Games for Lunch: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
In a nutshell: He flies through the air with the greatest of ease.
10/24/2008 5:04 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 4
Developer: Treyarch/Shaba Games
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: Oct. 21, 2008
System: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS, PC
ESRB Rating: T
Official Web site
0:00 I was a huge Spider-Man fan ... when I was five. Since then I've only kept up loosely with the whole wall-crawler mythos. I played the first movie-based game on the PlayStation2, and felt it was a slightly sub-par brawler.
0:01 Spidey flits about the walls of New York buildings and watches as various company logos appear on video billboards. Seems like a lot of work just to see a few ads, Spidey.
0:02 Spidey appears crouched and ready in a small band against a grey background. Intense violin-based music completes the title screen. "New Game" is the only selectable option on the menu, so off we go.
0:03 Spidey walks slowly and calmly, head held low, as an etude plays. All around him, there's carnage. He breaks into a run and dives off the roof of a building. "You know what that does to you," says a disembodied voice. "You know how it can change you." Spidey swings around a bit, bounces off some walls and enemies that are loitering around. The camera is set in real tight on his back through it all. "When this is said and done, who will the people remember as their savior?" says disembodied voice No. 2. Man ... this is heady stuff for a comic book game.
0:04 And I'm immediately in control of the "Prelude" mission. A car crashes in the distance and I run off the rooftop to investigate. As I slide down the skyscraper wall, the camera turns 90 degrees to make the wall seem like the ground. Trippy.
0:05 I mash the X button to take out some grey-suited "symbiotes." Very stylish attacks, including some impressive slow-mo on the fourth hit of the combo. You can really feel the impact of all the blows.
0:06 On my way to fight some more symbiotes, I get to try out the swinging controls. The longer you hold RT, the more height you get, while the left stick effortlessly changes direction and speed.
0:07 The air attacks are brutal. One attack flows into another with a minimum of delay or thought. The controls are as smooth as silk so far.
0:08 A flying ... hover-thing crashes into a building then explodes as some flying blue vulture-men attack it.
0:09 Now I'm fighting while crawling on the side of a wall. Spidey has some fancy footwork, but the wall-crawling attacks aren't as satisfying as those from the ground. Also, is there really only one attack button? Seems a bit simplistic.
0:12 A guy in Halo-like armor gets picked up by one of the vulture-men. I save the guy with some quick-shoot web bullets. "Now where is Cage and his search party?" I scream at the poor shell-shocked guy. "Where is MJ?" Spider-Man's voice is surprisingly high and whiny.
0:13 I take the guy to a stretcher truck, then yell again at the paramedic: "Where's Cage and his search party?" Spidey hears a radio message and runs off to search for MJ. But first, we have to fight some more symbiotes.
