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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

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9.2 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 57 critic reviews
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Based on 35 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Shaba Games - Treyarch

Genre(s): Action, Adventure

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: October 21, 2008

Summary

New York City has been invaded and only Spider-Man can save it. The fate of New York is in your hands...Take Control. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows gives you an unprecedented level of gameplay choice, including, for the first time, control over the game's direction and outcome. Choose how Spider-Man fights, which powers to upgrade, who in the Marvel universe to fight with or against, and the fate of New York City itself. Choose wisely. [Activision]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Spider-Man 3 Spider-Man: Friend or Foe

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Game Chronicles

Web of Shadows assembles a great cast of heroes and villains, combines them with a fantastic story, and integrates an intuitive and exciting control scheme and evolving combat system that easily makes this the best Spider-Man game ever made to date for any system.

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ZTGameDomain

An extremely enjoyable ride. If you can get past doing the same objectives to progress the story such as having to beat up a certain amount of bad guys or saving so many civilians, and forgive the camera issues, this game is more than awesome.

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AtomicGamer

The dialed down difficulty and weak story will be a deal-breaker for some, but honestly, the amazing marriage of combo-heavy combat and acrobatic web swinging, complemented by a living, breathing NYC, culminate in the most engaging Spider-Man game I’ve ever played.

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GameZone

Spider-man: Web of Shadows is a great super hero game for the Xbox 360, and one of the best Spider-man games to date. Players looking for a new game to quench their super hero fix will not be disappointed.

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PGNx Media

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows plays like an enhanced version of Spider-Man 3 with a pretty cool story backing it up.

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Gaming Target

Fans of action games would be well to seek out the game and Spider-Man fans should consider Spider-Man: Web of Shadows a must play.

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Impulsegamer

Spider-Man Web Of Shadows does all of the right things very well, while it's minor inconsistent issues hide in the back ground, but do not take too much away from the super hero experience. Only major down side? No free roaming after finishing the game.

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GamingExcellence

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a great game. While the combat is pretty repetitive, it is not boring thanks to the two suits and the seamless transition between them.

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GameSpot

Web of Shadows is a fast-paced, soaring superhero adventure that delivers just about everything a Spider-Man game should.

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Cheat Code Central

Are there annoyances you will encounter? Sure. However, the one thing that you have to take into account while playing this title is the natural progression of the franchise. Opening it up to more comic book-focused storylines, allowing players to decide the outcome in various interesting ways, increasing the combat to make it enjoyable and easily accessible to anyone, and, of course, giving fans the Black Suit to play around with all do this admirably.

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Gamervision

It may not offer quite as big an initial thrill as Spider-Man 2 did, but Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is probably the best web-swinging adventure so far. With a swing mechanic that rivals the one found in SM2, a combat system that easily trumps any in the series, and solid presentation throughout, fans of the series and the character won’t be disappointed.

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Yahoo! Games

It's a lot like its hero: packed with character, impressively capable, and never puts a foot wrong. What higher praise for a licensed game is there than that?

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Games Radar (in-house)

If the developer could have just tightened up a few minor technical issues and injected a little more soul into the proceedings, this might have been Spidey's best game yet. Instead, it’s just a satisfyingly entertaining experience and a big step back in the right direction.

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Deeko

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is an amazingly fun title.

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Official Xbox Magazine

Shadows has a dark side of its own, with a few glitches like foes and objectives occasionally disappearing or freezing, but they’re not enough to mar this otherwise spectacular adventure.

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Planet Xbox 360

We came into our review with Spider-Man: Web of Shadows with only one hope, that Shaba Games would provide us with a great time playing through the Spider-Man game we have always wanted to experience. While we can’t honestly say that it was a total success what we can say is that the good times far outweighed the bad times.

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GameFocus

You don’t have to be a Spidey fan to enjoy this one. Good fighting, fluid web swinging and exciting boss battles make this game enjoyable. I won’t say it’s a must buy, but it’s definitely a must try.

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Game Revolution

The moment-to-moment activity of open-world Spider-Man is finally clean, smooth, and fun.

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Gaming Nexus

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is far from a perfect game, but its problems shouldn't keep you from having an amazing time swinging around the fictional New York City.

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Gaming Age

Combat has seen some minor improvements, but the missions you're required to play and the side-quest stuff in the city are still pretty bland encounters for the most part, and it's those areas that really need to see the most improvement for the next Spider-Man installment down the line.

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Armchair Empire

If the combat and story (even as long as it takes to get going) wasn’t as good as it is, I would be much more hesitant to give Web of Shadows a positive recommendation.

