Back when I collected comic books, I lived in the Marvel Universe. Why? Because I could point to New York City, home of Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Avengers, etc., on a map.  Try and do that with Metropolis or Gotham City.  Still not exactly sure which one was supposed to represent New York City.  Anyway, I was a big fan of the Marvel Universe because it felt closer to home.  So, when I got a chance to play in said universe with Spider-Man: Web of Shadows for the Sony PS3, well I was all over that. 

Now I should point out that this game is Rated T for Teens due to its Animated Blood, Drug Reference, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, and Violence, so 7-year-old Nikolai wasn’t able to help me out with this one.  I should also mention that the Tech Talk For Families staff of reviewers has seriously put multiple versions of this game through the ringer, so I won’t go too far in depth with the story.  Instead, check out PD’s Nintendo Wii Review, Kevin’s Nintendo DS Review, Dale’s XBox360 Review and Sony PS2 Review, and my Sony PSP Review.  Suffice it to say, New York City is being taken over by Symbiotes and it’s up to Spider-Man with the help of other Marvel Action Stars to defeat them.

I’m a Web Slinger

Web of Shadows starts out with a bit of excitement.  First off, there’s smoke, fire, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercraft crashed into the side of a building. Mary Jane (MJ) is there with her arm in cast, brandishing a shotgun, and yelling at you.  And to make matters worse, there are a bunch of symbiotes attacking you.  Just as soon as you squelch the attacking symbiotes and get things under control, Spider-Man flashes back to 4 days ago, before this whole mess started…  Thus begins your training. 

During this time, you are under the tutelage of Luke Cage who shows you how to use your special spider abilities by attacking rival gang members who are engaged in a gang war on the streets of New York.  Now I understand the need for training to play the game, but I soon got bored fighting with the gang members and was wondering what happened to all the promised superhero action stuff promised on the game box cover. Eventually, the game moved beyond this and cool things began to happen.  It should be noted that training continues throughout the game as you pick up on special attack moves.  All of these moves are employed to help Spider-Man defeat his enemies.

It is also during this time that you participate in a brief skirmish with Venom, which results in Spider-Man becoming tainted with the Black Symboite Spider-Man suit and its special features, thus allowing you to play Spider-Man as either the red- or black-suited protagonist.  To switch back and forth between the suits, you push the L3 button, which I found out was the left joystick on the controller.  The problem with that is it is also the joystick that controls Spider-Man’s movements, so it is annoyingly quite easy to go from the red- to black-suited Spider-Man by simply climbing a wall.  This became a seriously annoying problem when I needed the special abilities of the black suit and I suddenly found myself donning the red one.

As the game progresses, you gain experience points, which allow you to upgrade your attack moves for either the red suit or the black one.  Learning these new attack moves involves memorizing several series of key button pushes, which I’m never really good at.  So, as soon as I got an attack move that worked for me, I pretty much stuck with it.  I’ll have to admit that some of Spider-Man’s moves were quite impressive to watch, I only wish that playing a video game would empower me with similar moves. 

The game is played as a series of quests.  Spider-Man is assigned missions that he must complete and optional missions that he can perform in order to gain more experience points. Having a series of short-term goals makes the game more palatable without having to remember that the stick of chewing gum you collected in the first chapter is needed to hold the switch in place to stop the world from exploding at the end of the game.

I should note that this game does not come with Life Cubes, or Life Crystals, or Life Hearts to restore Spidey’s life force. All it takes to power up Spider-Man’s life force is a break in the action.  This means that if you are about to die, do a little web-slinging to raise your life force.

New York, New York

One of the most impressive parts of the game is the city backdrop. You literally have New York City at your fingertips, and the best part is that you get to web-sling through it.  That feature alone is worth the price of the game.  The zip of the web, the whoosh of the wind past your ears (it actually changes pitch as you speed down through the arc of the swing), the satisfying aerobatics as you let go of the web-line and fly unaided before sending out other web-line to purchase anchor on a building.  Seriously, I could have web-slung all day and been happy with it.  The New York skyline is also a sight to behold.  Early in the game, I ventured up the Empire State Building, all the way up its antenna mast, and took in the view.  Whoa, Central Park, The East River, New Jersey, and in the distance, the Statue of Liberty.  I’m not sure how accurate it was, but I was able to get a good sense of the city.

Heroes and Villains Unite

Another feature of this game is that it brings in other characters from the Marvel Universe to aid Spider-Man in his quest to save the city.  Moon Knight, Black Cat, Kingpin, Black Widow, Rhino, Wolverine, etc., all make an appearance and can come to your aid at certain points in the game. A particular, “You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me,” moment takes place during a fight with Wolverine, who smells the symbiote on Spider-Man and therefore suspects him of being an imposter.  To figure out whether he is the real Spider-Man, Wolverine begins to quiz him using a multiple-choice test at the same time he is trying to slice Spider-Man with his claws.  I’m sure a true fan of Spider-Man would have no problem with this, but c’mon, asking, “Who served Spider-Man and Wolverine roast and pie?” is getting a bit ridiculous.  Luckily there was no time limit in responding to the questions and the internet is just a key-tap away.

Overall Impression

When reviewing this game, I figured I’d play for a while and then take a break and do something else.  Unfortunately, this game was very engaging (after completing the training session with the gang war) and I found it difficult to stop and take a break, especially with each power-up giving Spider-Man a new special ability.  I should note that it was only because the PS3 crashed the other night that I got to bed at a reasonable hour.  That said, I’m going to give Spider-Man: Web of Shadows 7 Dancing Elephants out of 8.

Parting Thoughts

Interesting fact about my life, I grew-up a couple miles away from the Avengers West Coast Compound.  Never saw any of them shopping at the grocery store, but it’s nice to know there was always that chance.