Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii
Developer: Shaba Games
Publisher: Activision

Since Spiderman hit the big screen a few years ago, the franchise has been a very lucrative one in all entertainment industries. So much so, that even during years when there was no Spiderman film release, Activision still tried its best to release a game that year anyway to capitalize on the franchise. While writing off those titles that weren’t attached to films as rubbish (i.e. Spiderman: Friend or Foe) was understandable and even advisable, doing the same to Spider-Man: Web of Shadows would be a mistake.

The plot of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows starts off simply enough, with our Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman chasing his good buddy Venom. Where things start to go awry is when the symbiote in Venom’s suit starts to react and behave strangely once it’s in the presence of Peter Parker again. This encounter sets off a chain of events that include Spiderman being consumed by the symbiote again, other Superheroes and Supervillains merging and combining with symbiotes and even citizens of New York City being overcome and infected by the symbiote. With the Avengers and Iron Man nowhere to be found, it’s up to Spiderman and a motley cast of Heroes and Villains alike to save New York City and the rest of the world from the absolute mayhem that ensues.

What caught many people (myself included) by surprise about Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was the footage I saw of it back at E3. The slow motion effect when using your web-strike attacks, the combos and aerial attacks were unlike anything I’d seen in a Spiderman title. What at first looked to be tantalizing concept footage did indeed make it to the final version of the game and it sets Spider-Man: Web of Shadows miles apart from the Spiderman titles that came before it.

One of the aspects of Spiderman that hasn’t quite been captured correctly in a videogame is his movement style, especially combat. While there have been many advances in how he controls and animates while swinging with his webbing, especially since the Spiderman 3 videogame, it all goes down the toilet when the combat comes into play. That was until now.

In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, the combat is broken down into three distinct types. Ground combat, aerial combat and wall combat are all accounted for here. What’s even better is that players can seamlessly blend together the three different types and put together combos that flow from one type to the other. Just having those various types of combat operating so fluidly is a large step in the right direction for the franchise.

One of the coolest additions to the combat system I think is the web-strike mechanic. Essentially, this is a simple button press that makes Spidey shoot a couple streams of webbing at his enemy that he then uses to pull himself towards them at high speed as a setup to a string of attack and combo opportunities. As the webbing shoots out and as Spidey propels towards his enemy, a slow motion effect begins. Not simply a gimmick for adding dramatic effect, it gives you time to react to the situation and decide in what manner you want to deal with your foe once you reach them. You start off with only being able to pounce on them once you make contact, but once you level up the maneuver, you’ll be able to all sorts of techniques to it such as wrapping them completely in webbing, slamming them into buildings, and all sorts of other attacks.

All of these attacks and combos are handled by pressing different buttons at the correct time during the web-strike. They’re not canned combos and can be strung together however you like. What’s even better is that after doing a full combo and tossing your enemy aside, if you have enough skill, you can bring them in for another web-strike and continue to do it until you’ve defeated them.

Another thing the web-strike mechanic allows you to do is to dispose of one foe however you wish, and after tossing them aside, initiate a web-strike on another nearby foe before even hitting the ground. This will let you take out multiple enemies in rapid succession and can even be used as a sort of platforming mechanic to help you reach enemies or areas much easier than you would have been able to otherwise in a sort of leap-frog type fashion.

Performing these different variations of the web-strike technique on enemies high above the skyscrapers of New York City adds a dynamic to the aerial combat that hasn’t been seen in a Spiderman game yet, while also feeling uniquely at home with the character.

The rest of the combat is your standard fare for action games. It’s all combo based, and you can upgrade the combos by spending experience points that you gain throughout the game. You’ll be able to spend the experience to level up combos and learn new moves for the ground based, aerial and wall based combat types.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows maintains somewhat the open world nature that was introduced to the franchise a few years ago. You’ll have main quests that you accept from different heroes (and villains), while also being able to do optional quests around New York City. All throughout, there will still be other crimes and capers being committed across the city that you’ll be able to participate in and foil at your leisure.

Unfortunately, these optional quests and crimes are all the exact same tasks as the missions you’re given for the main storyline, so it doesn’t do much in the form of giving you the type of variation and longevity that an open world environment typically lends to a game.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a little bit on the short side, even for an action game. Still, for its few shortcomings, the title did succeed as far as providing new gameplay mechanics for the Spiderman videogame franchise that can be built upon in the future to make some fantastic games. Knowing Activision’s track record, we think it’s pretty safe to assume that we will be playing more Spiderman games in the years to come. Spiderman fans and those that have enjoyed playing the videogames previously should definitely check Spider-Man: Web of Shadows out. Action game fans in general should at least give it a look. You could do much, much worse.