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Extreme Gamer

Web of Shadows is a major improvement from the last Spider-Man game which should give Spider-Man fans some renewed faith in their friendly neighborhood super-hero.

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Da Gameboyz

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows for the Xbox 360 features solid visuals and some really enjoyable moments. The upgrade system is effective and there is some replay value here.

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GameSpy

The animation is slick, and there are many appreciable smaller touches, but it's also tarnished by repetition and technical issues. If you've never been a fan of the series, this installment certainly won't change your mind. However, if you're a die-hard fan who was disappointed by Spider-Man 3, Web of Shadows should be right up your alley.

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Meristation

Spiderman is back with a completely new adventure that makes us forget the poorly done Friend or Foe, being closer to the fantastic Spider-Man 3. Web of Shadows has a lot of untapped potential, but it falls short for its technical problems and some bugs. However, it has a fantastic combat system and an impressive storyline.

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Official Xbox Magazine UK

Looks flashy, and fun but ends up being a shallow, repetitive trawl.

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GameDaily

Blurry textures, an average story and Peter Parker's voice gets on our nerves, but overall, Web of Shadows is a cool Spider-Man adventure and much better than the horrid "Spider-Man 3."

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AceGamez

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows isn't a perfect game; there's too much grind and the first act is badly realised.

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Gameplanet

Web of Shadows is an improvement over previous Spider-Man titles, but still lacks the punch we expect from such a popular movie-based intellectual property. A poorly told story coupled with mediocre and often repetitive action sequences have thwarted this titles chances of blockbuster glory this Christmas.

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X360 Magazine UK

One of the best Spider-Man games yet. [Issue#40, p.101]

DailyGame

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a breath of fresh air in many respects, but needs a good breeze in others.

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WonderwallWeb

Web of Shadows can be fun to play, to begin with at least, however after a while the mundane and repetitive nature of the game kicks in and when this happens you should reach for the power button.

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IGN AU

Pretty average in most respects, failing to stand out in any one category. It's kind of boring, poorly structured, mostly linear and, shock, it still reeks of cash-in, despite moderate production values.

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Console Monster

Spiderman: Web of Shadows is quite simply the best Spiderman title to date – but that’s not saying much after the dismal efforts on the game’s previous outings.

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Game Informer

If you don’t mind playing a game for six or seven hours before getting to the good stuff, Web of Shadows eventually packs a nice little punch. However, if you want instant gratification from your games, this experience won’t do much for you.

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Kombo

Despite some of the more flagrant errors, I'm still slinging webs around New York City enjoying the thrill of being what boils down to an urban Tarzan.

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GamingTrend

I readily admit that I rushed my review on Spider-Man 3, so this time I spent more time on Web of Shadows. I really wish Treyarch had done the same.

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Variety

There are enough improvements here to please existing Spider-Man vidgame fans, but a shaky story and poorly implemented moral choice system -- and the lack of a new movie -- could leave it hanging by a thread in a crowded market.

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VideoGamer

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows ends up being a disappointment despite a lot of potential. We reckon the combat system, the web swinging and special moves are about the best we've seen in a 3D Spider-man game, but the city feels lifeless, the graphics lack spark and the missions range from OK to dire.

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Giant Bomb

Web of Shadows opens strong, but it seems like it runs out of interesting and varied ways to put them to use well before you get to the end, and it turns into a bit of a grind.

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G4 TV

There’s enough great gameplay here to make Web of Shadows recommendable for Spider-Man fans. The sheer level of glitches in the game, however, manages to take the fun factor down several notches.

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Totally360

Overall this is a pretty average game.

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Level7.nu

With Web of Shadows developer Treyarch builds on top of the foundation they laid with Spiderman 3. As Spiderman the player is put in charge of saving the city from a state of decay. The substance that spawned Spideys arch nemesis Venom has run amok in the city with total chaos as a direct result. The premise of the game is interesting but a horrible game camera and an overall lackluster framing makes the experience passable at best.

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Gameplayer

Another year, another fair-to-average open-world Spider-Man action game.

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Gamer 2.0

In conclusion, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a competent addition to the franchise, though it feels like there could have been much more to the game.

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Xbox World 360 Magazine UK

Tether the choreography to controls and you'd be on to something. [Jan 2009, p.78]

GameShark

A near-perfect Spidey game. The core Spider-Man elements people care about are all present, and arguably better than any game to date. Sadly, the developers forgot to find a way to eliminate the grinding feel of the basic gameplay. The result is a game hard line Spider-Man fans will want to beat in order to experience the story, while casual fans will likely get bored halfway through.

