Even if you're not a Spidey fan, you'll probably like Web of Shadows.
Gameplay: Essentially, what you might first wonder about WoS is: Does it make me feel like Spider-Man? The answer is yes, it does. From beating up thugs to swinging around New York, you will feel like the web-slinger. For the most part, gameplay is solid. It will freeze occasionally while swinging once you reach the higher speed levels of the game (to load up the rest of the city in front of you)...I'll talk about the whole speed thing later. Sometimes, while on a mission, the AI will glitch and you won't be able to finish the mission unless you start over. Thankfully, these instances don't occur often.
Controls: The controls of WoS are highly likeable and easy to get used to. Swinging is a breeze: just get a tall building's rooftop to be above you, press and hold the right trigger (R2), and you'll be swing around the whole city in no time. Holding the L1 button during the swing will allow you to climb the web, thus reaching greater altitudes, and holding X during the swing will increase the speed of the swing. Simply release R2 to release your web and stop swinging. You can also "Web-Zip" by tapping the right trigger (R2) button; doing so will have Spidey shoot out a web to attach to a building, lamppost, car, even an enemy, etc. and yank himself forward. This is a good tool to use when you want to move quickly through the air, and you'll probably use it often.
Combat: The combat in WoS is great, though for the most part, too easy. Still, Spidey's got some cool moves, and I'll go over them here (NOTE: Some moves I describe may need to be purchased as an upgrade):
Web-Strike - Pressing triangle will initiate a web-strike manuver, in which Spidey will leap into the air (provided he's not airborne already) and zip along his web towards the enemy. Before reacing said enemy, you can press either triangle, square, or circle to initiate a combat move, or press X to abort the web-strike.
General Attack - Pressing square will cause spidey to begin a normal attack, such as a punch. Continually pressing square will continue the attack further, while pressing square in different patterns or holding square can do different moves.
Web-Shot (Red Suit only) - Prssing O while in the Red Suit will have Spidey shoot out balls of web to entangle and subdue his enemies, When unlocked, Spidey can also shoot a web net.
Tendril Attack (Black Suit only) - Pressing O while in the Black Suit will have Spidey extend a web (when later purschased, Symbiote tendrils) to grab enemies and, depending on the enemy's size, either pull the enemy to Spidey or pull Spidey to the enemy.
Car Throw (Black Suit only) - Yep, when using the Black Suit, you can press O near a vehicle to pick it up and throw it either wherever you want or at a targeted enemy. It's quite fun.
Special Moves - Each suit also has it's own special moves, which are preformed by pressing L1 + square/triangle/circle. Every time you do a special move, your "Special Bar" will decrease; when it's empty, no more special moves. Fight well and your special bar will increase again. I should also tell you that when your special bar is full you can call in allies to assist you; when an ally is called, the special bar will slowly deplete and, when empty, the ally will leave. However, fighting well will raise the bar back up even while an ally is depleting it, so really, as long as you keep on fighting, the ally will stick around forever and help.
And now, back to my review of the game's features...
Camera: You might think that with all Spidey does, the camera might have trouble keeping up...well, for the most part in WoS, it doesn't, thanks to some nifty features and proper programming. First of all, the camera will default behind Spidey and, for the most part, stay there. However, you can manually move the camera via the right analog stick, something that you'll find yourself frequently doing. Another option is to press L2 to lock the camera onto an enemy; this will keep the enemy firmly in your sights no matter what you do. Once locked onto an enemy, however, you can move the right analog stick left/right/up/down to change the target enemy selection to another foe. Pressing and holding L2 will initiate Spider-Sense (and later on, when using the Black Suit, Symbiote-Sense), which highlights allies and enemies.
Story: The story of WoS is very simple yet quite fun, and has two main endings (Good and Evil) with an alternate good ending and an alternate evil ending...so really, 4 endings in total, and you'll want to play through the game at least twice to see the good and evil endings. Throughout the story, you'll be given choices to decide on (a.k.a. choose a path). Depending on your choices, different cutscenes will be activated and you'll end up working for/with different people. I'll tell you the basic outline of the story without spoiling it for you: You'll start off by helping Luke Cage stop a gang war, and eventually you'll discover a Symbiote infestation in New York (caused by Venom) and work with S.H.I.E.L.D to eliminate it (ahem...Black Path may slightly differ, but I won't tell about that because it would be spoiling it).
Allies: During the game, you'll acquire several allies depending on the path you choose. Choose to be evil, and you'll be aided by Super-Villains when you request them, but choose to be heroic and you'll be aided by Super-Heroes. The list of allies/foes that you can work with/against are as follows:
HEROES
Luke Cage
Moon Knight
Wolverine
VILLAINS
Black Cat
Vulture
Rhino
Electro
The best ally of the Super-Heroes, in my opinion, would be Wolverine; the best ally of the Super-Villains, again in my opinion, would be Vulture.
Upgrade Abilities: Preferming tasks, fighting well, and doing optional missions all reward you with XP (Extra-Points) which allow you to go to the upgrade screen and purchase new combat moves for both the Red and Black Suits. Also, during normal, free-roaming play, you'll find red "Spidey Tokens" littered throughout the city. Gather enough of them to reach different "Levels". Once a new "Level" is reached, Spidey's "Special Bar" and "Health Bar" will be increased, along with Spidey's swing/run speed.
Difficulty: As I said, WoS is not really a difficult game at all. On your first play through career mode you may die a few times, but you'll just be put back at the last save point (which i usually somewhere right before when you died). Oh, and don't worry about taking damage if you fall while swinging; you'll probably just land like normal, though if you fall from a great height you could get a miniscule amount of damage. If you take on a lot of damage and are near death, just avoid taking a hit for a short amount of time; the health bar will fill back up again.
Overall, fan or not of Spider-Man, I think you'll like Web of Shadows. It's a fast paced, fun game that's great to play through several times. Hope this review helped:
Sincerely, RedHawk4.
NOTE: If you want to play through a Web of Shadows career mode again but don't want to have to upgrade your combat moves all over again, no problem: what you do is click on "continue game" from the game's start-up menu, and wacth the credits scroll through again (don't skip them). Do this as many times as you need to (just once for me, every time) until you begin a new game by doing it.
NOTE 2 (possible spoilers): When you first fight Wolverine, he'll ask you trivia questions to make sure that you're really Spider-Man; here are the answers to those questions (don't answer them correctly if you want to be evil):
What are your parents' names?: Richard and Mary
Whose killers did we track in Berlin?: Ned Leeds
Where did you first wear the Black Suit?: Battleworld
Who declined joining the New Avengers?: Daredevil
What is "Critical Mass"?: A Mutant
Who served us roast and pie?: Aunt May