Vastly underrated - a very good game!

Like many gamers I went to the professionals for their opinions before deciding whether to purchase this game or not. All i can say is that some of these 'professionals' must have been taken over by evil symbiotes of their own!

Web of Shadows is by no means a groundbreaking game and doesnt really bring anything to the table that we havent seen before. What Web of Shadows is however is almost unreservedly fun.

Visually the game looks very nice with excellent graphics and animation. A more or less scale replica of New York City is provided for you to climb, swing and zip around and doing so is an experience that rarely becomes tiresome. Dotted around the city are various tips of the hat to the fact that this game is very much set in the mainstream Marvel Universe and you will notice such landmarks as Stark/Avengers tower (including the Sentrys residence above it), the Rand Corperation, Kronos Corperation, Roxxon, fisk Enterprises and so on - all of which are a nice little touch for the fans of the comic books.

The only criticism I would aim at the city is that whilst it is huge it should be bigger. Unlike some of the previous games you are not able to explore areas such as the Statue of Liberty, Queens or Brooklyn which is a small thing but a shame nevertheless.

Sound effects are admittedly basic - not bad, just very generic - and yes Spidermans voice acting does leave alot to be desired, although the rest of the characters that feature in the game are fairly pleasing. Steve Blum makes a return as the voice of Wolverine and Battlestar Galacticas Tricia Helfer appears as the Black Cat.

The storyline for the game takes influences from a couple of Marvel comics, primarily those Spider-man arcs that dealt with the symbiote but also the recent Mighty Avengers story arc 'Venom Bomb' which saw a biological weapon unleashed upon NYC that turned all of its citizens and many of its heroes into symbiotes.

For the most part the story is very good and introduces a grand sense of scale. The story really starts (after a prologue that shows some of what is to come) with Spider-man tackling small scale riots and gang wars. As the game proceeds the first hints of the symbiote infiltration is revealed until ultimately it explodes into a full blown symbiote invasion with the city in quarentine, its citizens on the run and the armed forces (SHIELD in this case) mobilised to tackle the threat with the assistance of some of the cities heroes (yourself included of course).

It is at this point that Web of Shadows storyline really comes into its own and the symbiote invasion has more than a hint of 'Dawn of the Dead' and other zombie themed movies about it. Symbiotes are everywhere - literally by the dozen - what few uninfected citizens flee for their lives, the city lies in ruins and the authorities engage in desperate running battles in the streets in an attempt to staunch the spread of infection. Theres a real change in tone and sense of hopelessness that brings a great atmosphere to the game.

Whilst the missions in Web of Shadows are fairly standard - protect this, fight that, escort this, deliver that and so on - they do manage to remain entertaining as you battle against hordes and hordes of symbiotes. Certainly once the invasion is in full swing the missions do create a sense that you really are a part of the colossal effort to evacuate the city and fight off the symbiote invasion - you genuinely do feel part of the 'team' as opposed to a lone hero doing his own thing whilst the authorities do theirs.

The controls for the game are fairly simple and whilst it is possible to get through the entire game by simply button bashing it is far more rewarding to make the effort to use the special moves you unlock along the way.

One particular feature of the game is the ability to switch between the traditional red and blue spidey suit and the black symbiote suit. The first of these provides you with a variety of agility and speed based attacks and moves whilst the other provides you with generally slower but more powerful attacks. There are similarities between the two suits but also distinct differences between the powers granted by the two suits. The red and blue concentrates on hit and run type attacks and web slinging whilst the black suit allows the gamer to utilize a variety of tendril based attacks at later levels and the ability to throw cars at enemies. The suit can be changed at the click of a button and its quite possible to combine the abilities of both costumes in any given battle. Also it is the case that one suit may provide distinct over the other advantages when facing certain opponants.

Another feature of the game is the ability to call upon allies to assist you in your battles. Which allies you have access to depends upon which part of the city you are in but also whether you have decided to embark upon the 'good' or 'bad' path. The allies for the Xbox version are Luke Cage, Moonknight, Wolverine, Black Cat, Vulture, Electro and Rhino as well as a SHIELD strikeforce. The Black Widow, Kingpin, Mary Jane and Tinkerer also make appearences in the game as NPC's.

The only real criticism I would point at the allies is the fact that its rare that you should ever need to use them and a a result you will generally see very little of them. There are some missions however, for example one where you have to escort a SHIELD convoy, where your allies can really make the difference.

