Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008) (VG)

Writers:

Brian Reed (written by)
Mark Walters (written by)

Release Date:

21 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

New York City has been invaded and only Spider-Man can save it.

Cast

Mike Vaughn	...	Spider-Man (voice)
Tricia Helfer	...	Black Cat (voice)
Robert Wisdom	...	Luke Cage (voice)
Steve Blum	...	Wolverine (voice)
Keith Szarabajka	...	Venom (voice)
Gregg Berger	...	Kingpin / Miscellaneous (voice)
Salli Saffioti	...	Black Widow / Miscellaneous (voice)
Liam O'Brien	...	Electro / Shocker / Miscellaneous (voice)
Dana Seltzer	...	Mary Jane / Miscellaneous (voice)
Robin Atkin Downes	...	Moon Knight / Miscellaneous (voice)
Isaac C. Singleton Jr.	...	Park Avenue Leader / Miscellaneous (voice)
James C. Mathis III	...	Rolling Sevens Leader / Miscellaneous (voice) (as James Mathis)
Fred Tatasciore	...	Rhino / Miscellaneous (voice)
William Utay	...	Tinkerer / Miscellaneous (voice) (as Will Utay)
Kristoffer Tabori	...	Vulture / Miscellaneous (voice) (as Kristopher Tabori)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:T | Australia:PG

Company:

Marvel Enterprises

Quotes:

Spider-Man: So what do you think of the new duds?
Wolverine: This some kinda damn Super Hero fashion show? 'Cause I got some orange and brown tights that put you to shame.

Soundtrack:

MOONLIGHT SONATA

Incredibly Fun And Terribly Annoying At The Same Time

This is probably the most fun I've ever had with a Spider-Man game. This is the first time since Spider-Man 2 that I've really felt like Spider-Man swinging through the city, and the controls are vastly improved from that game. I do miss the Splinter Cell style missions from Spider-Man 1, but the free-roaming environment gives you plenty to do.

The controls are simple, anyone can do it. It's not like Marvel Ultimate Alliance where sometimes you have to perform combos to defeat enemies. You can, and it's fun, but if you don't want to you can defeat just about any villain with simple punches.

The graphics are pretty amazing. The Incredible Hulk game also uses this large sandbox environment. However, after about three blocks it everything disappears in this green haze. No loading time but no scenery. This game fixes that. You can see details all the way across New York. No haze/fog/mist/etc. And up close things look pretty decent too.

But there is a problem with the graphics, they use the same thing for the cut-scenes. Now, Gears of War can get away with that because their engine is so top notch it made it's own notch. Why didn't this game go the same route as MUA? MUA has spectacular cut-scenes. Sure the graphics are good, not spectacular, but what few cut-scenes they did use with the in-game graphics looked just plain awful. But those cut-scenes like the opening or Nightcrawler escaping just looked so theatrical and amazing. This game could seem far more cinematic if they did that.

I don't care for the decision making. It's too obvious. Either, red (good) or black (evil). They should have done like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic where you make a decision and then find out where it put you. This game makes it too easy to be either good or bad. There were times in KOTOR where I thought I was doing good but ending up with dark points because I didn't know how it would end. Any game that allows you to make decision and have multiple endings should do the KOTOR way, not this one. Because there's no surprise.

The story is lacking. True it's a video game, but in this day and age story lines are becoming more and more necessary thanks to Halo, Half-Life 2, KOTOR, and even MUA. Those games had great story lines where you almost couldn't put them down until you found out what happened. In fact you could enjoy those stories outside the video game medium. With the invasion, Venom, and the choices this could have been a huge, grand epic. Instead, if this was a comic book it'd be over in two, three issues like it didn't matter. You don't really feel the emotional impact from any of the characters. If you're going to make a comic book video game you should use a Kingdom Come or House of M sized story. Grip the audience and don't let go until it's over.

Now there are some glaring problems which also make this an annoying experience too.

The voice actors are just a pain to listen to. When I first started playing MUA, I did not like any voice actors except for Fury and Doom. I thought Spider- Man was too whiny, Thor had no command, and Wolverine was too gravely, etc. By the time I finished I loved them all. They just grew on me till I couldn't imagine anyone else doing the voices. This game does not do that. None of the voice actors fight the characters. If they had subtitles, I'd turn off the voices. The only one I like is Wolverine, because he's been doing Wolverine sine MUA. They couldn't do that for Spidey and the others from MUA?

Exploding cars are like the balloons from Spider-Man 2. It seems like every other battle I get in there's an exploding car. Unfortunately I'm always two blocks away fighting some goon. By the time I find out there's an exploding car, turn around, and get anywhere near it it's already over and I'm getting 10 black points for it all. Or what's worse is if the exploding car knocks you away and by the time your character gets up you're getting the black points. It's very frustrating if you're trying to be good.

Climbing buildings is annoying. Incredible Hulk was very simple: get near a building, press one button, and you're on it. It doesn't automatically make you jump up nor leap across the street. You just get on. This game uses one button too but it sends you running around the side for some odd reason. Sometimes I get on a building but I end up running in some odd direction. I don't understand why you have to get on and run too. Why not just get on and then some other button lets you to run?

I've been fighting the camera more than I have thugs. Especially on the sides of buildings. There are times when it glitches so bad that I'm either looking straight up or straight down (no in-between) and neither helps whatsoever. I had heard there were camera problems with Spider-Man 3 but I had hoped they would think about that before making this game.

If you bypass the flaws you'll have a wonderful time. At midnight I certainly am. Comic book-gamers should definitely play this. Casual gamers may be put off but should at least rent it. Those who loved Spider-Man 2 will certainly enjoy this. I'll eagerly await a sequel, but hope they learn from their mistakes.