Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Review

I love Spider-Man. I love Venom. When I was a lad the centerpiece of my comic collection was Amazing Spider-Man #300. With that in mind I am very sad to say technical issues and poor game design weigh this title down.

The first problem lies in the controls. You’re given a lock-on function to help direct Spider-Man’s unwieldy distance attacks, but it never seems to lock on to the target you want. In nearly every instance that I came upon a horde of enemies my area of effect attack was directed on one of the edge baddies, not the one in the center which would be the most effective.

As the game begins to get serious you’ll find yourself saddled with frequent escort and/or defense missions. Unfortunately your ally AI seems fairly underpowered. They try to alleviate the issue by allowing you to call upon other super-heroes to help you out, but they’re generally useless at threat assessment and thus focus their attacks on the closest enemies. You are given the option to baby sit them, but I found myself preoccupied with my own fight.

Boss fights often conclude with quick time events. It’s been so long since I’ve seen QTEs done right I’ve nearly forgotten why they are so prevalent to begin with. With Web of Shadows you’ll find a loose association with the button’s assigned function and what Spidey does during these events. Since Treyarch was aiming to show his speed and agility you might feel there is not enough time to hit the correct button in some sequences – yet they felt conscious enough of the issue that a few of the warnings hang on screen longer than it should before accepting input.

The theme of the game’s story is Spider-Man’s struggle with morality. They chose to express that struggle by interrupting a cut-scene with a binary option. I’m not quite sure why you’d choose one over the other, it doesn’t seem to directly impact game play. The extra animation/voice work seems like money that could have been put toward polishing the various glitches.

Finally: the camera. I haven’t wrestled with a camera this much on any other game this generation. When you’re swinging along it works just fine, but God help you if the auto target selects an enemy other than the one you’re looking at. In some cases (specifically on high buildings and low ground) the camera will switch between all the way up and all the way down, with no in between. A more common way to cause the camera to spaz out is to fight on a wall near a corner and the ground. I almost enjoyed this glitch, as it gives you something more akin to the web slinger’s perspective, but if it were to happen for more than a few seconds I’m sure I’d puke.

Skip it: I cannot in good faith recommend casual Spider-Man fans grab this.

Rent it: If you still read the comics regularly and have purchased other Activision Web Head games, take a hint and try this one first.

Buy it: If you love Spider-Man and have a high tolerance to bugs, escort missions, and QTEs.