Boss battles throughout the game are entertaining set pieces. Whilst the battles are rarely difficult they are spectacular and prolonged and you usually have to content with fighting off waves of minions as well as the boss himself. Each boss battle concludes with an interactive end scene as the gamer has to successfully hit various buttons in sequence to finally succeed. Hit the wrong buttons and you will fail usually in a fairly visual and sometimes visceral manner. Dont worry if you do fail because you will simply be taken back to the beginning of the sequence to try again and this fact makes it fairly entertaining to fail just to see the various cutscenes availible.

Web of shadows has a branching storyline which provides you with the option of making a 'good' or 'bad' (red suit of black suit) choice at perhap a dozen or more different points in the game. Whilst neither choice has any dramatic effect on how the game is played you overall balance of choices will decide which of the two endings to the game you achieve. It would be possible to criticise the makers of the game for not making your choices more integral to how the game develops but the different cutscenes for the choices are nevertheless hugely entertaining and it does provide a real incentive to play through the game twice to explore all of the alternatives. Heres a little spoiler - when battling symbiote Wolverine make the BAD choice for a truely spectacular cut scene!

Overal Web of shadows is a very solid game. Its quite possible to finish it within a few hours by sticking to the main storyline but the real reward comes from taking the time to do the side missions and really explore the city. Its a game that does the simple thing well whilst never really breaking into a sweat and whilst gameplay can be repetative it quite pleasently rarely stops being enjoyable. I would recommend the game to fans of the Marvel comics as well as to more casual gamers.

What a brilliant game...

I got this game about a month ago and i've been playing it every night for hours, the game is so addictive as there is so much to do, i find out so many new things each time i play Oblivion.
I like the fact that you can play in 3rd person or 1st person which is a good option. You can choose your race, age, abilities etc. There's so many good things about this game, a must for anyone who likes RPG games...

Good game shame about live vision

Yes this is a good game i enjoyed the first one also, it can seem a tad childish but still enjoyable none the less.

the first game had some problems with the controls but they have sorted most of these out.

my only problem is the the live vision system, it's good when it works but i seem to have trouble getting it to scan stuff in,

all and all a good game and really good value! i mean a brand new 360 game for around £30 well worth a buy

Not for the casual gamer

Since i first heard about it Kane and Lynch Dead Men had me in a 'buy now!' hold, and after reading some reviews, i wished it didn't.
But then, my commen sense caved in on me and i ordered it, and it is, quite simply, brilliant.
It vastly lacks novice status and is basicly a gift from IO to all hardcore gamers an shooter nuts, and alongside that a casual gamer SHOULD NOT pick this up, it needs brains, ou need to be able to delve deeper into the game than its skin, and you need to know how the hell to keep a an assult rifle steady when blind firing!
But of course, being a game from IO, it has it flaws, the cover system feels unfinished and in a big ruck weapons feel stupidly inaccurate, but the flaws are far far outweighted by its perfect story line, slick (dirty) diolouge, solid shooting and brilliant multiuplayer.
Its as close to perfect as a shooter can get.

Just Good Fun

Anyone that bad mouths this game really cant understand what its about, basically if you love music, with origional recordings which are much better than any covers that can be made (Guitar Hero) makes this game by far the best of its kind out there to dat, good track list all well known good songs, unlike the new guitar hero which has gone for all the B sides i mean why? whats the point in that? Rock Band FTW!

open your eyes!!!!

Microsoft is so far the best company in consoles and games!!xbox live was a masterpiece idea and add points to this was even better.how much you have paid for 4200 points??? £35??? i just paid 25!!!!here on Amazon,you just need to check everyday and you will find out some promotions.
see you!

THIS THING ACTUALLY WORKS FINE!

U plug it in and it works that's all u need to know. usb and is quite good for your money. good buy!

unbelievable

the closest you will ever get to to being a professional motorsport driver - unless you like a REAL challenge you should probably go for something a little easier on the mind like NFS.

THE FINEST RACING SIM OUT THERE! WITH ALMOST EVERY CAR YOU EVER DREAMT OF, FROM LEADING MODERN SUPER CARS TO THE HUMBLE CLASSICS AND EVERY LEVEL OF PRO MOTORSPORT CARS BAR F1.

It has soul, But lacks any real variety

Soulcalibur has always had stupidly high expectations to live up to, with the dreamcast iteration scoring 10's across the globe and ranking top on many players games of choice. Each subsequent game has failed to match the hype that surrounds it, but this hasn't stopped the guys at Namco trying.

For the latest installment they have teamed up with Lucasarts and managed to bag Yoda, Darth Vader and the apprentice, I'm warning you now... while worthy additions, they look and feel overpowered and out of place. Deep down, we are all here for the same reason and that is to pound the sense out of each other.

