave up with the collection pieces. I'm not sure how many there are total, but if I found 350+ and didn't even hit the halfway mark, that constitutes as too much.

As well, the controls ended up almost having to be fought with at times to do what I wanted them to do. I'd have to hit the web swing button a few times on occasion just to get it to work. Going from upright to wall was a pain in the ass, and with the camera angles going in every which direction, it felt like you had to fight just to connect to a wall. There were many times where I had to web-swing multiple times just to get to a single location to pick up a collection piece. Most times it was fluid, but there were some points that it was aggravating and was unnecessarily difficult to control.

The quests felt like grind quests most times, bringing nothing new to the story and just ending up being filler. Rescue these people. Escort this vehicle. Beat these baddies. Do it enough, you finish that quest, only to get it again with a much larger amount. I ended up getting to a point where I had rescued 40 civilians, and finished a quest, only for it to go "Congrats, now rescue 100 more!". No. I'm not going to. This isn't a game, it's a grind quest with storyline here and there. No thank you.

Oh, and so far, no New Game + has shown up, so the idea of beating the game all over again start to finish 3 more times to unlock the other endings is just uncalled for. I'm not going back and doing this over and over just to get 3 alternate endings. Thank you, youtube.

Combat:

One of the greatest, and at some points, worst things about this game, was it's combat scheme. The motions were fluid and gave this air of an acrobatic combat style that was as entertaining to watch as it was to play. While you could button-mash through the entire game, it rewards you for learning the combinations, and gave a great variety of attacks. Hands down, it's the best combat system in a Spider-Man game to date. However, flare effects were ever-present and in a realistic-styling game, it's hard to watch bursts and flares while Spider-Man performed his moves. As well, combat sometimes feels a bit too overdone. For a game with so much realism, it almost blurred the line to a point where it felt it couldn't decide what kind of game it wanted to be.

Boss battles are both fun and difficult. While they are entertaining and offer different challenges with each, most feel the need to stop every 1/4th of the way through to have you do something else, like chase them, or they introduce something new into the battle. I think only 3 battles end up being truly straight-through without interruptions every 2 minutes. As well, having dozens of enemies attacking you while you need to web-grapple a boss and attack them can be tedious. You'll end up going to do a special move with the web zip, and end up hitting one of his lackey minions instead, wasting it completely. Many boss battles also ended up having so many enemies trying to kill you that just executing a single move was based on pure luck of not getting hit by the thousands of projectiles flying around.

Conclusion:

While the game has some amazing graphics, a very intriguing and interesting storyline, and the best combat system to date, it still lacks in many ways. People have shown disdain towards low ratings given to this game but I can say that I see why. It's far from perfect. Where the story is great, it seems to be weighed down by too many "little things" with gameplay. For any true Spider-Man fan that enjoyed Spider-Man 2 or Ultimate Spider-Man, it's worth the play. However, the endless demand for grinding in most missions, the "It's over already?" feeling at the end of the game, and certain disappointments bring it down to a lower level than I had hoped for. It's not one to miss, but I'd suggest renting instead of buying. Fun for a play through, but very little replay value.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/08

Game Release: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (US, 10/21/08)