Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (NDS, 2008)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7.5 Control-8 Challenge-7/7.5* Story-5.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5/8* Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Final boss and parts of the final area
+
Great movement options (swinging, can throw webbed enemies into each other, wall and ceiling climbing+can swing yourself up onto a platform from below it, wall jumps, can quickly attach to and pull yourself towards a nearby wall with the straight shot if in mid-air, start with a four hit attack combo, get an uppercut which lets you launch enemies into mid-air and juggle them very early+you can knock them downwards and then downwards kick attack and/or slam attack if using the black suit (can do something similar with the web in the red suit but it's harder to hit with), dodging (on the spot - not a roll/hop/backdash), can buy two alternate 4-hit combos which are also extendable and can be combined with the uppercut and mid-air attacks, can back attack during a combo, can juggle enemies against walls, web diagonally down for a roll which can then lead into a kick - no invincibility time though)
Some interesting combat moves (web kick - pull enemies towards you and kick them, mid-air snare - pull yourself towards an enemy while in mid-air, enemy kick-off - wall jump off of mid-air enemies basically, quick recovery allowing a counter attack after getting knocked down, mid-air dodge, charge attacks in the black suit, slam attack that launches hit enemies into the air so you can juggle them)
Switch between different suits on the fly (different abilities; can web an enemy with the red suit then quickly switch to the black one and use its combo attacks)
Voiced tutorial messages that don't pause gameplay
Get bonus "exp points" (basically money used to buy new combat moves) for stringing longer combos together until you fill up a meter (or being aggressive enough in general - the meter slowly drains between hits)
Can buy any move from the get go if you just save up the money for it (except for the last one for each of the two suits as well as the combo extenders for them) and you can also return moves you didn't want or are no longer using
Some alternate paths through areas
"Test upgrades" mode accessible at shops however you can't see the damage each move does
Subtitles
Some scripted scenes during gameplay (NPCs getting snatched away)
Pretty nice animation
Decent map system (3 levels of zoom though you have to find the "detailed mini-map" of an area for the max zoom level and the detailed/fully zoomed in version doesn't show adjacent rooms (it just shows your exact location and more detailed topology, not ability gates or found but uncollected items), shows explored rooms+which room you're in+save points+the next sub goal (game doesn't tell you what it is unless you press the objective button below the map))
Some destructible objects
Can move as well as pick up and throw boxes (no puzzle usage though?)
Good enemy AI in terms of following you around rooms and ganging up on you
Different (but not stronger) enemies sometimes appear while backtracking through previously visited rooms
Some hidden items and minor spatial awareness puzzles
Some pretty good bosses (second blue symbiote (flying one) though it takes a bit too long to beat, final boss besides the undodgeable attacks and how long it takes to beat)
Start with an enemy drop magnet
Fast movement
Support attacks (based on NPCs you've met: black cat (heals you), green goblin (kinda weird; bomb attack), nightcrawler - not gained if you didn't choose to help him unlike the other two; can only be used against bosses for some reason, have to wait for them to charge up while fighting the boss)
Pretty impressive sounding music (the in-game tracks are mostly kind of anonymous though)
Two different endings depending on which NPC you help (fairly subtly hinted at when picking which one to help)
Decent cutscenes (2D comic book-style artwork which is mostly still images, but also pretty well done voice narration and there's a lot of it)
No touch damage
+/-
Mostly linear structure (linear progression between areas, in-area progression is also linear in terms of the sub objectives in them, can backtrack for a few optional items in each area, can choose to help either of two NPCs at a couple of points, can enter downtown from the west early but it's pointless as you can't proceed without a new ability and the enemies are much tougher, while you can visit the hive area to the west of the residential/beginning area before exploring the rest of downtown (after becoming able to climb slime walls) you'll be faced with an empty room with locked doors blocking your from progressing further into it, linear final area)
Frequent save points (one slot per game only but can copy the save file - two different endings depending on your choices) which also serve as shops for combat moves as well as health+partial lives restoration points Can recover from death 3 times by default but after that it's game over (can gain more lives)
Partial control config (choose between six layouts)
Various forced encounters where the path forward is blocked until you beat all enemies - sometimes you can't move backwards to escape either
Dynamic camera (generally good but sometimes zooms out a bit much)
No difficulty options
Some fast travel via Nightcrawler but you have to find him (he's not marked on the map but is in the downtown area after getting the ability that lets you climb ichor/slime walls) and he teleports you without telling you where to or saying anything at all+you can't go back afterwards - feels unfinished.
