Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man hasn’t been so friendly in recent years. There’s no need to point fingers or cast blame, but let’s face it: Spidey has been kind of sucking just a little bit. Activision is looking to change the wall-crawling hero’s fortunes in the realm of video games at least with the upcoming Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. We recently got some hands-on time with the game, which is currently scheduled for release this Fall on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles (other platforms will be serviced as well, with different versions of course), and were generally impressed with the tweaks to the open-world/RPG-lite formula which was established during the previous console cycle with the release of Spider-Man II.
Click through for the goods.
A City Overrun in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Web of Shadows exists outside of the ongoing film and comic book chronologies, with a story penned by Marvel scribe Brian Reed. In addition to the writing he’s done for Marvel – on New Avengers: Illuminati, Spider-Woman: Origin and others – Reed was also the cinematics writer for Pandemic’s upcoming Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and the co-writer/lead designer on Treyarch’s own Ultimate Spider-Man.
All seems normal in the Big Apple when the story in Web of Shadows opens. Non-superpowered citizens go through their day, unaware of the forces in the process of aligning against them. The playground looks just like it always has at first: an urban jungle of concrete-and-glass skyscrapers teeming with life. As the story progresses, an alien symbiote – you know, the same critter which gave Spidey his black suit – reveals itself as an ever-growing threat, eventually resulting in a city-wide epidemic of catastrophic proportions.
As Manhattan Island goes to hell, S.H.I.E.L.D. is called in to evacuate survivors to their Helicarrier while the local heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe do their best to aid in the evacuation, survive or simply spin the situation to their advantage. Spidey may be the only playable character, but he’ll run into a variety of super-powered beings – heroes and villains – many of whom can be turned into allies.
Those who are familiar with the previous Spider-Man games will instantly recognize with the basic makeup of the game. Spidey has free run of a completely open Manhattan Island. The story is advanced by approaching checkpoint markers scattered throughout the city, locations where Spider-Man can pick up missions. Heroes and villains will both serve as quest-givers, though expect to also find any number of the usual additional sideline activities, such as randomly appearing common criminals and collectibles.
Superhuman Crimefighting Reborn in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Spider-Man has intimate knowledge of the alien symbiote, having hosted one himself in the past. Although he won’t start the game with the infection, he will eventually gain access to his black suit abilities as the story progresses. Switching between suits – the speed-focused, web-shooting red one or the power-focused, tendril-extending black one – is as simple as clicking down on the right analog stick.
Treyarch brought in some help for Web of Shadows in the form of Shaba Games, a developer whose past work has focused on extreme sports titles: Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 Remix and more. Shaba’s influence is acutely felt in Web of Shadows’ revamped combat system, which is designed to highlight the wall-crawler’s enhanced agility. Spidey feels considerably more like his silver screen counterpart than he has in past games, now able to run along walls indefinitely, switch between targets on the fly and stylishly string together combos which capitalize on the strengths of both suits.
The key to this seems to be a handy slow-motion feature which automatically kicks in whenever Spider-Man initiates a web strike combo. Attack effectiveness is based on timed button presses; tap Y (on an Xbox 360 gamepad) while in the air to initiate a web strike. Time slows down as Spidey shoots out a web and zooms in towards his opponent; pressing any of the attack buttons at the proper moment results in a satisfying combo attack. These attacks can then be strung together by initiating another web strike before Spidey hits the ground.
As the game progresses and the competition grows stiffer, enemies become more capable of rebuffing Spider-Man’s attacks. Whenever an enemy is going to block after a web strike is initiated, an explosion of white-colored particles emanates from the target. This is a visual indicator of our hero’s “Spidey Sense” tingling. Pressing A cancels any strike in progress, leaving Spidey free to attack again.
All of this comes together with a flick targeting mechanic which is managed by the right analog stick. Pressing down on the L trigger allows Spidey to use his sixth sense as a sort of radar, highlighting all enemies and friendlies in the vicinity with different-colored outlines. Tapping the same automatically targets the nearest enemy. Pressing left or right on the right analog stick then cycles through different targets, even those not in Spidey’s direct field of view. The wall-crawler’s acrobatics are made more fluid as a result, as multiple enemies can be eliminated in a string of web strike combos.
We only wonder when or if this new combat system will become repetitive. The hands-off portion of our demo saw Web of Shadows associate producer Brian Morrison unleashing a wide variety of combos, but we were only able to muster a few basic ones during our hands-on time. If the combat system ends up being little more than a rinse, repeat process of two timed button presses, it could get old rather quickly.
Hopefully stemming off the danger of repetition is the return of an RPG-lite upgrade system. As was the case in previous games, Spidey earns experience points as he progresses. These points can be spent on ability upgrades, which are suit-specific and spread across several different attack styles. In a new twist players will also be able to sell off any purchased upgrades, though no decision has yet been made regarding whether or not these will be full-value refunds.
Our time with Web of Shadows was short, but it was enough to convince us that the series’ gameplay has finally evolved beyond the groundwork laid in Spider-Man II. Spider-Man III looked good but left us wanting and the less said about Friend or Foe the better. We’ve still got plenty of questions about the story – the latest press release mentions a branching element which is based on moral choices – and we’ll need to spend more time in combat to get a feel for how varied Spidey’s moves are, but for now Spider-Man: Web of Shadows definitely looks like it’s incorporating some of the changes that the series has so desperately needed.
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