G4TV

Now that the movies are on hold for a while, Activision has gone back to original adventures for Spider-Man with Web of Shadows. Taking much of the core elements of Spider-Man 3, the latest adventure of everyone’s favorite web head has him fighting off a flurry of classic villains and an insidious outbreak of the venom parasite. The result is a game with no shortage of thrilling gameplay, questionable character deviations, and bugs.

Back in Black

Web of Shadows opens in the midst of chaos, as SHIELD forces struggle against overwhelming hordes of venom creatures, with Spider-Man stuck right in the middle. The scene then flashes back to a battle with Venom, as the alien suit tries to take over Spidey, and actually passes on some of itself. This, in turn, gives Spider-man the ability to switch between his classic red and blues and the ooey gooey black.

Much of the game relies on this gimmick of switching between suits—even during combat combos—and from a comic-nerd perspective, Spidey shooting out spiked tendrils and embracing the black suit so thoroughly just doesn’t sit right. It’s completely out of character, as are the so-called moral choices the game throws out you. You can opt to side with villains at times, though it hardly makes a difference, since both sides are fighting to save the city against the infestation.

Though questionably steering away from the core character of Spider-Man will bother stalwart fans, it is at least done to benefit the gameplay. In short, the venom suit is much more fun to play. Dressed in black, Spider-Man can pick up and throw cars, send out multiple tendrils to grab prey from a distance, create localized ground tremors, and other engaging attacks.

Costumed Confusion

Both suits offer an array of great combat moves, and Spidey can grab enemies with webs either way. In fact, you’ll frequently use your webs to fling yourself to an enemy, literally bounce off of them, and web-sling onto another enemy, creating a jack-rabbit-like chain of leaping attacks. Combat is kept intentionally simple—relying mostly on one button—and is often completely chaotic.

This chaos is a double-edged sword. It’s incredibly entertaining to watch, but too much of the time, you’ll feel as if Spider-Man’s moves aren’t entirely under your control. This is especially true with his sliding moves, which happen a lot when fighting on walls, and are nearly impossible to control effectively thanks to a fidgety camera and targeting system.

The combat system is definitely old-school, focusing on button bashing and endless hordes of villains. Thankfully, you can swing through the whole of Manhattan, and this is still great fun. Spider-Man’s animations are superb, and in motion, our hero looks amazing. Chase sequences that require you to quickly zip from building to building in pursuit of a villain are intense, and the ability to take your time combing the city between major missions is certainly nice.

Spidey and His Amazing Bugs

There is something inherently wrong with the constantly respawning events that plague the city. The natural inclination of Spider-Man is to right any wrong he comes across, and since they constantly crop up—often just appearing out of nowhere—you have to stop saving people and thwarting bad guys at some point to move on to a major mission. Every battle and heroic action earns Spider-Man experience points that can be used to upgrade his abilities, and through the game, he’ll also gain back-up from other characters.

The back-up system is great in theory, but nearly useless in action. You seldom need to call in another hero or villain, and have little choice over who is available. The appearance of familiar faces like Luke Cage, Black Cat, the Black Widow, Rhino, the Vulture, and even more obscure characters like Moon Knight is still welcome, and the story is decently told.

The presentation is very good overall as well. Although the buildings aren’t stunningly detailed, the huge scope of the city makes up for it. While Spider-Man looks a bit strange standing still, all of the major characters look and move excellently. Lesser bad guys tend to look great as well, especially the zombie-like hordes of the venom-infected. Voice acting is decent, and the game wisely uses the great score of the movies.

Unfortunately, the visuals and gameplay are hampered by an invasion of bugs of a different sort. The framerate will tank for no apparent reason. Characters, buildings, and whole segments of the scenery will suddenly disappear and appear without warning, and there were far too many instances of the game not allowing you to complete objectives. Innocent bystanders became irreversibly stuck in the scenery, mission-specific objects break, and the AI sometimes just stops responding.

Spinning a Web

There’s enough great gameplay here to make Web of Shadows recommendable for Spider-Man fans. The sheer level of glitches in the game, however, manages to take the fun factor down several notches. Spider-Man purists will almost certainly object to how the character is compromised for the sake of the gameplay, but the combat is still fast-paced and fun, and the open world is thrilling to swing through.

Article written by: Jason D'Aprile