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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is Treyarch's first Spider-Man game not based on a movie. The gameplay, especially in combat, is a step up from previous Spidey titles but the story is short and unsatisfying. Too much emphasis is placed on a half-baked "choose your fate" branching storyline that quickly devolves into a non-stop series of boss fights. The ability to switch between red and blue Spider-Man and black-suited symbiote Spider-Man is novel, but wasted. People like me who pine for a game with Spider-Man 2's quality of web slinging with a decent game attached might be satisfied, but not impressed. This game is worth a rental for Spidey fans or any curious gamer, but at the end you wont be itching for more.



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Spider-Man is probably the perfect character for video games. He can jump higher than anyone; he can walk, run, and sit on walls; he can beat up multiple attackers with blinding speed and feline agility; and he can swing around town on webs he shoots from his wrists. If ever there was an entity better suited for virtual representation, I'd like to hear it.

He's had a spotted past in games. I have no qualms saying that Spider-Man 2 on the Xbox is one of my favorite games to play. Altogether, the game is a wreck, but it's the web swinging I love. I could sit in front of that game for hours doing nothing but swing around its digital Manhattan. It just felt right in that game. You could feel the weight of Spidey as he grabs a fresh webline, feel the G-forces as he reaches the apex of a swing, feel the wind sheer off his body as he pulls his legs in and kicks out at just the right moment to maximize airtime and distance. That game is the perfect Spider-Man webslinging simulator. Every game since then has tried to be a better game, cramming in more story or more combo attacks and celebrity voices, abandoning the web mechanics altogether. Spider-Man 3 was a complete waste. How couldn't it be? It was rushed to come out with the movie, which itself was a waste.

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Activision and Treyarch are hard at work on the next Spider-Man game entitled, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and today we were treated to three new screenshots. Peep them below. The title is expected to be released late October on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, PSP, DS, and PlayStation 2.

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Did you know that World War II took place in more locations than Europe? Modern video gaming and filmmaking sure don't.

We reported earlier about a rumor that Activision had handed Call of Duty 5 to Treyarch, makers of the certainly sub-stellar Call of Duty 3, and that it'll be set in WWII again.

According to a tipster at Kotaku, the above is all true with the addition that the focus will be of the Pacific theater (we were at war with Japan, too).

That softens the blow a little bit. If COD 5 would have been another muddy Normandy game I might've just scratched my eyes out. The entire Pacific campaign of the war has been tragically ignored in gaming, perhaps because of gaming's strong ties with modern Japan. If it's done well, it could be pretty interesting.

That means carpet-bombing paradisal islands and launching artillery attacks from giant Navy battleships, nothing less.

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This is just rumormongering, but Gamer.tm got word from a tipster that the job postings at Treyarch (makers of Call of Duty 3) include a level designer position. The description for the posting includes, “if you’re a fan of World War 2 shooters, then even better!”

Let's see. Treyarch has made more than zero Call of Duty games, and they say they want a level designer who likes World War II games... it all adds up!

It's a pretty flimsy premise, in the same way as the notion that there's a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Infinity ward's Call of Duty 4 got lots of praise for shirking the tired WWII premise, and if Activision has indeed tapped Treyarch to make yet another WWII shooter, well, I don't know what's become of the world.

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