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Well, this certainly was an interesting week…almost finishing my review on The METROID PRIME TRILOGY, played Arkham Asylum and unlocked tons of achievements and I saw Kanye act like a total douche on TV.
What else is new?? OH how about the MARVEL buyout?? It’s sad eh? But maybe that’s a plus for Marvel, imagine a good CG marvel movie made by Pixar?? Truth be told a lot of us aren’t sure yet since Disney just has this creepy vibe to it. READ MORE »

If ever I was forced to choose my favourite all time superhero from any universe at time of my life, my answer would always instantly be Spiderman. This is why I was so excited to get my hands on the latest Spidey game from long time web slinging publisher Activision, Spiderman Web of Shadows (WoS) for the Xbox 360.

While most superhero video games are just everyday ho-hum storylines involving one villain, or an adaption to the most recent superhero movie; WoS does something I feel no other superhero game or movie has ever done. This game feels exactly like an entire storyline of a comic book! While no other super-game or movie has had this large a scale, most comic storylines spreading over 10, 20, even 50 issues involve grand scheme battles, a plethora of extra characters and real world implications to the issues at hand. And not only is this story intense and huge, but it’s also pretty dark, swinging away from past Spiderman titles in that respect.

The story begins with Spiderman fighting his long time rival Venom in the streets of New York. In the midst of battle, a portion of the Symbiote (the alien ‘suit’ Venom is made out of) leaps onto and is absorbed by Spidey and he is given back his old black suit which changes his mentality. Now, Spiderman has had issues with this suit before, so he knows the repercussions of wearing such a dangerous costume and can control it to a certain degree. Life is ok, Spidey’s got some new duds, is stronger, all that good stuff then all of a sudden humans start acting like venom and it turns out because of their little exchange, Venom can now create little symbiote monsters out of anyone! The game turns from every other super-game into a full out invasion threatening all of New York and maybe even the world! Heroes from all walks of life team up, S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up, and even Spiderman’s villains must all work together to stop the spread of Venom and as such, you can feel the scale of this battle as you watch the entire huge city sprawl into chaos.

There are a few amazing aspects to this game that I would love to point out first. The most important is that while Spiderman was a great hero, what made him stand out was Peter Parker, the man under the cloth, he was an everyday Joe who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Peter has to deal with such things as morality, the people he cares about, his own needs and the needs of New York and as such, with this symbiote in you, you are given choices. Will you be good and work a little harder for the citizens and the people you love, or will you be evil, use the black suit and get the upper hand in battle? All throughout the game your given choices, act as Spidey would, or act as Venom would, and each decision changes the progression of the story and even the ending. Another topic is the city of New York, it’s huge!!! Taking well over 5 minutes to web swing from one end to another, and the sky scrapers are just as tall, with freefalls galore. As well, no longer does Spiderman swing from clouds, what I mean is that if you are at the top of a building and you want to swing off, you will not be able to until you drop down low enough to use another building to swing. And finally, there are many many mini-sidequests to keep players busy, as well as spider symbols to level up your attributes and allies (both heroes and villains) to call in to help you.

The graphics are amazing, by far the best looking super hero game to date and with the amount of detail (especially Spiderman’s character model), you can see every little web, every flip, every grimace of each person in the game. As Spiderman web-swings or brings out his symbiote, the quality of what you see just makes you smiles. Camera blurs and explosions round out the visual package into a tight tasty treat for your eyes. Unfortunately, the only downside is the camera issues that plague WoS when Spidey gets too high up or moves to quickly across the city for rendering to keep up.

Sound wise, the hustle and bustle of New York streets pre-invasion are all there and present, and while the musical scale can fall flat at times, it works extremely well at others (namely the introduction to the game). All scenes have voice acting with a selection of responses to choose from when speaking to non-playable characters and while Spiderman is just as clever and witty as always, The big issue I have is that while every other voice actor sounds amazing and perfect for the part, Spiderman’s voice is one of the worst I have ever heard, whiny and nasally. It’s a shame such good script writing is ruined by not wanting to listen to what is said.