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1UP

Shadows is halfway there. I experienced plenty of cool "Spider-Man" moments throughout thanks to the basic locomotion and combat and the occasional well-done cut-scene...but Shadows never really hits any sort of stride. Rather, it settles into a rhythm of repetition and drags out as its third act self-destructs.

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IGN

Activision and Shaba were given a blank slate to create whatever Spider-inspired tale they wanted, and they put together a game starring a whiney hero, a foggy story, repetitive gameplay, and a focus on pretty combat combos instead of engaging combat mechanics.

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3DJuegos

Repetitive, repetitive and repetitive… With those three words we can describe Spiderman Web of Shadows, a new and failed adaptation of the hero to the videogames. Hard to play and much harder to recommend.

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MS Xbox World

This may be one of the better Spider-Man games, but by today's standards, other than a decent beat em up with some familiar faces, I recommend even the truest of Spidey fanatics give this a rental.

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Gamer's Hell

With a bit more time refining environment textures, clearing up framerates, and creating a narrative, Web of Shadows would have been a solid game; as it is, its a buggy experience you have push your way through.

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Team Xbox

As a Spider-Man fan, I was really hoping to see a revival of him as a video-game hero, but this wasn’t that vehicle. There are moments of fun to be had and an awful lot of gameplay, if you choose to do all of the optional missions (some of it that I found pretty tedious), but mostly it played as uninspired and disappointing for such a big-name brand.

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Eurogamer

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is one of those games that seem content to just drone along, coasting on the ever-decreasing appeal of one gameplay element and gobbling up your free time with repetitive tasks and mindless exploration of a mostly empty space. It's not awful, but nor is it sufficiently different to any of the other Spider-Man games.

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Boomtown

There isn't enough variation in the missions to keep any average gamer interested until the end, and what you will play is even that attractive.

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Eurogamer Portugal

Far from brilliant, Web of Shadows is a weak game in practically every aspect, the repetitive scheme combined with the camera and gameplay problems mean this game has no glow. Eventually fans of the hero may feel the need for another game but even those must pay attention to its flaws.

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Gamestyle

Ultimately though it comes back to crushing disappointment. Nothing here wasn’t possible on the last generation of consoles and after playing other open worlds the city of New York seems bland in comparison.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 35 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark C. gave it a10:
I love this game! The pacing is great, with the story unfolding proportionately with the upgrades, so that by the time the invasion is really under way, you should be able to do anything a spider can. The new 3-D combat is fantastic; unlike previous games, you don't have to search for the action, as there are plenty of enemies to keep you cracking skulls for hours. While some people will complain about the absence of races and collectible comics, there are LOADS of spider tokens to find, in fact there are over two thousand collectible tokens in Web of Shadows. Fub for hours, best Spidey game ever!

Steven S. gave it a9:
I've been playing this for about 5 hours straight and I Love this game!!! I don't know what the critics are complaining about! The graphics are top notch. Spider-man's voice is very annoying but thankfully you can skip past most scenes. The controls are a little quirky. I find myself constantly changing suits in combat because it's done on the left thumbstick. Some of the controls work well, some not so well but not enough to give this game below an 80. Try it before you listen to the critics.

Kenny P. gave it a10:
This game is really fun. I went back to play GTA4 for a little bit after playing spiderman and GTA was so slow. Even the running and car driving. So went back to spiderman and was killing guys two hundred feet up a building.

Lenny B. gave it a10:
starts a little slowly but by the time you start fighting kingpin guys is really awesome and epic. I feel like I can beat up 100 guys without touching the ground. And the symbiotes on the walls are great. I am almost done beating it already and then I will play again making "red" choices.

Jeff gave it a10:
I love this game - it's the best Spiderman game I've ever played, by far. Those IGN reviewers must have a grudge against activision or spiderman games or something or are living in some whacked out imaginary nostalgia of Spidey2 because there is simply no way that any previous Spiderman game can compare to this one: There's action everywhere! Bad guys to fight can be found left and right, swinging is fun as hell and feels super fluid, some of the missions are a bit dull but all the chaos in the world is something no other Spiderman game has done and I love it. I can be happy just fighting random bad guys all day!

Andy Why gave it a10:
Bliss - at last a good Spidey game Leaves SM2 way behind, and that was the best before this Been an awesome pair of days - now must go to work.

Lando L. gave it a10:
Great game! The city had far more happening in it than any other Spiderman title I've seen, the combat is fluid allowing movement between enemies unprecedented in previous titles, and black suit and red suit feel different in everything from combat to story choices to the allies assisting you.

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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

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