Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (PSP)

Listen, bub...
11/11/2008 7:03 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 1

Ever since the Sam Raimi film kicked off the present-day comic book movie boom, it's become rote to recite the line from Amazing Fantasy #15 that forms the core of the Spider-Man mythos: "With great power there must also come -- great responsibility!" That Stan Lee sentence gets at the heart of why superheroes continue to reverberate so strongly throughout pop culture: The costumes, the powers and the secret identities all service metaphors that hit on aspects of the human condition. Just like in its big brother console versions, in the Amazing Allies Edition of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows on the PlayStation Portable, Spider-Man reacquires the black alien symbiote suit -- which harkened a darker turn for the character in the comics -- during a fight with archenemy Venom. Venom pollinates innocent New Yorkers with the evil infection and breeds an invasion that threatens to overrun the island of Manhattan. Spider-Man, now able to switch between Red and Black costumes, must team up with numerous guest stars from the Marvel Universe to save the city.

Spider-Man gets recruited by Nick Fury -- head of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Marvel Universe's super-spy agency -- to procure parts to build a sonic disruption device that will cleanse the symbiotes from NYC. The game's pretty much a side-scrolling beat-'em-up, with light role-playing elements. The moral aspect of the Red/Black dynamic doesn't come into play so much, in terms of shifting the narrative or creating repercussions. Acting altruistic or cranky banks points that you can use to upgrade or unlock Red suit or Black suit abilities.

Amazing Allies gives players five slots that they can load with power-ups, acquired abilities and heroes to summon. There are a ton of fun Marvel Characters that show up here, and Luke Cage and Moon Knight appear in the PSP version, just as in the PS3 and Xbox 360 titles. But the PSP packs exclusive characters of its own: Storm wields devastating weather attacks, perennial D-lister Stilt-Man stomps any on-screen enemies, and Nightcrawler's teleport attacks get rid of the bad guys as well.

Despite all the guest stars and extra abilities, though, the action gets really repetitive. Those Allies' power-ups are canned animations that play over the game screen, and don't really interact with the action in the actual game, which winds up making them feel cheap. Also, the sound design is jarringly patchy, and it'll pull you out of the game to hear the characters' dialogue drop in so awkwardly. Add in the annoying autosave that prompts you every single time to save your progress, and it's clear that there wasn't enough time to polish this PSP effort. Only the most die-hard Marvel fanatic should even bother with this handheld Spidey adventure.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.