Spiderman’s controls can range from simple to complex, while you can go about button mashing and probably get far enough in the game, as you level up, you learn new moves and combos. These combos can then be combined with other combos to create Arial combo attacks to take out entire armies of flying monsters or soldiers hanging out on building sides in a flurry of fast paced action. As well, as you level, you are given the choice of learning new moves and skills for Spiderman’s red or black suit, realistically doubling all the maneuvers that can be pulled off. As well as the combos, there are web attacks, cars that can be thrown (nothing else can be thrown however) and counters. Taking this one step further, the counters can be countered by bad guys and even one step further, you can counter the countered counter… I think that’s as far as it can go, but while you are given a tutorial about how to counter a counter, I have only been able to do it once in the game, and that was on my 15th try during the tutorial.

Overall, I feel Spiderman: Web of Shadows is the best super hero game out there and compared to other games coming out this holiday season, I would venture to say the best action game not involving shooting this year! The story is amazing, the scale is huge on so many levels, everyone in Spiderman’s life is involved, the game is so intense that you actually share Peter Parker’s desire to do good (or not if that’s how you roll), the boss battles are huge and heart-pumping, the script is well written and there is plenty to do aside from the story line. Negatively speaking, some things felt missing: the lack of objects to throw aside from cars, the lack of controller sensitivity (its either run or stop, no walking), Spiderman’s voice is horribly annoying, there are camera issues at times and a few times there were minor glitches during cut scenes. Do the pros outweigh the cons? You bet your web slinging patootie it does! Go out and experience the hardships of Spiderman now! Oh, and did I mention that most of the other heroes / villains get infected and become symbiotic?

Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4.0/5
Sound: 4.0/5
Replay Value: 3.5/5

In this day in age a blockbuster movie is rarely released without a videogame counterpart and Spiderman 3 is no exception. This high paced action movie, with its incredible special effects, was a perfect candidate to be converted into video game form. Hopefully the bad reviews won’t follow Spiderman 3 from the box-office to the Xbox 360.

I’ll be honest; when I think about being Spiderman the first thing that comes to mind is how amazing it would be to swing around a city on my webs. Spiderman 3, much like its predecessor, Spiderman 2, allows you to do just that. I spent the first hour simply getting the feel for swinging. The many different in-swing controls will provide hardcore gamers with hours of fun, but the inherent simplicity of it allows newcomers to feel comfortable as well. New York City is your very own playground; the huge map includes Central Park, Times Square, the Chrysler Building and many other Manhattan landmarks. Swing high above the city streets in relative peace or go as low as you dare, dodging cars while you fly through the city. Wow. Swinging is a whole lot of fun. Unfortunately, it is probably the most fun you will have when playing this videogame.

The problems start with the limited interactivity you have with the inhabitants of New York City. Games done in the free roam, “Grand theft Auto” style usually thrive in this area. While exploring the map you cannot affect anything but active bad guys and their vehicles. For example, I cannot pick up a random car and throw it through a window; I cannot web a random pedestrian and hang him from a light post, etc. Maybe this is Activision’s way of making the game suitable for a younger audience, but to be frank, the game is not fun without it. This was a major oversight and cannot be overlooked.

The box touts the game as having ten different storylines to play through, which is true, the only bad part is only two of them are fun to play, The Goblin and The Sandman. To those who saw the movie, this is the plot you will play through with some small additions along the way. Tobey Maguire and the whole cast do their own voices which is a nice touch and makes you feel like you are playing the movie. Within the two main storylines you will find two types of game play. The first is the one found in Spiderman 2 and is inherently just old fashioned arcade fighting, with a hefty dose of spidey-powers mixed in of course. It is fun for a while but gets tiresome rather quickly. The list of combos you “unlock” throughout the game is unbelievably long and unless you have a photographic memory, you will most likely end up randomly pushing the buttons like I was. The other type of game play found in Spiderman 3 is dubbed “tests of agility and strength” by the creators. The game goes into a movie sequence-like mode and requires you to push certain buttons as they appear on screen. Sounds easy right? Well it is not, at least towards the end. You are given mere fractions of a second before your fate has been determined. I was surprised to find myself enjoying these “tests of agility and strength”. During them the graphics looked awesome and the action was intense. It was not too long though before the whole thing became repetitive and well, boring. Unless you are a die-hard Spiderman fan this game could be set aside rather quickly.