Unlimited web
The range for dashing up walls with the black suit (can also do this in the red suit if you pull yourself diagonally upwards towards a wall) is rather short
Some delay before a dash triggers (see Zelda 3)
Kinda floaty jumps but can use your web to land faster in the default suit (some delay when stomping in the black suit)
Can't quickly cancel out of an attack animation by dodging
Shows boss's health bears but not enemies'
Enemy attacks tend to take priority over your stronger moves that lock you into a move like a tackle or ground slam
The advanced dodge works differently from its description - you automatically somersault backwards when using it if not pressing a direction which isn't optimal in some situations (kinda useful against the final boss except for certain attacks it does)
Some fourth wall breaking comments by your avatar (generally fine but a bit obnoxious if you stand still for 20 secs without pausing and he tells you to move)
Enemies can juggle you as well
Escape sequence after the final boss (relatively difficulty as you have no mini-map but the game auto-saves before it)
Some grinding if you want to buy all combat abilities and not return any of them
-
Some control/interface issues (can't pull yourself towards a wall or ceiling if you're standing on the ground, some tutorial messages won't go away (to show the map again) until you move far enough, the default zoom level map doesn't show your exact location and none of them show points of interest like ability gates or health upgrades plus you can't place markers on it, somewhat slow wall crawling - slowed down further because you can't shoot the web while in vents and pull yourself toward the next wall, somewhat overly tight camera when jumping, can't close the subtitles when some dialogue triggers - they cover up the map, can't grab a barrel or box while standing on top of it and can't move it by walking into a wall while standing on top of it, fal off ledges if performing combos near them, a bit annoying how in the black suit you'll dash up a wall with a door on it instead of into the door - could've been changed so that if you press up you'd go up the wall and if you press towards the door you'd go into it, pretty long default jump length when jumping off a wall, too hard to hit flying enemies with web)
Various minor dead ends early on with slime covered walls that you have to remember for later (can't climb nor web sling to these at first, also means you can't swing around that much early on). Some pointless one way paths (pier->downtown)
The game sometimes spoils minor puzzles by telling you what you need to do and where to go to do it and it's kind of annoying how it tells you to get back to the main objective after finishing a sub objective
Some trial & error (enemies in the last area blend in with the environment, some fast flier attacks from off screen and some enemies can start performing an attack while you're falling towards them from above and they're off screen, some shots from off screen, occasionally hard to quickly read the environment, hard to read the enemies if you're fighting 4+ of them at once which happens fairly often and they're good at chasing you - a spider-sense ability could've been added to make it easier to time dodges, the residential map makes it look like you can take a path near the top left when you can't until being able to walk on slime/ichor)
Have to play a stupid simple mini-game to respawn after dying, where you grab health orbs and avoid negative power ups with the stylus or your finger - while it's short it should've just not been in the game as you die rather quickly and it's annoying to switch control methods just to respawn when no other game does this)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (overly easy first boss, second boss (green super symbiote) is pretty easy in the red suit but hard in the black suit, can stunlock the third boss (blue symbiote) against a wall with repeated uppercuts and mid-air downward kicks - can mostly do this with the yellow one as well)
Too many enemies in various rooms+they're kinda spongy+chase you around+don't drop enough health - it is generally pretty easy to avoid combat but you want to collect "exp" for buying combat moves
Only up to two lives are restored at save points (meaning if you had say, 3/4 lives when reaching one then you don't regain any) and going to a different save point doesn't restore the rest. Given some parts are harder they become even harder if you have fewer lives - have to beat bosses to fully restore lives (black cat's support attack occasionally restores one life but it's not reliable)
Some pointless ability gate doors - can get around them anyway (probably meant as shortcut for later on but could've been handled more elegantly since you also can't see them on the map)
The green goblin bomb mission is kind of lame - you just fight an onslaught of enemies and then hit a button to watch a meh in-game cutscene. The second one is also kinda lame (just find the plants in the main room of the pier area (easy) and press x to have him bomb the doors blocking access to them)
Can't manually talk to NPCs such as the ones in the first building above where you start?
