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Spider-Man Web of ShadowsBy Jim Webb - 03-05-09 Print  EmailDeveloped by Treyarch with Shaba Games and published by Activision, Web of Shadows puts you in the role of the famed web crawler as he battles the myriad of common and new enemies as well as himself in an internal struggle to keep the symbiotic black suit from taking over his mind and body. You take control of Peter Parker's alter ego who has been infected with a symbiote - the source of the Black Suit. The symbiote quickly spreads across the city engulfing the citizens, the good guys and even the bad guys. You will have to choose between using the standard Red Suit or the symbiotic Black Suit. The decisions you make will alter the story line and character reactions. The Wii seems as though it was almost designed with the perfect Spider-Man game mechanics in mind. While not exactly true, Treyarch does a fine job at taking advantage of the systems gesture enabled features to dole out some very natural and intuitive game controls. A web shot is just a Wii shake away. At first you'll want to dive into the role and make broad sweeping gestures as though you were really Spider-Man shooting substantial strands of silk at several solid surfaces.....sorry. Rather you'll learn quickly that small flicks in a down forward motion will achieve the desired results with less tendinitis. However, be prepared to repeat certain events a few times because the motion detection didn't quite detect your frantic downward gesture during one of the few dreaded quick time events. The fighting largely consists of marathon B button bashing with some sideways Wii remote jerking that might be mistaken for Tourettes syndrome if you didn't have a Wii remote in hand. Other actions include a seldom used blocking option and the also mostly forgotten until you have a boss fight special attacks. Combat isn't limited to the ground as fights move from the streets of Manhattan to the sometimes disorienting sides of buildings in Manhattan to the skies of Manhattan. And by the way, Treyarch and Shaba did a really nice job recreating about 20 square miles worth of Manhattan. Though not exactly to scale it does come with it's own Roosevelt Island which you can only look at but can't touch thanks to an invisible wall in the middle of the East River. While on the subject of Manhattan, the buildings themselves look really nice up close but lose sole level of detail in the distance. Not so much that it look bad but the texture and some polygon pop in makes you wish they pushed the Wii a little more. Few people seem to inhabit this virtual Manhattan as pedestrians and cars are rather sparse but that's probably more to do with keeping them from being an obstacle while playing than any intentional limitations due to the Wii's moderate horsepower. Character models are serviceable though the enemy designs could have been more varied. Cut scenes are handled by playing video culled from the HD versions in-game cut scenes. This is similar to how Capcom played video of the Gamecube in-game cut scenes for the PS2 build of Resident Evil 4. The only difference is that didn't stutter like a poor quality film transfer like with Web of Shadows. The game sounds great. Spider-man is convincingly voiced by video game voice over veteran Mike Vaughn. The remaining voice cast fit their voices equally as well. No one sounded out of place or didn't match the face of their character. The Jamie Christopherson of Soundelux Design Music Group have provided a quality soundtrack that brings the musical tension when needed yet backs off when nicely when you're cruising through the air high above and hear only the whoosh of wind. Replay value is limited to running through the game again but choosing suit options you didn't the first time around. Web of Shadows is single player only with no other play modes than the basic story mode. Treyarch and Shaba have pulled off a game that isn't stellar but is definitely enjoyable. The somewhat open world gives you plenty of free time to swing around Manhattan, beat up thugs, throw a few cars, and just casually mess around the city until you're ready for the next mission. The move at your own pace breaks up the action when you want it or keeps it coming at you if you need it. Good, bad...he's the guy with the webs. Ratings |
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