The graphics and sound were generally unimpressive. There were moments, when I was perched high above the city, or when the game was in the movie-sequence mode, that the graphics really shined. When it came to fighting or swinging near ground level, however, the graphics were mediocre at best. There were some fun additions, like the distance swung meter and others but, as a whole, this game lacked the depth that video game fans have come to expect.

Graphics: 3.5/5.0
Game Play: 3.0/5.0
Sound: 3.0/5.0
Replay Value: 2.5/5.0

Actor TOBEY MAGUIRE has slammed filmmaker MICHAEL MOORE for his overtly political films and documentaries.

The Spider-Man star is determined not to mix acting with politics for fear of looking “silly” and has little time for Moore’s efforts, including Fahrenheit 9/11.

He says, “I don’t want to discuss politics… It can look a little silly for actors to talk politics.

“I don’t mind if it comes off the right way; but look at Michael Moore, the way he twisted some public figures. They’re not thinking; it’s just off the cuff, and he makes them look an a**.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

TOBEY MAGUIRE has confirmed the upcoming SPIDER-MAN 3 will be the last time he plays the superhero on the big screen.

Co-star KIRSTEN DUNST has also said she feels the third film will be the last in the popular franchise.

Maguire says, “To me it seems like this is a natural point for the team to break up because we have a lot of story conclusions that were going along for the main characters for the first two movies and we kind of tie almost everything up for the third movie.

“It feels like a trilogy to me and it feels like the end.”

But moviemaker SAM RAIMI isn’t so sure that it’s all over for the web-slinging movie hero.

In a recent interview, the director stated he’s seriously considering a fourth film.

He explains, “I love Spider-Man and I love working with Kirsten, Tobey, JAMES (FRANCO)… I just have to make sure that when I’m done with Spider-Man 3, I’m really still fascinated with the character. At this moment I’m fascinated with him.”

But Raimi insists he couldn’t imagine making a fourth installment if Maguire didn’t sign on for it.

He adds, “I couldn’t imagine it.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Much like Brian Singer hinted at more Superman flicks, Tobey Maguire hinted at Comic Con yesterday that the Spiderman franchise may continue beyond next summer’s third installment, BBC News reports.

“There will be some conclusions, though I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily the end,” Maguire told the crowd.

The actor told the crowd that the ending to the third film was very open-ended leaving the possibility for a fourth film open.

Fans at Comic Con also got a sneak peak at the third film, which has not been leaked onto the web yet. The villains in the film include Venom (portrayed by Topher Grace) and Sandman (portrayed by Thomas Hayden Church).

It was also revealed that as the ending to the second film hinted, Harry will take on some of the powers of his dead father, who was the Green Goblin in the first film.

Spiderman 3 is set to be released next year.

Bryce Dallas Howard will play Peter Parker’s other love interest Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Columbia Pictures and director Sam Raimi made Mary Jane Watson the primary love interest in the first two movies, but the introduction of Gwen promises a triangle in the third.

In the Marvel comics, Gwen is Spidey’s first love. She was kidnapped by the Green Goblin in issue 121 of Amazing Spider-Man, and died during a battle atop the Brooklyn Bridge. Her death was one of the first occasions in comic book history that a major character was killed.

Howard joins other new cast members Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace, who play the villains Sandman and Venom.

Aside from returning stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, James Franco also reprises his role as Harry Osbourne, who is rumoured to become the Hobgoblin.

Howard (daughter of Oscar-winning director Ron) turned heads with her breakout role in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village. She’s reunited with Shyamalan for The Lady in the Water this year.