Most of the symbiote bosses are too similar and repetitive. Venom is a bit different but also repetitive
Most ability gates and abilities are metaphorical locked doors and keys (heavy objects in front of paths, red ichor doors, vertical red doors require yet another ability) and one just lets you use the web on the dark ichor/slime where you couldn't before while another lets you climb those surfaces
Some tedious aspects (final boss is kind of tedious - off screen earthquake attack (can't be dodged if on the ground?)+overly fast upwards vine attack which can't be dodged+can only tackle it from behind and it's harder to stun it (can only barely stun it with web which doesn't really help, can stun and juggle it only when it's near death)+can't use advanced combos because then you can't dodge his attacks+too much health, finding and destroying the four portals quest - backtracking to each area from the hive area without any fast travel (nightcrawler here which is when he would be the most useful)+there are no new enemies defending them and they aren't fun to destroy either, can't open vertical red doors from below)
No level hazards besides the enemies
The "grabbing large obstacles with web" ability is too situational and not used in an interesting way
Color swapped repeated enemies for the final area
"You found a collectible!" - feels generic
Notes:
-93% completion in 5h43m, Bad ending
Comment (from before doing the final area):
Overall, nice engine but pretty average game. You have a lot of movement options, fast movement, controls and animations are tight and the hit detection very good. The enemy AI is also good overall, these guys are very good at chasing you around even if you jump to a different platform or climb the ceiling and if you fight more than 3 at once you'll have a hard time dodging even fairly early on. But it feels like they had to rush the game in some ways because for example there are too many forced fights with tons of spongy enemies, and most bosses are too similar and repetitive. Another example: There is a weird sort of fast travel where you can find nightcrawler in one spot and he teleports you somewhere without saying anything, and you then can't go back which feels pretty unfinished.
As a way to force some touch aspects into the game, when you die you have to play a simple and easy mini-game where you grab health orbs for about 30 seconds to revive instead of just respawning like in a normal game, and up until the mid-late game when you're allowed to grab all the health upgrades you'll easily die a lot. You can increase your life count to 6 or so but you also can't restore lost lives above 2 in any other way than beating bosses, which there aren't that many of, so you can end up with some difficulty spikes if you save after losing some lives and didn't go out of your way to grab upgrades.
The game does have a decent map system and a save point system with healing and shopping for combat moves rolled into one, and you can also respec freely which is cool. You can also switch between two suits on the fly, allowing for webbing enemies and then quickly switching to perform a stronger combo. There are a couple of points where you can choose between two NPCs to help, but it doesn't seem to have much of a story effect and these side quests are pretty lame too. Whoever you help you do acquire support attacks which can be used against bosses for healing or bomb attacks, which is kinda cool.
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5/8* Fun-7 Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7
*Final boss and parts of the final area
+
Great movement options (swinging, can throw webbed enemies into each other, wall and ceiling climbing+can swing yourself up onto a platform from below it, wall jumps, can quickly attach to and pull yourself towards a nearby wall with the straight shot if in mid-air, start with a four hit attack combo, get an uppercut which lets you launch enemies into mid-air and juggle them very early+you can knock them downwards and then downwards kick attack and/or slam attack if using the black suit (can do something similar with the web in the red suit but it's harder to hit with), dodging (on the spot - not a roll/hop/backdash), can buy two alternate 4-hit combos which are also extendable and can be combined with the uppercut and mid-air attacks, can back attack during a combo, can juggle enemies against walls, web diagonally down for a roll which can then lead into a kick - no invincibility time though)
Some interesting combat moves (web kick - pull enemies towards you and kick them, mid-air snare - pull yourself towards an enemy while in mid-air, enemy kick-off - wall jump off of mid-air enemies basically, quick recovery allowing a counter attack after getting knocked down, mid-air dodge, charge attacks in the black suit, slam attack that launches hit enemies into the air so you can juggle them)
Switch between different suits on the fly (different abilities; can web an enemy with the red suit then quickly switch to the black one and use its combo attacks)
Voiced tutorial messages that don't pause gameplay
Get bonus "exp points" (basically money used to buy new combat moves) for stringing longer combos together until you fill up a meter (or being aggressive enough in general - the meter slowly drains between hits)
Can buy any move from the get go if you just save up the money for it (except for the last one for each of the two suits as well as the combo extenders for them) and you can also return moves you didn't want or are no longer using
Some alternate paths through areas
"Test upgrades" mode accessible at shops however you can't see the damage each move does
Subtitles
Some scripted scenes during gameplay (NPCs getting snatched away)
Pretty nice animation
Decent map system (3 levels of zoom though you have to find the "detailed mini-map" of an area for the max zoom level and the detailed/fully zoomed in version doesn't show adjacent rooms (it just shows your exact location and more detailed topology, not ability gates or found but uncollected items), shows explored rooms+which room you're in+save points+the next sub goal (game doesn't tell you what it is unless you press the objective button below the map))
Some destructible objects
Can move as well as pick up and throw boxes (no puzzle usage though?)
