Spider-Man: Web of Shadows First Look Preview

Unlike most licensed games, Spider-Man titles aren’t always steaming piles of virtual dog dung so stinking that even flies can’t bring themselves to touch them. The last one, November 2007’s Friend or Foe, got a desperate 5/10 from Tom. But then May 2007’s Spider-Man 3, the game of the rather disappointing film, scored a good 7/10 from VideoGamer.com’s fearless leader. 2005’s Ultimate Spider-Man, based on comic-book Spidey, got another 7/10. 2004’s Spider-Man 2, again the game of the rather disappointing film, faired less better, but it still managed a solid 6/10.

So it’s not fair to say that Spider-Man games are guaranteed dribble, as most licensed games are. There’s some quality virtual web slinging to be found out there. The question is, will Web of Shadows, the latest Spider-Man game in the long, long, long list of Spider-Man games, due out at the end of the month, be a steaming pile of virtual dog dung, or, er, not a steaming pile of virtual dog dung?

Early indications are positive, as a trip down to a London hotel to see the Activision-published game, and chat with associate producer Brian Morrison, proved. In Web of Shadows, which is based on comic-book Spidey (classic cloth suit) and not Sam Raimi Spidey (raised webbing suit), the hook is that the story is open for discussion, rather than rigidly linear – a first for a Spider-Man game. To this end there will be multiple endings, all dependent on decisions players make and the way they play. It boils down to two, clearly defined options, both intertwined with the very fabric of the suits Spider-Man wears. Think like the good-natured red-suited Spider-Man and you’ll get a different ending to the one you’ll get if you think like the more aggressive-natured black-suited Spider-Man.

The story, by Marvel writer Brian Reed, who was also the designer on Ultimate Spider-Man, is a completely original one and doesn’t follow any specific contemporary Marvel storyline. Turns out Venom has returned to New York with an army of symbiotes which he hopes to use to take over the world. Our time with the game began before the invasion is clearly understood, and is instead considered more of a spreading infection. Symbiote pods have captured certain pedestrians and started to transform them into rabid zombies. Spider-Man notices there’s something not quite right – not surprising given that he’s being attacked by people who are crawling on the sides of buildings. From there you’ll meet up with other classic Marvel characters and try and work out just what the hell is going on.

During this time anti-super bad guy agency S.H.I.E.L.D comes in and sets up a perimeter around New York in an effort to contain the symbiote threat. Spider-Man, Wolverine, Vulture, Black Cat and more Marvel characters are captured inside New York. S.H.I.E.L.D will play almost like a faction of their own – it doesn’t care about the collateral damage of having super powered heroes and villains captured inside New York. Spider-Man meets with S.H.I.E.L.D and offers his services, as you’d expect him to. From there it’s up to the player to decide whether to save the city using the red-suit or the corrupting black-suit. At key points you’ll choose whether or not you want to follow a black-suit path or a red-suit path as you work through the game. That will change the missions you have to do as well as the storyline itself. It’s the age old ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ thing.

So, the non-linear story is the headline change. But it’s not the only one. The core combat has been revamped by Activision-owned lead developer Shaba Games (various Tony Hawk games), which has taken over primary Spider-Man duties from Call of Duty: World at War developer Treyarch. Spider-Man is now able to fight and run on the walls of the open world New York City as well as in the air and on the ground. As you’d expect, red-suited Spider-man’s attacks, which include ranged web projectile strikes, are completely different to black-suit Spider-Man’s attack, which are more melee based and aggressive.

The combat will often play out like this: use left trigger to lock on to a bad guy then use the Y button (on the Xbox 360, the version tested) to start a Web Strike, which pulls you towards the enemy. Then with a timed attack you’ll strike right when you get on top of the threat. There are main hit attacks as well as throws, which allow you to combo and chain moves together. Your streak will display at the top right of the screen – the higher it goes the more experience you’ll get. Coolest of all, you’ll be able to switch mid-combo to black-suit and start doing black-suit attacks. In a way it’s like nailing tricks. Shaba’s new combat system has clearly been influenced by its work on the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games.

You’ll be rewarded differently for the kind of attack you do, too. Pick up a car as black-suit Spider-Man, with terrified driver inside, and chuck it at a soon to be pulverised bad guy and you’ll be rewarded with a certain number of black experience points which contribute to the RPG-lite levelling up system. The quests or objectives you take on, as well as general actions you perform in either suit, will all feed into your experience – used as currency to upgrade your abilities and control how you want to spec out Spider-Man.

But it’s what Shaba has done with the camera which is of most interest to us. The combat is tracked by the camera, so if Spider-Man moves to walk on a building wall the camera will pitch automatically and adjust. Don’t think walking on walls will help you escape bad guys, either. A new collision mesh system lets the AI follow Spider-Man on any of the buildings. If the threat has the ability to walk on walls it will – a creepy sight, especially when it’s the symbiote-infested zombie people of New York baying for Spidey’s blood. The boss fight with Vulture, which will take place in the air, forces Spider-Man to do attacks in the air just to stay with him and is a good example of this. During the battles you’re not in an enclosed arena, so you can turn off the lock on Vulture and swing to a building. Vulture will then path towards you to attack you, making the fight break out across the open environment.

Spider-Man’s appeal continues to know no bounds. It’s still the most successful superhero video game franchise of all time and Web of Shadows looks like continuing that phenomenal success. It’s got the GTA open world gameplay we’ve come to expect from the series, the classic web-slinging locomotion mechanic Spider-Man uses to get around and a surprisingly impressive graphical quality that’s sure to impress more hardcore gamers. But Morrison reckons the new combat and non-linear story make it “the best Spider-Man game we’ve ever made”. He says the web swinging is a hybrid of all the best locomotion elements Activision has decided work, and this coupled with the new Web Strike combat and the open-ended story make that bold claim not as hyperbolic as it at first sounds. With the game out at the end of the month, would-be web slingers don’t have long to find out for themselves.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is due out for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC, Nintendo DS and PSP on October 24.