Review of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

This is the first time I've played a full one of these. I tried a demo of the original of them, and one narrated by Stan Lee, and that's it. This is free-roam, like the Grand Theft Auto games. You can go anywhere(except inside any structures) in New York(almost), and you can earn XP(for upgrading, unlocking new combat abilities) by taking out a number(that resets and increases whenever you reach it) of whatever type of group you've worked your way up to(starting with gangsters), saving civilians(pick 'em up, take them to a hospital) and the like, and your allies will give you missions(for some reason, they remain in place... this works better in GTA, because those who give you orders are higher up the chain of command, and don't go out themselves anymore), and, early on, train you(isn't it weird how other people always know more about your skills in these than you, yourself, do?). It really does have you feeling like you're swinging through the city(the horizon is well-done, and you can see fairly far; graphics and animations are smooth and well-done), and the fact that you trigger a new web-line by doing a downwards movement with the Wii-Mote makes it very immersive(you can also hold down C to do a Web Zip, that will swiftly send you... well, not always forward, you don't choose the direction, making it less dependable, still, it can be useful, even necessary). Doing one to the left or right will start a Web Strike, where you draw yourself to the enemy "tagged" by the web, and after attacking that one, you can go to the next one(you'll need to learn this, and I wish they had made it clearer how the timing is meant to work out, like the Speed Kills of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones). Flicking the Nun-Chuk up or down will toggle the useful Target Lock(though going back and forth in it between the nearby foes is *not* something you're going to have time to), and left or right will switch between the two suits... in other words, for both of those, you will inevitably do them inadvertently. They should have been assigned buttons. You can climb any surface(and as with any other game that allows that, not everything is smart to attempt to crawl on), but attaching yourself(unless you can and do use the WZ) can be a little troublesome. It'll also often send you running around the sides for no reason. The camera can be such a pain in the ass that I thought I was at the proctologist. With that said, it can be immensely helpful. There is nice freedom to the fighting, and yes, you can, indeed, engage in it on the ground, on a wall, or in the air. In the last two you don't have many options(especially not early on), and I question the point of combos(that this, to its credit, never forces you to use) that, I kid you not, are *weaker* than the regular blows. I wish I was joking. Over and over, I was reusing the first three punches, before it gets into the useless faster ones that even push the opponent away(why would you want that? It will never kill them, and now you have to get into the position where you can hit them), and when you stop whaling on them... yeah, that gives them an opening. Dodging is good. Yes, you can switch back and forth between the two costumes(by the way, getting the extra six ones constitute the *only* replay value in this... you can't even continue after you've completed it, other than to do the last bit again) whenever you want, and they have distinct and unique styles of dispatching others, and are memorable and enjoyable to use. One has to wonder why, other than the coolness factor, since it doesn't have you decide between the sides, like you do(by your actions, as this claims to) in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. And yes, you can choose a path; however, every decision is Good(tm) or Evil(tm). No ambiguity. And this, too, has no impact(almost, other than changing what happens a little). Why bother implementing it? It's not like in Splinter Cell: Double Agent, where both options are potentially negative, weighing a sure thing against a possibility, and such(and where you have to serve two masters). If they're not going to have you stick to it, and have any consequences to them, it's pure wish fulfilment and escapism. Neither make for compelling story-telling. Is this medium losing its boldness? Jedi Academy did away with having your doings along the way affect the choice. Are they getting that afraid that the players will bail? While I can speak only for myself, I'll go with trying new things and taking chances any day of the week. At its best, this is intense. A bunch of the difficulty is for the wrong reasons. Most of the boss encounters are tests of endurance(especially physical) and patience, rather than of talent, and the last is probably the easiest of them all. You heal over time, so if you need a boost in that area, you have to avoid those that go after you for a while. That's as meandering as it sounds. The plot is OK, and the symbiote invasion does come off decently, with occasional awe-inspiring moments. There is nice cleverness to our titular hero's "material", his puns and the like, and this mocks several of the worst clichés(then again, it doesn't steer clear of them itself). The characters are largely true to their comic book counterparts(they seem to have forgotten that Wolverine has an extremely effective sense of smell, or maybe they're intentionally suggesting that it isn't up to par to with the Spider-Sense... I call BS on that), and the voices match. Acting and dialogues are above average. Designs... maybe they didn't have that much left to offer(in that department). I recommend this to any fan of Spider-Man. 7/10