Good enemy AI in terms of following you around rooms and ganging up on you
Different (but not stronger) enemies sometimes appear while backtracking through previously visited rooms
Some hidden items and minor spatial awareness puzzles
Some pretty good bosses (second blue symbiote (flying one) though it takes a bit too long to beat, final boss besides the undodgeable attacks and how long it takes to beat)
Start with an enemy drop magnet
Fast movement
Support attacks (based on NPCs you've met: black cat (heals you), green goblin (kinda weird; bomb attack), nightcrawler - not gained if you didn't choose to help him unlike the other two; can only be used against bosses for some reason, have to wait for them to charge up while fighting the boss)
Pretty impressive sounding music (the in-game tracks are mostly kind of anonymous though)
Two different endings depending on which NPC you help (fairly subtly hinted at when picking which one to help)
Decent cutscenes (2D comic book-style artwork which is mostly still images, but also pretty well done voice narration and there's a lot of it)
No touch damage
+/-
Mostly linear structure (linear progression between areas, in-area progression is also linear in terms of the sub objectives in them, can backtrack for a few optional items in each area, can choose to help either of two NPCs at a couple of points, can enter downtown from the west early but it's pointless as you can't proceed without a new ability and the enemies are much tougher, while you can visit the hive area to the west of the residential/beginning area before exploring the rest of downtown (after becoming able to climb slime walls) you'll be faced with an empty room with locked doors blocking your from progressing further into it, linear final area)
Frequent save points (one slot per game only but can copy the save file - two different endings depending on your choices) which also serve as shops for combat moves as well as health+partial lives restoration points Can recover from death 3 times by default but after that it's game over (can gain more lives)
Partial control config (choose between six layouts)
Various forced encounters where the path forward is blocked until you beat all enemies - sometimes you can't move backwards to escape either
Dynamic camera (generally good but sometimes zooms out a bit much)
No difficulty options
Some fast travel via Nightcrawler but you have to find him (he's not marked on the map but is in the downtown area after getting the ability that lets you climb ichor/slime walls) and he teleports you without telling you where to or saying anything at all+you can't go back afterwards - feels unfinished.
Unlimited web
The range for dashing up walls with the black suit (can also do this in the red suit if you pull yourself diagonally upwards towards a wall) is rather short
Some delay before a dash triggers (see Zelda 3)
Kinda floaty jumps but can use your web to land faster in the default suit (some delay when stomping in the black suit)
Can't quickly cancel out of an attack animation by dodging
Shows boss's health bears but not enemies'
Enemy attacks tend to take priority over your stronger moves that lock you into a move like a tackle or ground slam
The advanced dodge works differently from its description - you automatically somersault backwards when using it if not pressing a direction which isn't optimal in some situations (kinda useful against the final boss except for certain attacks it does)
Some fourth wall breaking comments by your avatar (generally fine but a bit obnoxious if you stand still for 20 secs without pausing and he tells you to move)
Enemies can juggle you as well
Escape sequence after the final boss (relatively difficulty as you have no mini-map but the game auto-saves before it)
Some grinding if you want to buy all combat abilities and not return any of them
-
Some control/interface issues (can't pull yourself towards a wall or ceiling if you're standing on the ground, some tutorial messages won't go away (to show the map again) until you move far enough, the default zoom level map doesn't show your exact location and none of them show points of interest like ability gates or health upgrades plus you can't place markers on it, somewhat slow wall crawling - slowed down further because you can't shoot the web while in vents and pull yourself toward the next wall, somewhat overly tight camera when jumping, can't close the subtitles when some dialogue triggers - they cover up the map, can't grab a barrel or box while standing on top of it and can't move it by walking into a wall while standing on top of it, fal off ledges if performing combos near them, a bit annoying how in the black suit you'll dash up a wall with a door on it instead of into the door - could've been changed so that if you press up you'd go up the wall and if you press towards the door you'd go into it, pretty long default jump length when jumping off a wall, too hard to hit flying enemies with web)
Various minor dead ends early on with slime covered walls that you have to remember for later (can't climb nor web sling to these at first, also means you can't swing around that much early on). Some pointless one way paths (pier->downtown)
The game sometimes spoils minor puzzles by telling you what you need to do and where to go to do it and it's kind of annoying how it tells you to get back to the main objective after finishing a sub objective