Soulcalibur 4 is the series' first foray into HD, and it is an extremely successful one at that. It looks slick and runs well, the audio is top notch and the game barely skips a beat. It plays just as well too. The control scheme is complex yet intutive and provides you with two different types of attack, a kick, a block and multiple kinds of grab, parry and counters... you get the idea. Unfortunately it isn't in the gameplay that this game is lacking, it's in the games variety. It completely lacks any kind of tag match, survival mode or team battle and what is included is short, shallow and very basic.

Story mode has you pitting your favourite characters against the usual competitors, with a few cut scenes that are re used for other characters, the same few lines of dialogue and about 6 minutes worth of total gameplay time. Arcade mode, again is the usual affair, 8 stages each increasing in difficulty. Depth is added from the rather robust character creation mode and the unlockable weapons and costumes. Art work also makes an appearance. But all this is just extras and adds little to the actual focus of the game.

It's saving grace comes in the form of online play. It's full of the usual LIVE crowd, but play without your headset and you will be just fine. You are given the choice of playing ranked matches or not, and can join or host them yourself. It is very minimal and may be full of people who love to mash the same button over and over, but it is buckets of fun none the less.

While the games foundations are solid, and at its core it plays almost flawlessly, it is still nothing more than a glossy, padded out version of the 1999 hit. New additions like the soul gauge and critical finish do make nice additions, and the game does obviously look and sound much better but after 9 years and 3 more installments but is this enough to warrant another full price purchase? I would argue that it is, but only just. I hope that this is the start of something and that the inevitable number 5 builds upon these changes and adds more depth to the options given to the player. oh... and maybe give Ivy a boob reduction??

Like I said, despite its shortcomings, as a stand alone game it does its job well, it just lacks any real variety... but if your willing to stick with just good old fashioned 1 on 1 without all the bells and whistles then you can't go wrong!

They work!

Bought this after hesitating because of the price, and was dubiuos to think they may not work. But, after fitting them they do almost half the"banging on a cardboard box" noise the drums usually put out. Would recommend!

Is the Force still Strong With this One?

This is the game that combines the two Lego Star Wars games on both the original Xbox and the PS2. It has the original cinema trilogy of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It also contains the three prequels - Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
I have both of the original games and bought the complete saga to see what it was like on a current generation console. And the review i am giving is split into two parts. One is for the those people who have NEVER played the last generation console games, and one is for those who HAVE played them.
For those of you out there who have never played the games before there is a simple recommendation - Buy it Now! It is fantastic! It has all the plots of the entire Star Wars movie franchise, and even better, it includes a vast array of the characters that appear in them - all of which are playable! So you can play as Han Solo, Anakin, Darth Vader, R2D2, Luke Skywalker, The Emperor and a very special hidden character............. (well worth finding). All the space ships are here too - most importantly, the Millenium falcon, The X-Wing, Tie Fighters, and loads more. Again all these are playable and can be unlocked by playing through each level.
At it's heart this game is a simple platformer with some shoot 'em ups thrown in for good measure. But scratch the surface and you find a really big game with lots and lots of extras to unlock. Some of the unlockables are essential in completing the game - super lightsabers, fast force, lego stud multipliers, invincibility and many more.
The graphics are simple, yet effective. They do the job really well and move from a cut scene to in-game action seamlessly. All the characters are well presented and instantly recognisable with their own abilities too. So, R2D2 can connect with computers on the Death Star, Darth Vader can open areas covered with the Dark Side of the Force, C3PO can talk to the moisture evaporaters on Tatooine, and best of all you can fly around with Boba and Jango Fett with their rocket packs!
The music is perfect too. Directly lifted from the films, it cannot be faulted in any way - it is genuinely like being in the film.
In terms of playability it is a piece of cake to pick up and play. Anyone from the age of 6 and upwards will be able to get into this very quickly.
In terms of longevity, this will be down to you. To get 100% completion will take a long time, and you will have to play through levels many times to get all the hidden minikits, red power bricks and new, blue minikits. If you just want to play through all the stories, then the game is ultimately a little bit too easy and too short, but i would recommend trying to get all the characters, minikits and ships.
Another excellent part of the game is the co-operative mode. Two players can play through the levels together and help each other. It is really good fun to do this.
In terms of violence, well, there isn't really any. Lego characters get broken and that is about the extent of it. It is all handled very well, with the main focus being on fun, not blood and guts. The humour throughout is brilliant - every level has cut scenes that poke fun at the films, but in a well-meaning, 'in the spirit of' way. I particularly like the scene where the imperial spy in A New Hope is hiding in the celebratory ceremony after the destruction of the Death Star. And these little asides show a real care and commitment to maintaining the Star Wars Legacy.
So, if you are young or old, then this is a game for you! It is fun, easy going and not too taxing.

