In the comments section to my Diary yesterday I asked readers whether I should play the new "Spider-Man: Web of Shadows" game as the red-suit Spider-Man or as the one wearing black.
I'm never sure what to make of choices like these in video games. The game's developers allow me to switch from one suit to the other at any time. I can spend experience points to learn new moves specific to the red or black suits. And, at pivotal story moments, like deciding whether or not Spider-Man should hook up with the theoretically sexy Black Cat, I'm allowed to decide whether to choose the red path (nice guy?) or the black path (not nice guy?).
I was playing the game red. But I've decided to now play it black. (Bring on the jokes about never going back, people).
I stumbled through this choice. I had asked for help. As with "Knights of the Old Republic," I was uncomfortable making a choice that I felt would cut me off from seeing any of the game's interesting extremes. Last night a friend e-mailed me, telling me to play as black Spidey. His suggestion was based on story development. Didn't I want to see what a rogue Spider-Man story was like? That's uncharted territory, or so he told me. I wouldn't know. I grew up reading Superman.
With a game like "Fable II" I can handle being given these life-path choices. I know enough about the differences between using magic or swinging hammers to know what I prefer. I can sense what the ramifications will be if I decide to be a family man or a robber or a combination of the two. But given the choice to be a Dark Jedi or a Light Jedi... or the choice between being a black-suit Spider-Man or a red-suit Spider-Man, I just get spun around in confusion.
Do the developers really expect me to choose? Are they just signaling that they want me to play the game again, the opposite way? So often with games like this I feel that I am just flipping a coin or picking a side of a Swiss Army Knife to use -- and sticking to just that side for no good reason at all.
What's the point of choice if I've got no stake in it?
Next: "Web of Shadows" is fun anyway, so this weekend will see more of that game in my 360 and hopefully some "Banjo." Oh, and does anyone else have a Samsung HDTV that loses its picture signal from the Xbox 360 sometimes in the middle of a game? Any idea why that happens? I found a game developer yesterday who is having that problem too. It's not just me.
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