Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Review

Venom is no longer satisfied with eating human brains. His latest ploy is to turn the citizens of New York City into his followers. His methodology? Infect everyone with a symbiote strand. The thought of battling an entire city of Venoms is certainly exciting, but Web of Shadows dances around this conflict. If not for an energetic third act, the game would be a total snooze-fest.

In the first two acts, players are tasked with completing missions for Luke Cage, Black Cat, and in a twist, Kingpin. Since the game doesn't offer any interior-based gameplay, every fight takes place on the streets of New York City. Most of these brawls are against gangs or guards in powered armor. The catch with these fights is Treyarch has developed new gameplay mechanics that take the fights to the sky and onto the vertical walls of buildings. The combat mechanics are extremely fluid, allowing players to transition from sky to ground to building with ease. You can also switch costumes at any point to access another set of moves. Combo strings can reach into the hundreds, and the arsenal of attacks (which grows as you cash in experience points) is acrobatic and fun to exercise. Unfortunately, the game wastes these skills with the lack of variety in its fights. They all end up being short bouts against small groupings of enemies in ordinary city streets.

As amazing as the web-swinging mechanic is, it's used primarily to get players from one mission to the next or to scour the city for hundreds of hidden tokens (ugh). The only interesting moments in the first two acts revolve around the player's choice to be good or evil. Your choice affects the story and the companions you have available to assist in a fight.

The first two acts made me yawn to the beat of the soundtrack. The third act, however, is quite good. In this final stage, New York City gets a makeover. Venom's grasp over the citizens has transitioned to the city's architecture, making for an amazing spectacle. At this point, the symbiote threat is significant, and the random missions that are introduced showcase much needed variety. In this act, the boss battles, which are mostly against Symbiotic versions of the characters in the game, are nicely designed, and offer some shocking payoffs. In fact, comic fans should check this game out just to see how an evil Spider-Man finishes off the symbiote version of Wolverine. The final Venom battle is also quite an eye-opener, as Venom has taken the spirit of the city to heart.

If you don't mind playing a game for six or seven hours before getting to the good stuff, Web of Shadows eventually packs a nice little punch. However, if you want instant gratification from your games, this experience won't do much for you.