If you have neither of the original games, then this would get 5 out of 5.


HOWEVER, for those of you have played the individual versions previously, it is a different review. Basically the developers have combined the two original versions and put in a few extra levels and a few extra collectables. Plus on this, the Xbox 360 version there is a huge raft of 42 achievements to be completed. It isn't particularly lazy, but neither have they tried to expand on what was a great game. The extra collectables come in the form of the blue minikits where you have to play through an entire level and collect ten of them in a time limit. There is also the Lego City from the first original trilogy game, and a new called New Town which is basically an improved version of Lego City. The graphics are not any better than the original games, and if anything i found a fault that i didn't particularly like - when there is a cut scene starting the whole thing pauses! This didn't happen on the older consoles, and although minor, i found it really niggling that an older console played this better than a brand new Xbox 360!
There are more hidden characters and obviously on the 360, there are the achievements to collect. But be warned, if you are trying to get all the achievements, you will need to be on Xbox live as one level has to be played through online.

If you have played through the original versions then in my opinion this game is only worth three stars. It is still fun, but there is not enough new features and levels to justify buying it. It is basically a combining of the first two games with a few extra bits bolted on it. If this game had been priced much more cheaply, then i would have probably been more happy with it, but i think it was overpriced for what you actually got in terms of new content.

Having said that, i had a blast completing it to 100% again, and still have a big, cheesy grin on my face! Roll on Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman!!!!

Do not expect a branded card...

Be warned that you do not receive an actual card but rather the code itself... so probably not the best for a present. Still, this is very good value with an extra month and competitive price.

Annoying and lacking in the fun factor

Oh well, I really hoped this would be the 3d sonic game that recaptured the fun of the 2d originals. The graphics are no better than sonic adventure on the sega dreamcast, the camera is frustrating and the gameplay is very linear.

Gaming just got easy

I got this for gears of war and assassins' creed, works brilliantly, I even got the wireless xbox headset to go with it. If you like gaming with controllers instead of keyboard and mouse you cannot go wrong with this.

Great setting, weak gameplay

Beautiful graphics, wonderfully atmospheric setting, but you can't avoid the fact that the gameplay is extremely weak. Once the novelty of the setting and the idea of genetic upgrades wear off, you're left with a game that although using the Unreal engine, doesn't really make very good use of it, and underneath all the decoration, is some fairl weak first-person-shooter combat.
Exploring is easy, just follow an on-screen arrow to where you need to go, you'll rarely be lost.
But combat is what keeps a first person shooter playable in the long term and here it's the worst aspect of the game - you know when a game gets combat right, such as Gears Of War or Half Life 2 - the weapons have the right feeling of weight to them as they fire, the enemies recoil satisfyingly from a good hit, they try to avoid your shots, attack you in a strategic manner - alas this game gets it all wrong - the enemies generally just run straight at you (admittedly they're all suppposed to be deranged mutants, so it fits the story, but doesn't make for interesting combat), the weapons have no feeling of weight, it feels more like just keeping the aiming cursor on them while you hit fire to trigger the"fire" animation and reduce their health until they go into the"die" animation - it's not strategic or satisfying or immersive and is far less fun than even games as old as Quake II - in fact I don't think I'm exagerating to say that the weapons and combat in Doom were probably a bit more satisfying than this.
However, if you want a truly beautiful setting, and good story - it's all here - but the gameplay isn't something to be enjoyed and savoured, it's more of a chore you have to go through to unlock the story bit by bit - unlike a really playable game, you won't go through a section and think"Wow that was fun, I'll enjoy replaying that bit next time around", you'll be thinking"I'm glad that bit's out of the way, now I can see some more of the story and beautiful design." I can imagine a lot of people will find it worthwhile to play through once to see the story, but I can't imagine many people at all would ever want to play through this a 2nd time. It would have worked better as a movie.

It's not a FUN game but its a blinking good one!

Bored? got a few spare weeksmonths to kill? then buy this game. It's great but its HUGE! especially if you are the sort of person who likes to do all the side quests and collect all the rare items etc. I loved it but did find that when i didnt play for a while - i tried to pick it back up where i started from and forgotten what i was doing. On the whole it is a cracking game! Lots of varied quests and places to go. Sometimes i found my graphics would glitch but its a small price to pay for some lovely detailed backgrounds and characters. It has the same format as most adventure games so its easy to pick up and go with it!. There are so many options like which guilds to join, are you 'good' or 'bad', do you follow the main quest or do all the little ones?....oh the list goes on!