So, Spider-Man 3 wasn't that good, right? I'm referring to the game (granted the movie really wasn't that much better… poor Venom). However those crazy game makers out there are giving good old Web Head another shot, and I was able to get some hands-on time at Activate 08 yesterday.

The game is called Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and because the developers are not restricted by a movie licence this time, they are able to get a lot more creative with the story.

The basic premise of the game is that there seems to be a symbiotic invasion happening and it's up to Spider-Man and other Marvel characters (both heroes and villains) to save the day. You see this problem is so bad, everyone is threatened by it - however, who you will team up with is dictated not by the game, but by the player's choices.

Spider-Man's awesome black suit is back and this time you can switch back and forth between it and the red suit with the click of a control stick. This can be done any time, even in the middle of a combo. So depending on which suit you use, at certain story points in the game you will have either heroes or villains choosing to side with The Human Spider in certain battles. There are also multiple endings to the game, and based on a recent trailer it looks like you will get to fight the symbiotic version of some classic heroes and villains (Venom Wolverine should be a hell of a fight).

The visuals are a great improvement over the last game and the city feels a bit more alive than before. There are more people around to react to the different situations. It's not up to GTA IV level but it's still better than other superhero games than have had open world cities. I did notice that when you get into a fight around buildings windows will shatter and walls will break in - basically you can see some of the damage to the actual city that you are inflicting. I also saw that you do more collateral damage when in the black suit than when in the red.

There are obviously bigger differences in the suits; the main being that the red suit focuses on speed and webbing and the black suit is more about power and grabbing enemies with tentacles. As you play through the game you level up, which boosts a lot of things. You get more moves to fight with, you can also choose which moves (red or black) to purchase with your experience points. The other thing that boosts with your levelling up is your swinging.

The more specific controls you had when swinging around the city are gone. Don't get me wrong, you still have full reign to swing around where you please and it still feels awesome. However, in previous games you really could learn to master the swinging to get around faster and in different ways. The controls have been simplified a bit in this one, and as you level up Spider-Man will naturally start to swing faster and improve on how he gets around. Some people might not like this but to be honest I didn't even notice and was actually grateful that I could just get around the city without any hassle or messing around with the controls too much. It was simple but still tons of fun, and hopefully will only get better as you level up further.

The biggest improvement for this game though is the combat, which is something that has been pretty neglected in all the other games. Previously there were some basic combo's that you could use (but didn't really have to) and you could easily get around by just button mashing. This game is the first to finally start capturing how it would be to fight as The Wall Crawler.

Firstly, there is the ability to lock onto a target which always keeps the camera aimed at them (no more losing track of where they are – a big problem in all previous games). From there you can press one button to attach your web to your foe and pull yourself towards them, and then time an attack just as you strike. From there you have plenty of options; you can fight them in the air, the ground or on walls. All of this flows together really well and after getting used to the system, it is not just easy but a lot of fun to jump from one target to the next without skipping a beat.

Unlike previous games, button mashing will only get you so far. After a while you will need to learn to understand this new system and use it to your advantage.

I found it was more like a dance. You just have to learn to time your steps and button presses right and you get very cool looking and satisfying combat. It will be interesting to see how much deeper this gets as you learn more combos, get better at switching between red and black suits in fights etc.

Unfortunately I cannot comment on the sound, as I wasn't able to hear anything at the event (too much noise around). So I don't know if the voice actors carry the characters well or if Spiderman's witty remarks are still there. I do know there are none of the movie actors doing any voices (thank goodness) and the developers instead focused on getting talented voice actors.

All in all, the story looks not just like a good Spider-Man story but a good Marvel story involving a lot of characters from their universe. The combat is awesome. The Spider-Man 2 game was the first to truly capture what it was like to swing around New York as Spider-Man; this may be the first to finally let us know what it's like to fight as him too.