It's fair to say that Spider-Man games of late haven't exactly been inspiring representations of everyone's favourite neighbourhood wall crawler. Last year's sloppy third entry in the filmic tie-ins was passable at best, and the enormously dull, kiddyfied Spider-Man: Friend Or Foe was what most considered a character-killing travesty. No more than a year on, and Activision is returning once more to the blockbusting franchise for something - they hope - that is seen as an entirely different iteration on the web spinner.
Taking its cues not from the film world but rather the Marvel comic book universe, Treyarch is spinning an epic fable that sees New York under attack from the evil symbiotic force and arch Spidey enemy, Venom. He's figured out how to clone his suit and have it spread through the city like a plague, infecting anyone and anything in its path of oily black destruction.
Whilst Treyarch has dabbled many times before in Spider-Man's world, the team at Shaba (a joint developer on the title) are better known for their experience on extreme sports titles like Tony Hawk's Project 8 and Wakeboarding Unleashed. Shaba is hoping to harness and weave this knowledge into Web Of Shadows, crafting a never-before-seen array of movements and combat for Marvel's red and blue super-swinger.
Extreme Spider-Man "The goal for the guys at Shaba was to craft this fluidity of movement," explains Graham Fuchs, senior executive producer at Activision's worldwide studios, as I sling, swing and smash my way through Venom's symbiotic army ravaging downtown New York. "You can start chaining one attack into the next and always be in a constant state of motion."
The emphasis, from our time on the game, is not only on harnessing Spidey's huge arsenal of attacks, but also on utilising his swings in these attacks to chain new moves together. So far, the result is certainly eye-opening; Shaba has handled this aspect (and arguably the most prominent facet) of gameplay deftly.
Enemies are highlighted by way of an aura, which Spidey can lock on to in order to ensure they stay within your sights - even as you swing your way around them during bouts of fisticuffs. Like the previous Spider-Man games, you can web enemies, yank them towards you, dole out some knuckle sambos and mix it up with all sorts of slick air and ground combos.
"The whole goal with Web Of Shadows' combat system was to create, what our lead designer calls, the most 3D combat ever. We wanted you to be able to fight like you fight in the movies, so you could, for example, fight a guy on the side of a building, knock him off into the air and fight him all the way down," muses Fuchs on the versatile violence.
But the best is yet to come for the webbed wonder: the black suit. Yes, I know you could play as a black-suited Spider-Man in Spider-Man 3, but Shaba and co have taken this slick element from the previous game and gone one step further.
Now you can switch costumes on the fly during the game, for maximum comic book carnage. Donning this suit gives you the requisite power injection for picking up and launching cars at enemies, and latching onto fire hydrants with your tendrils and hurling them at super-villains. It now comes, however, with some sinister ramifications.
Black and blue Like a good cop/bad cop mantra, wearing the black suit affects a red/black meter on the HUD that defines whether or not you're being a hero or a destructive force tearing through the city. And naturally, dressed as black Spidey makes you a formidable force with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball.
And with the ability to chain huge combos together through switching from costume to costume when you lay the smackdown on enemies, the possibilities for rip-roaring mash-ups with hapless symbiotic nasties is endless.
The city folk respond to these nefarious (of sorts) actions, and other Marvel heroes you encounter over the course of the game, with appropriate contempt - if you decide to eke the demolition factor just that little bit too far. So, striking a balance is ultimately important if you want to garner the best outcome at the game's finale, of which there are "a bunch" according, enlighteningly, to Fuchs.
"If you have not been behaving like a hero, that's going to be reflected in the game's ending. There are multiple endings in the game based on factors like how you've been playing and what suits you've been using," Fuchs explains a little more to me, when I probe him about the possibility of a decidedly bleak ending were I to go carnage crazy with the symbiotic suit.
Speaking of other Marvel characters, Activision has been given the vault key by the honchos at Marvel's headquarters, granting access to myriad heroes and villains including Vulture, Venom, Mary Jane and S.H.I.E.L.D. (presumably Nick Fury will surface?) and Luke Cage who I saw in action as a quest giver.
From what I gleaned with my time on the game, Spider-Man takes on quests from said characters in each different neighbourhood in the open city. There is the over-arcing storyline but, between each mission, there is a lot of freedom for you to do whatever it is you want, much like in the classic Spider-Man 2.
New York, New York "Marvel has actually been very open to the interpretation of the classic characters from the comic book," says Fuchs on the alternate takes on some of the super-villains and heroes, including the newly remodelled Vulture who has been clipped of his dorky feathered wings and replaced with slick new mechanical ones. In fact, Vulture's boss fight is a stellar example of the enhanced aerial combat Shaba and Treyarch have tacked on to this latest Spidey story.
The battle takes place on a rooftop where you whip up a brawl with lashings of web and mid-air moves, before switching to an even more kinetic fight above New York's East River. There, you have to use Vulture's own aerial weapons as leapfrogs to get to him and stay elevated by way of slick swings, web latching and multiple combos - otherwise you fall to the ground and end up as nothing more than Spider-mush.
With Prototype delayed until next year (the other superhero game that takes place in New York City, and shares an eagerness to see the place destroyed), it seems Spidey has a solid chance of reclaiming his crown of king of New York City once more.
After the stellar, free-roaming wonders of Spider-Man 2, arguably Activision's finest hour in terms of a Spider-Man game, I'm keeping my fingers crossed this is going to live up to the legend. Fuchs is aware of the bar that's been set, and is attempting to get there with the team's PS3 enhancements.
Web of revelations But, just as I put the question of whether or not the team have been watching Prototype's development and obvious delay in the headlines, Fuchs grins and offers up this: "Well, we were there first." They certainly were, and I'm intrigued to see how this one turns out because, like the rest of the massive and (rabid) Marvel fanbase, I'm still looking for a Spider-Man game that captures the essence of the sprawling and elaborate universe of the comic book.
Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows is ultimately hoping to change all that - to step well away from the hit-and-miss film licences that have come before it. And when the time comes, you won't find Toby Maguire or Kirsten Dunst stepping into the microphone booth for voiceover sessions. Nope, they're not interested.
Acting duties, says Fuchs, will fall to the "best possible candidates". That can only be a good thing if the developer is looking to keep the distance between this and the movie - as well as putting more money into where it should go - making the game rather than lining the pockets of Hollywood A-listers.
With Web Of Shadows pencilled in for release later in the year, there is still plenty of time to tweak and polish, to make those all-important new character reveals (see the boxout on page 24) and, hopefully, surprise us comic book geeks with some tantalising revelations as to what might be in store for the wall crawler.
By ditching the movie links and focusing on the comics' richer cast there's a hope Web Of Shadows could be that rare thing, a great Spider-Man game. So far, the signs are good.
The day that I can swing through an office block window, wink at the receptionist, grab a cup of tea and jump out again, all to the beats of some 90's happy house, will be the day that I buy another Spiderman game.
The day that I can swing through an office block window, wink at the receptionist, grab a cup of tea and jump out again, all to the beats of some 90's happy house, will be the day that I buy another Spiderman game.
Not too much to ask, is it?
Does Spidey drink tea? I agree though, the spiderman games have been a bit lame so far- though web-slinging through the city is great fun- the combat was dire! T'was almost as bad as the Spiderman 3 movie itself! However, as a huge fan of the character, I'll reserve judgement on this one- I'm hoping after all the games Activision have made featuring Spidey, they might have learnt what works and what doesn't.
But 'Web of Shadows' is an awful name- was that plucked straight from the comics?
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