So we all watched the same trailer as kids right? The “edgy” Spider-Man slowly walking with his head down as everything around him crumbles apart over bleak music.
7 year old me was screaming over how cool I thought that was. 22 year old me is screaming over how frustrating the game actually is. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was a game that showed promise. A game that I’d say even had a ton of potential.
It was the first open world Spider-Man game that wasn’t tied to any established movie franchise or comic book series. It was a wholly new venture for game developers to come up with their own Spider-Man story, and take on the character. They succeed some of the time at making it a memorable adaptation, but pale horribly in comparison to Insomniac’s passionate outing with the webslinger.
First off, it may be a bit unfair to compare the two as they came out exactly a decade apart. Technical limitations of course play a big part in things… but my criticisms with this game extend beyond those of technical problems. The story in Web of Shadows is severely undercooked, as it’s simply just an alien invasion plot like that of “Invasion of The Body Snatchers”.
It’s really cool to see how New York transforms over time through the game play, and I think that aspect is utilized well when pertaining to the story. I just can’t help but feel like there were some missed opportunities to make the games plot more memorable. The set pieces are pretty slim, and most things take place in the bland open world. Nothing about New York is vibrant, lived in, or exciting until the Symbiote shows up.
The colors are drenched in shades of gray, and the building designs are a bit lazy. In the Spider-Man 2 game, there were locations that stuck out to me because the developers designed them in a way that allowed me to interact with them, or admire them for how visually interesting they were. Here, I can hardly think of more than 3 spots that stuck out to me.
As far as gameplay was concerned, I mostly enjoyed myself. The swinging was a bit dull, and the target lock was completely useless a lot of the time as I often had to rotate through it to lock onto the person I really wanted to fight, causing me to get my head stomped in half of the time.
But otherwise, the combat was fantastic, and I often felt like I was in total control when I was fighting. At first, things felt a bit clunky as I was playing, but almost everything felt natural about a quarter of the way through and there were so many incredible combat options that I couldn’t help but enjoy myself.
The inclusion of wall battles was really cool, and I loved how well it fit the character… although I can see why later games ditched it due to how hard it can be to control where you’re trying to go.
The inclusion of the black suit was another cool feature. One that was reminiscent of the Spider-Man 3 game. Here, it felt better, and the combat was more distinguished. I also think the black vs red inclusion in the story is a great touch, and having the option to alter the story was a lot of fun.
Otherwise, I don’t have much else to say. The biggest thing that bothered me about the game, was just how middle of the road it ended up being… expectations aside, I try to rate things as fair as I can, and give all games an equal opportunity to leave some sort of an impression on me.
The problem here, is that I don’t see myself thinking back to this one all that fondly, as there just wasn’t a lot in the story or the gameplay that stuck out to me as unique, fresh, or all that fun even. It was fine for a playthrough, but other than trying the game again in an effort to favor black suit storyline as I went for the red this time… I don’t see myself coming back to it.
7 year old me was screaming over how cool I thought that was. 22 year old me is screaming over how frustrating the game actually is. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was a game that showed promise. A game that I’d say even had a ton of potential.
It was the first open world Spider-Man game that wasn’t tied to any established movie franchise or comic book series. It was a wholly new venture for game developers to come up with their own Spider-Man story, and take on the character. They succeed some of the time at making it a memorable adaptation, but pale horribly in comparison to Insomniac’s passionate outing with the webslinger.
First off, it may be a bit unfair to compare the two as they came out exactly a decade apart. Technical limitations of course play a big part in things… but my criticisms with this game extend beyond those of technical problems. The story in Web of Shadows is severely undercooked, as it’s simply just an alien invasion plot like that of “Invasion of The Body Snatchers”.
It’s really cool to see how New York transforms over time through the game play, and I think that aspect is utilized well when pertaining to the story. I just can’t help but feel like there were some missed opportunities to make the games plot more memorable. The set pieces are pretty slim, and most things take place in the bland open world. Nothing about New York is vibrant, lived in, or exciting until the Symbiote shows up.
The colors are drenched in shades of gray, and the building designs are a bit lazy. In the Spider-Man 2 game, there were locations that stuck out to me because the developers designed them in a way that allowed me to interact with them, or admire them for how visually interesting they were. Here, I can hardly think of more than 3 spots that stuck out to me.
As far as gameplay was concerned, I mostly enjoyed myself. The swinging was a bit dull, and the target lock was completely useless a lot of the time as I often had to rotate through it to lock onto the person I really wanted to fight, causing me to get my head stomped in half of the time.
But otherwise, the combat was fantastic, and I often felt like I was in total control when I was fighting. At first, things felt a bit clunky as I was playing, but almost everything felt natural about a quarter of the way through and there were so many incredible combat options that I couldn’t help but enjoy myself.
The inclusion of wall battles was really cool, and I loved how well it fit the character… although I can see why later games ditched it due to how hard it can be to control where you’re trying to go.
The inclusion of the black suit was another cool feature. One that was reminiscent of the Spider-Man 3 game. Here, it felt better, and the combat was more distinguished. I also think the black vs red inclusion in the story is a great touch, and having the option to alter the story was a lot of fun.
Otherwise, I don’t have much else to say. The biggest thing that bothered me about the game, was just how middle of the road it ended up being… expectations aside, I try to rate things as fair as I can, and give all games an equal opportunity to leave some sort of an impression on me.
The problem here, is that I don’t see myself thinking back to this one all that fondly, as there just wasn’t a lot in the story or the gameplay that stuck out to me as unique, fresh, or all that fun even. It was fine for a playthrough, but other than trying the game again in an effort to favor black suit storyline as I went for the red this time… I don’t see myself coming back to it.
1 Comment
I sometimes get this confused with Prototype in my mind. I suppose that's because the developers behind that worked on another Marvel property? But it's just as likely that both games are of their era.
Good review! I almost always hear about this one through the lens of nostalgic praise, so it's fascinating to hear about it from a perspective that isn't beholden to that.
Good review! I almost always hear about this one through the lens of nostalgic praise, so it's fascinating to hear about it from a perspective that isn't beholden to that.
Huss
1 year ago