"Now really, this is not the time or place for this..."
The game has an open-world feel to it, with crimes and all kinds of madness such as symbiotes attacking civilians and other inconveniences which are spread throughout the city for you to tackle to your heart's content. Just swing over to the area and before you know it you'll be pounding on some baddies and saving the day as only Spiderman knows how. The combat has been given some serious thought in this iteration, and it shows; there are a variety of melee attacks that you can use to begin with, and as you defeat baddies and progress through the game, you'll earn the ability to unlock more combos and different types of attacks that can then be used to take out your foes.
Your standard hand-to-hand moves aren't the only weapons at your disposal, obviously; you can shoot webs at your enemies to keep them stuck in one spot, leaving them vulnerable for more punishment, but more impressive was the air-based combat that they've incorporated seamlessly into the experience. Leaping into the air and simply tapping a button causes Spiderman to shoot a web at a targeted enemy, before latching on and pulling himself in for an attack such as a kick to the head, which then leaves you in the air and ready to latch on to the next targeted foe in a similar fashion. This effectively means that if you keep attacking successfully without being blocked, you can actually keep yourself off the ground at all times during combat, constantly diving in from above to damage those around you. It feels cool and is easy to pull off, and variations on this formula are added as you move on and upgrade that particular skill.
Time to be a team player, perhaps?
Easily the most interesting addition to the gameplay here is that at any given time, you can transform from the red suit Spiderman into the black suit symbiotic Spiderman with the click of a button. Of course it's not only cosmetic; the dark Spiderman comes with some darker moves, such as the ability to use a tentacle-like attachment to grab foes and slam them hard into the concrete, or our personal favourite, latch onto them, put them face first on the pavement and then ride them like a scooter into a nearby wall. It's not overly graphic (like you'd normally expect a face being pushed into pavement to be), but the attack itself is an indescribable awesome, and lends itself well to the fact that the dark Spidey does things in a different and more 'evil' way. This will affect the storyline as well, where at many given points you'll have the option to do the 'Good' thing, which may be turning a villain into the police, or the 'Bad' thing, such as taking justice into your own hands and taking a life.
If that wasn't enough to keep you on your toes, it's important to mention that all the combat won't be happening on the ground below. In Web of Shadows, Spiderman is able to not only climb tall buildings but actually run up them as well, completely ignoring the rules of gravity. This means that some battles with enemies will actually take place on a 90 degree angle as you battle them literally on the side of a building, which we were surprised about and also a little bit concerned. While the idea is nice, the reality of it is a little bit dizzying, as the camera tries its hardest to keep perspective on the oddly-angled action and you're forced to deal with an odd sense of vertigo and discomfort as you try to find your bearings. The focus on this particular 'side-of-the-building' combat didn't seem to be overkill, which is a good thing considering we think too much time spent looking at the world upside-down could be detrimental to our brains and our short tempers.
"Don't look down... don't look down... don't look down..."
All in all though, Spiderman: Web of Shadows seems to be coming together quite nicely so far. It's an entirely new Spiderman tale for gamers that is based on some of the old comic books, so they've been given a bit more freedom in terms of where they want to take the narrative. Wolverine makes an appearance in the game to fight by your side which is something groovy for the Marvel addicts out there (and we know you're out there), and the combat is much more enjoyable than it looks, if not a little bit repetitive; we're assured that the decisions made throughout the game will effect the resulting narrative in some way, so if they can just keep things from getting monotonous over long periods, this could be a nice title to pick up and play if you're looking for a new superhero game this coming Christmas period.
Loading...
