Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

Letting players do whatever a spider can is the clear goal of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. Using a story that’s set apart from any of the films or other games released around 2008, Web of Shadows is a unique point in the history of Spider-Man video games. Players can expect classic web slinging, beat ‘em up style action, and of course more famous superheroes than you can shoot a web at.

Really Makes You Feel...

Jokes on cliche Spider-Man reviews aside, Web of Shadows probably does the best job at allowing the player to experience life as the famous web slinger during the XBOX 360 and PS3 generation of consoles and games.

The web slinging, which is often considered the most crucial part to nailing any Spider-Man game, is middle of the road here. It certainly doesn’t reach the same heights (no pun intended) that the PS4’s Spider-Man game does, but it’s by far not the worst that gamers have had to deal with. A quick tap of the bumper allows the player to swing from building to building, doing awesome somersaults and spins as Spider-Man flies across the New York skyline.

All of the usual movement options are here too including web zipping, wall running and general climbing to help the player traverse all of the game’s areas.

...Like Spider-Man!

Sharing a suspiciously similar plot to the earlier Spider-Man game, Ultimate Spider-man, Web of Shadows kicks things off with an unsurprising duel with Venom. The parasitic alien that possesses Venom eventually takes hold of Spider-Man’s suit, giving Spidey a new set of skills and abilities.

This is where the game begins to present players with the choice of being the responsible regular suited Spidey, or deciding to destroy your enemies completely as black suit Spider-Man. This even manifests in some dramatically different story decisions, which is definitely a reward for players doing multiple playthroughs.

With Great Power Comes Great Repetitivity

Unfortunately, Web of Shadows isn’t saved from its dull story by its gameplay. The entire game is bogged down by overly formulaic missions that are given by recognizable Marvel characters, but ultimately they all play out exactly the same: after being taught a move, the player is required to execute the move ad nauseum in order to complete it; once the player reaches a location, they need to beat up X amount of enemies. This goes on throughout the entire game.

The visuals during cutscenes are serviceable, but during combat they’re just as flashy and interesting as any comic panel that everyone’s favourite web slinger is pulled out of. Unfortunately, decent graphics alone are not enough for this spider to catch its fly.

PROS:

• Unique story and entry into the Spidey-verse
• Has a campy, B-movie style charm to it
• Exploration feels good and responsive

CONS:

• Pretty poor voice acting
• Underwhelming story despite having no ties to the comics or films
• Bland, repetitive combat

Spiderman hasn’t had the best of runs across video game history. Particularly in the earlier years of gaming, Spiderman games were hit-or-miss, skewing mostly towards absolute miss. Eventually, though, there is a web crawler game that comes out and absolutely nails it. Spider-man: Web of Shadows is one of those gems. Its Spiderman specific mechanics coupled with its sandbox version of New York make this title one of the best Spidey games in existence.

Let your spider senses tingle as we check out everything you need to know about Spider-man: Web of Shadows.

Play and Feel Like Spidey

Spiderman is a unique superhero when it comes to both his powers and his fighting style. A lot of games get one or the other wrong. Spider-man: Web of Shadows, though, manages to both nail his acrobatic hit-and-run combat style and his traversal abilities. Swinging around New York City is an absolute blast in this game. Diving off a skyscraper and into a series of swings until you find yourself climbing the Empire State building will make you feel like you are Spiderman and then some. Combat is also snappy and varied. With a click of a thumbstick, you can switch from regular Spidey to symbiote Spidey to significantly alter your fighting style giving you so many different ways to dispatch baddies.

Tons to Collect

As an open-world sandbox game, Spider-man: Web of Shadows is chock-full of collectables to discover and collect. Compared to other similar games, finding these small treasures is actually fun. You’ll never get bored of traversing around the Big Apple to conduct your web-swinging treasure hunt. By the time you get them all, you’ll feel an emptiness as you’ll be wishing there was still more to discover.

Voice Acting is Meh

Spider-man: Web of Shadows has a lot going for it but the voice acting isn’t its strong suit. In fact, the game could have communicated its story beats better were it to be captioned rather than voiced. Even for a 2008 game, this poor voice acting is considered subpar. Lines are often devoid of emotion and in many cases, including Peter Parker himself, the voice isn’t what you would associate with its character in the game.

Pros

• Great combat with two different styles to swap between at will.
• Some of the best web-swinging mechanics in a Spidey game.
• Tons of collectables to seek out.

Cons

• The story could have been better fleshed out.
• Voice acting is subpar even for its time.