In what has been a summer of hype for an unusual crop of autumn games, my head's been turned by -- surprise -- a "Spider-Man" game.
I have considered the virtual adventures of Peter Parker to have been solid games in recent years, miss-able for a games reporter who prioritizes covering that which is potentially excellent. But an Activision press conference during E3 last month included an impressive trailer of a new Spider-Man game's aerial combat. And a demonstration by an Activision producer of that game last week proved to me the game is for real.
The new one’s called "Web of Shadows." Like most recent "Spider-Man" games it is set in an open-city format, this one including web-slinging through Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn but like "Grand Theft Auto IV" apparently snubbing Staten Island. (Blame me for not taking notes about whether the Bronx is in there) Once again, Spider-Man is up against a cast of villains, with whom our hero banters, judging by the couple of snippets I heard, in some forced dialogue that is intended to capture the snark of Stan Lee.
This game's gimmick is the black suit. Parker can change from the blue-and-red to the black, swapping swinging powers for tendril might. With the press of a button the player can alternate from gracefully confounding an enemy gang to beating them down. Friends and foes get the black-suit treatment. I hear the symbiote version of Wolverine is something special.
This is the ability now attached to Spider-Man’s wrists. This is what turned my head.
The game’s draw, for me, is web-slinging aerial combat, fist-fights set 40 stories into the atmosphere with only the distant pavement as a safety net.
In the E3 trailer Spider-Man battled the flying villain Vulture above the New York City skyline, firing his web-shooters at his enemy both to fight and to keep himself aloft. Last week I witnessed such combat as fully-controllable, vertiginous gameplay. The mid-air combat resembles the aloft assaults gamers were able to execute earlier this year in Capcom's "Devil May Cry 4" using new protagonist Nero's magical Devil Bringer arm. That arm was essentially a grappling hook that could bring Nero close to his enemies. Knock an enemy up to the air, then grapple up to meet them. Punch them in the face thirty feet up, and grapple toward them again. This is the ability now attached to Spider-Man’s wrists. This is what turned my head.
An Activision producer told me that combat in "Web of Shadows" will develop in three stages. First players will progress through missions that make them adept at ground combat. Then they will be expected to gain an affinity for wall combat, the game’s new feature that allows Peter Parker to scramble up and down any side of a building, fighting enemies attached along the way (this is another connection to Capcom, as it anticipates the wall combat of that publisher’s 2009 game "Dark Void," though Capcom’s game appears to incorporate more cover elements to the facade-based fighting.)
It was exciting, presenting both a sense of super-power and weakness, the might and barely-hanging-in-there danger that characterizes the best "Spider-Man" fights in any medium.
The "Web of Shadows" controls might be too complex. I’m a poor judge of control complexity during 15 minute game demos. I’m often too busy thinking of good questions to ask to let the control scheme of a new game nestle into my nerves. The Activision producer had me running, jumping, web-slinging, quick-selecting targets, switching suits and I was already fumbling just on the ground. I suspect the basics could have been learned with just a little more practice, but the air combat did appear daunting and therefore fitting in its placement toward the back of the game. I was both impressed and concerned to learn that enemies in the game will learn the player's habits and begin to counter repeated moves. Players need to feint, cancel and counter attacks. Enemies, to an extent I wasn't able to observe, will do much of the same. This is either going to be welcome depth or a deep end in which I'll only be able to flail in before sinking.
The E3 trailer showed the Vulture throwing a fusillade of swords at Spider-Man and the hero running across those swords as if they were a bridge connecting him to his target. That I was not able to see at my Activision demo. But I saw other sequences of the fight: a one-on-one above a skyscraper roof, an escalation that involved minions on flying platforms, more one-on-one. It was exciting, presenting both a sense of super-power and weakness, the might and barely-hanging-in-there danger that characterizes the best "Spider-Man" fights in any medium.
That’s why I’m watching "Web of Shadows." It has the potential for excellence.
The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game are being developed by Shaba Studios and Treyarch. Other Wii, PS2, PSP versions, I’m told, may bear a similar design or may not (I know, not very helpful. I said the same thing). The DS version is a sidescroller, developed by Amaze. All are slated for a Fall release.
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