Back in 1962, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko introduced a new kind of superhero into the burgeoning comic book industry. This teenager was carrying the burden that many teens had, only to have those compounded when he was bit by a radioactive spider and had spider DNA grafted to his own.

It might have been thought of as a risk, but as history has proven, the Wall-crawler has enjoyed incredible success and been embraced by an adoring fan base. He has been front and center in comic books, television series, movies and video games. In regards to the latter, there have been some that have been wonderful and some that were merely so-so (and even a few that were not very good at all).

Activision has been the video-game home for Spidey for a while now (brownie points to anyone who can name the first video-game featuring Spider-man – the answer will come at the end) and several developers have taken a crack and bringing all the action of Spider-man’s universe to the video-game industry. Shaba Games is the latest, teaming up with Treyarch for the Web of Shadows adventure. Shaba, for those who may not know, was the developer behind Tony Hawk Project 8, Wakeboarding Unleashed with Shawn Murray, Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX and Shrek Super Slam. The team knows a thing or two about dynamic action, and has brought that experience to WoS, creating a game in which Spidey can web-sling across the city with a freedom that is refreshing and, at times, in utter disdain of modern-world physics that say there is an up, a down, a diagonal, or whatever sense we use to fixate on the planet beneath our feet.

With a free-roving camera that has a lock-on to fix on the target regardless of Spidey’s relative position to that target, the game can become a dizzying affair.

But let’s back track just a bit to the story driving the adventure. The original story starts with Spider-man battling an army of symbiotes that are grabbing citizens off the streets, dumping them into pods and amassing an increasingly larger force. As the game opens up, in what is tantamount to the first steps to familiarize the player with the controls, Spidey is battling symbiotes while looking for his beloved Mary Jane Watson. As it comes to a crux, Mary Jane realizes that Spidey has access to the black “Venom” suit, though Peter tries desperately to explain that it’s not the same suit that controlled him before, that it is different somehow.

Freeze that thought, store it and revisit it later because the game immediately drops players back to four days prior, when Spidey was relieving New York of its street gang infestation with the help of some heroes. This is the first interaction with the bevy of super heroes and super villains that will continue to play a role in the game, and it also sets the choices for Spidey to make some choices that can affect the gameplay. As the game starts, with Spidey web-slinging his way through the streets of New York, the citizens will mostly applaud him and be excited by his presence. Some will turn and run, using commonsense – after all, if Spidey is around, trouble must be nearby as well. Spidey’s first interaction is with Luke Cage, who offers some combat tutorials. Next up is Black Cat, who implores Spidey to partner with her. Her lips might be persuasive, but if Spidey is true to Mary Jane, he will turn her down. However disappointed Black Cat might be she is still available to aid Spidey if he is wearing the black suit. In fact, any villain will come to the Web-head’s aid if he is wearing the black suit – even though he is not inherently evil by donning it. Conversely, the stable of good guys will aid Spidey at the touch of the D-pad if he is in the classic red and blue costume.

There is a bit of a problem, though, with the way players change out the costumes. It is tied to the L3 button (depressing the left thumbstick) and if you are a little too eager in moving the button forward to guide Spidey along, you can inadvertently change costumes. The difference between the two is relatively easy to determine – the red and blue relies on the Web-crawler’s agility and speed while the black costume contains more power and will allow Spidey to pick up cars and toss them around. Both suits have definite purposes during the course of the game’s adventure.

The game ramps up the challenge nicely. You begin by battling street thugs, then Kingpin gets involved with bigger and badder mech units, and then … well, you will have to jump in and find out for yourself. You already know the game gets to the symbiote invasion, but there are some nice steps in getting to that point, with some classic villains and heroes showing up.

Web of Shadows also does a very nice job with the mission threads. There are the main missions that offer a variety of combat elements, from battles with large mechs that features God of War finishing moves timed to hot button inputs, to bomb retrieval, to timed chases. There are also quite a large number of optional side missions that prove entertaining. Taking on some of them allows the player to roam the city and level up Spidey. As you fight, you gain experience points, which can be used to buy new skills – which is handled like many Marvel games before with skill trees you can climb to customize Spidey’s fighting abilities. Some are eerily similar to others, and many are divided between the two Spidey suits. Leveling up also increases health reserves. Because the game autosaves, if you do lose a battle, the game just resets, and usually at the battle’s beginning.

The gameplay mechanics are well done, for the most part, though there are occasionally problems with camera angles getting locked down in one view instead of the follow cam, and wall crawling can miss at times. You are supposed to be able to front a wall and “push” against it to start crawling. This worked the vast majority of the time, but on a few occasions it didn’t and Spidey would run about or jump about to finally get a lock on the wall to begin to scale it.

Graphically the game runs at 720p, and looks very good. The animations are strong. There are some minor jagged edges in some areas (the first is notable when Black Cat appears – and this was on a Sony 42-inch Bravia HDTV). The sound features a voice actor that sounds a bit like Tobey McGuire, and the other voices are done well. There is a bit of repetition in the dialogue, but it’s not too bad. The musical score is solid and drives the adventure nicely.

Web of Shadows is a fun adventure featuring entertaining combat elements and a great cast. Sure, there are a few stumbles, but the game is fun and looks good, which is the bottom line. Spidey fans, as well as Marvel fans, should enjoy this one.

Answer to the trivia question in the third paragraph: Spidey appeared in a text adventure game in 1978 called Questprobe #2 Spider-Man. An updated version of the game was released in 1984 and a Spider-Man title appeared on the Atari 2600 in 1982.

Gameplay: 8.4
The camera can get tied up, but this is rare; there is also the occasional problem with sticking to a wall to climb it. The controls are not hard to learn to use, and while there are several cut scenes, the load times between game events is not that bad. On the downside, should you fail a mission, you may have to endure the entire cut scene all over.

Graphics: 8.5
Solid animation, a huge map to play on and lush costume colors make this a nice visual treat.

Sound: 7.8
Decent sound work in the voice department and the musical score is solid.  

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.1
An original story that could have been culled from the Spider-man universe easily. This game does have a nice ramp-up quality with a story that evolves as the action heats up.

Overall: 8.3
Good story, solid action, wonderful graphical elements and great combat all make up for a game that is entertaining. Spider-man fans should enjoy this one.