Game Over: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

So, I’m a big Spider-Man fan, and once I started earning money, I began hunting down every Spider-Man game I missed out on when I was a kid; the first one I was eager to find was Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. Developed by the now-defunct Shaba Games, it was released on the 21st of October 2008 to mixed reception, but I wanted to see it for myself. And to summarise my thoughts after playing through both the Red Suit and Black Suit campaigns: I consider it to be the best Spider-Man game in combat and traversal, but not great at everything else.

- Dylan Pamintuan

Let me explain.

The game takes place over one week, and straight from the opening cutscene, everything has gone to hell. Seriously, that opening was stuck in the heads of many, watching Spider-Man walk past so much destruction and death while “Moonlight Sonata” plays. It really sets the tone of the game. The story is that Venom was trying to kill Spider-Man one day when Peter was able to get a copy of the symbiote and have the black suit. Upon discovering that he could spawn more symbiotes, it only takes a few days before New York turns into a symbiote-infested hellhole, and it’s up to Spider-Man to save the day. Now, as much as I praise the opening, the rest of the story isn’t all that great. This was the first time New York got quarantined in a Spider-Man game, which will get repeated in The Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man, and the voice direction and writing obviously needed improvement, especially given its main selling point.