ok, I picked up Spider-man:Web of Shadows yesterday, and I've probably got about 4-5 hours play time on it now, so I thought I'd give my first impressions for anyone who's interested.

So far I'm really enjoying the game. I've been taking my time, just getting used to the control scheme. Some aspects of previous spidey games have been retained, but there are a few significant differences. Swing is still the right trigger, with a quick squeeze being web zip (same as Spider-man 3), but holding the left trigger is now your spider sense, with a quick squeeze locking the camera on a target. Since I am a spider-man junky (I tend to even enjoy the "bad" spidey games), I spent alot of time playing both Spider-man 2 and Spider-man 3, so I really miss the left trigger being a sprint button. In fact in SM:WOS there is no sprint when on the ground. When web-swinging, hitting the A button during your swing gives you a speed burst. It just takes a little getting used to, but once you do the web-slinging in this game is spot-on, really fun.

Another change in the controls from previous games is one I'm still getting used to: you now use the LB button to attach to walls and wall sprint. This was a hard adjustment for me after using the B button for so long in previous games (B button is now a web attack), and it's complicated by the fact that he doesn't always stick when you want him to. In fact, there is some downright strangeness sometimes when he contacts a wall; I've several times gone sliding up a wall on my knees. Very wierd.

My only other issues are with the camera, which in combat at times works very well, but other times is every bit as wonky and disorienting as any previous spidey game.

Now to the good. The combat is seriously fun. I've spent most of my time swinging, exploring, collecting the spider tokens (more on them in a minute), and busting up street gangs for Luke Cage. This game seems like a typical button masher at first, but as I've upgraded Spidey a bit, the moves just keep getting cooler. I don't think we'll see the same variety of combos as in Spider-man 2, but WEB makes up for it by just being a hell of a lot of fun, bouncing from enemy to enemy to enemy and on and on without touching the ground. My longest combo chain is around 70 hits, I think.

The thing that has most surprised me are the spider tokens "hidden" around the city...I use the term "hidden" loosely because they're very easy to spot. When you grab one, you can usually look around you and see 2 or 3 more just a jump and web-zip away. Collecting the tokens increases your health meter, special attack meter, and swing speed. You level up as you find them, with each successive level requiring that you find more. I am currently level 8, having collected a staggering 632 spider tokens!!! I need to get to 750 for my next level. There is an acheivement for finding half of all the collectables in the game, and since I haven't gotten it yet, I can only assume that there must be at least 1500 spider tokens to find!

Overall, if you like Spider-man, you'll like this game. Switching between the red and the black suits on the fly is great, although I'm trying to stick to the red suit more on my first run through. So far this has been loads of fun, and while the game is by no means perfect, it could be the best spidey so far.

EDIT: I finally got the "find half of all collectables" achievement when I hit 1080 spider tokens, so there are 2160 tokens total.


This message was edited by m2caldwell on Oct 27 2008.

My first impression is where's my Chrysler building mother*bleep*er? Oh and I hate the map, other than that it's pretty positive, apart from the overuse of the web strike attack which gets boring for me.

Yeah, once you get web strike, it pretty much becomes your main attack...at least as you upgrade your web strike attacks you can mix it up a bit to keep it interesting. One of my favorite things to do was to use web attack (b button, I think) on guys, coating them with webbing, then web strike and use the one that lets you sling the guy...if he's coated with web and you sling him at a wall, he'll stick to the wall and you can wail on him. It's a nice way to transition from ground combat to wall combat, and it keeps things fresher.

I'll look that attack up and give it a try, cheers for the tip. I'm still pissed off I can't find the Chrysler building though, I always go and stand on the eagles, ever since Spiderman 2

Yeah, I thought it was an odd choice not to include the Chrysler. If it's any consolation, they did put the Baxter building in, though. It's on the west side of the island, pretty much due west of the Kingpin's building. Lots of spider tokens on top of the Baxter, too.