Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Xbox 360)

Web swinging and combat are tied in to the same systems, so the animation and the controls are near-flawlessly implemented with the lock on system. Tap left trigger and you’ll target the nearest enemy, right stick flicking will change targets and Spider-Man will automatically lock onto the nearest enemy when one has been defeated. Holding down the left trigger engages Spidey’s Spider Sense and he’ll be able to see enemies using that. It’s the combat that elevates Web of Shadows to the next level, I’ve seen some people complain about the system but I haven’t had any problems with it. I’m reminded in many ways of Assassin’s Creed with this game and the amount of critical acclaim that title raked in regardless of the flaws and repetitious nature.

Web of Shadows combat is simple enough, you have a decent array of combat moves and combos but the true star of the show is the fact that you can switch at will between both Spider-Man’s iconic regular costume (good guy) and his Symbiote costume (bad guy) with a click of the left stick. As you battle bad guys in Web of Shadows and do missions (similar in many ways to Altair’s side-missions in Assassin’s Creed) you’ll gain experience (XP) that can be spent on various upgrades to your fighting arsenal. Both costumes have their own unique moves that can be purchased and upgraded at any time, evolving your own Spider-Man skill-set as you play the game how you want.

One of the key points to the combat system is that it can take place anywhere, and it’s pretty seamless. You’ll encounter enemies on walls, so you can battle on walls, leap off, web-swing, and kick an enemy who has been catapulted into the air and so on. You can learn web-striking, a neat set of chain-attacks that allows Spider-Man to effortlessly bounce from one enemy to the next with the correct timing and understanding of the system. So in essence you can combine air based combat, with wall and ground and flow between them in a few simple moves. Once you’ve mastered this system it makes beating on the bad guys a lot of fun.

As you battle around New York in free-roaming escapades and core story missions, you’ll collect allies (heroes and villains) that can be summoned in to help you using Spider-Man’s special meter. You’ll be able to save (or ignore) the helpless citizens of New York as you fight the ever-increasing threat of this new and darker world. You will begin to evolve Spider-Man as a hero or as a villain, playing the game as you want, switching between red and black suits at will and gathering heroic points or black (evil) points from your deeds.

The citizens aren’t just eye candy, they can (and will) get hurt if you become a rampaging force of destruction. If you can live with that then you will find that you’ll head down the Black Path in the game and influence the story and ending towards the darker side of life. There are various choices throughout the game that can influence that alignment more, but I’m not going to explain what they are. You’ll see a darker and more dangerous Spider-Man as you play the bad guy, growing more and more reckless with the lives of others for instance. Trying to play the hero is a lot harder.

Yet both sides of the story bring their own rewards and the game is fun to play as you flip-flop between suits putting the beatdown on the various enemies. The major flaw here stems from the fact that unless you like repeatedly brawling with bad guys as you free-roam around New York, rescuing those who get caught in the crossfire, there’s very little to do apart from that it seems. It’s a welcome change for me since I was bored with the old formula but I can see where some people might want to get their teeth into a little more than just a web-swinging beat-em-up.