Some trial & error (enemies in the last area blend in with the environment, some fast flier attacks from off screen and some enemies can start performing an attack while you're falling towards them from above and they're off screen, some shots from off screen, occasionally hard to quickly read the environment, hard to read the enemies if you're fighting 4+ of them at once which happens fairly often and they're good at chasing you - a spider-sense ability could've been added to make it easier to time dodges, the residential map makes it look like you can take a path near the top left when you can't until being able to walk on slime/ichor)
Have to play a stupid simple mini-game to respawn after dying, where you grab health orbs and avoid negative power ups with the stylus or your finger - while it's short it should've just not been in the game as you die rather quickly and it's annoying to switch control methods just to respawn when no other game does this)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (overly easy first boss, second boss (green super symbiote) is pretty easy in the red suit but hard in the black suit, can stunlock the third boss (blue symbiote) against a wall with repeated uppercuts and mid-air downward kicks - can mostly do this with the yellow one as well)
Too many enemies in various rooms+they're kinda spongy+chase you around+don't drop enough health - it is generally pretty easy to avoid combat but you want to collect "exp" for buying combat moves
Only up to two lives are restored at save points (meaning if you had say, 3/4 lives when reaching one then you don't regain any) and going to a different save point doesn't restore the rest. Given some parts are harder they become even harder if you have fewer lives - have to beat bosses to fully restore lives (black cat's support attack occasionally restores one life but it's not reliable)
Some pointless ability gate doors - can get around them anyway (probably meant as shortcut for later on but could've been handled more elegantly since you also can't see them on the map)
The green goblin bomb mission is kind of lame - you just fight an onslaught of enemies and then hit a button to watch a meh in-game cutscene. The second one is also kinda lame (just find the plants in the main room of the pier area (easy) and press x to have him bomb the doors blocking access to them)
Can't manually talk to NPCs such as the ones in the first building above where you start?
Most of the symbiote bosses are too similar and repetitive. Venom is a bit different but also repetitive
Most ability gates and abilities are metaphorical locked doors and keys (heavy objects in front of paths, red ichor doors, vertical red doors require yet another ability) and one just lets you use the web on the dark ichor/slime where you couldn't before while another lets you climb those surfaces
Some tedious aspects (final boss is kind of tedious - off screen earthquake attack (can't be dodged if on the ground?)+overly fast upwards vine attack which can't be dodged+can only tackle it from behind and it's harder to stun it (can only barely stun it with web which doesn't really help, can stun and juggle it only when it's near death)+can't use advanced combos because then you can't dodge his attacks+too much health, finding and destroying the four portals quest - backtracking to each area from the hive area without any fast travel (nightcrawler here which is when he would be the most useful)+there are no new enemies defending them and they aren't fun to destroy either, can't open vertical red doors from below)
No level hazards besides the enemies
The "grabbing large obstacles with web" ability is too situational and not used in an interesting way
Color swapped repeated enemies for the final area
"You found a collectible!" - feels generic
Notes:
-93% completion in 5h43m, Bad ending
Comment (from before doing the final area):
Overall, nice engine but pretty average game. You have a lot of movement options, fast movement, controls and animations are tight and the hit detection very good. The enemy AI is also good overall, these guys are very good at chasing you around even if you jump to a different platform or climb the ceiling and if you fight more than 3 at once you'll have a hard time dodging even fairly early on. But it feels like they had to rush the game in some ways because for example there are too many forced fights with tons of spongy enemies, and most bosses are too similar and repetitive. Another example: There is a weird sort of fast travel where you can find nightcrawler in one spot and he teleports you somewhere without saying anything, and you then can't go back which feels pretty unfinished.
As a way to force some touch aspects into the game, when you die you have to play a simple and easy mini-game where you grab health orbs for about 30 seconds to revive instead of just respawning like in a normal game, and up until the mid-late game when you're allowed to grab all the health upgrades you'll easily die a lot. You can increase your life count to 6 or so but you also can't restore lost lives above 2 in any other way than beating bosses, which there aren't that many of, so you can end up with some difficulty spikes if you save after losing some lives and didn't go out of your way to grab upgrades.
The game does have a decent map system and a save point system with healing and shopping for combat moves rolled into one, and you can also respec freely which is cool. You can also switch between two suits on the fly, allowing for webbing enemies and then quickly switching to perform a stronger combo. There are a couple of points where you can choose between two NPCs to help, but it doesn't seem to have much of a story effect and these side quests are pretty lame too. Whoever you help you do acquire support attacks which can be used against bosses for healing or bomb attacks, which is kinda cool.