Spider-Man: Web of Shadows may be the best Spider-Man game out there.  Sure there’s some flaws, but it’s all canceled out by the awesome game play.  Read my full review about the game after the break. 

SPIDER MAN: WEB OF SHADOWS

- Review by Charles Parina

Good:

• Interesting story line
• AWESOME fighting features
• Very fluid action
  • Easy to put together combos
• Earning points to purchase special attacks
• Great graphics
• “Witty” spidey. Just like he’s supposed to be.
  • Lots of “ha-ha” factors. (more after the break)
• New “web-sling” feature makes fighting in the air so much more fun.
• Fight as 2 different spideys: red or black suits
  • Different suits mean diff abilities
• Allies you gain along the story line can be called down to fight along you.
  • Which allies you are able to call depends on your amount of red or black points.
• Button hit sequences during boss battles are a fun way to have cut scene interactions
• And of course… web slinging and web zipping around the city is downright fun, especially when it incorporates chase scenes.

Bad:

• Some graphical glitches
• Red or black points are confusing
  • It seems that it is so much easier to get more black points and red points.
    • Other than you getting to CHOOSE which side you want to lean towards in the boss cut scenes, its hard to specifically go for specifically red or black points
  • No way of knowing how many black points or red points you have.
• Targeting system is eh…
  • Takes a loooot of getting used to.
• Optional missions may be a little too repetitive.

Overall:

When I first saw the trailer to this game a long time ago, I was actually excited for the game to come out. The game just looked so beautiful graphics wise and very fun game play wise. As I was watching the trailer, and saw how very fluid it seemed like it was for you to fight in the air, I was definitely hoping that it would play that easy in the game itself. Then comic-con came up, and I became much more intrigued on how the game looks and plays.

But I am happy to say, that after pushing through the game till the last act, Web of Shadows is a damn fun game to play, and it plays pretty much exactly how I was hoping for when looking at all the trailers and gameplay videos. Who wouldn’t have fun swinging around a city, drop in on some ground fights, wall battles, and sky encounters? All the features that looked awesome in the trailers played really nicely in the actual game itself.

This story is an interesting one. It seems that the black symbiotes that gave Spidey and Venom their powers are causing havoc in New York. It’s up to you, along with the powers of the black suit for you to complete missions from the allies and villains of Spidey in the Marvel universe to figure out how to stop this mess. So as you play along in the game, and depending if you play the game following the good “red” side or the dark “black” side, you can call upon your allies (again, depending if you are more red sided or black suit sided) to help you in battles. But, you may find yourself not relying on that so much.

The web zip fighting feature is what makes this game so much fun. This is what keeps you hook to the game, swinging through the city, looking for more enemies to wreck havoc with your web combos whether it be on the ground, wall, or air. Plus with all the upgrades in your powers you are able to achieve makes playing the game that much more fun.

Apologies on the length of this review. Long story short, this is an excellent game and would not upset. Though there are some graphical glitches, or maybe even a sense of repetitiveness in the side missions, Web of Shadows may just hold the title of best Spider-Man game out there. That’s right, I said it. This game is just a downright fun game to play around with. It has the factors that allow it to be enjoyed by those as young as 9 or 10 to ages of grown men and women.

This seems to be a pretty decent lengthed game; having the gameplay hours to be around 15 hours depending if you’re spending time looking for all the Spider icons, finishing all those optional missions (which I might add become pretty frustrating and repetitive), or just pushing through the story.

So I guess now this is the part where I would say that this game is a: Buy It, Rent It, or Trash It kind of game. Being as I am a big Marvel fan, let alone a Spidey fan, I would definitely say to Buy It, especially since, in my opinion, that this is the best Spider-Man game AND that you can beat the game once focusing on gaining RED points, then playing the game focusing Black points. But, for those who play through games quickly, this could easily be a game considered to be a Rent It game.

My rating for the game, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the absolute PERFECT game, I’d give this game a STRONG 8.6.