Those gameplay videos are freaking awesome! I was reading come negativity starting to bubble up in this thread, but those videos have renewed hope for this game. That's combat looks pretty friggen deep and fun as hell and it looks like you can finally really get moving again while webslinging like in Spider-Man 2!
count me as excited!
Oh I'm definitely looking to have this game restore my love for playing as Spiderman. Spiderman 3 really did some damage to it. It has me wondering if maybe I've just outgrown it, probably influenced by Ultimate Spideman preceding it. SM3, was not fun. I did enjoy swinging around in a more than decent Manhattan, the city which really was an improvement over SM2's. The "random crimes" sucked. It was all gang related crap. SM2's variety was actually better, we've already complained about wanting more variety from that one alone. The story game play was horrid. I don't remember enjoying one bit of the main story. The save points were disgusting. I played it up to the very last mission and don't care if I ever finish it. The only reason I played that far was from reading about a mission with Morbius with NYC altered and the people behaving differently. Since I own a 360, I missed that fact that mission is a PS3 exclusive. Playing that game was a chore.
The mere fact "targeting" is not only back, but is also given a central part in the playability of the game. The fact it wasn't present in SM3 only added to the feeling of the developers laughing at those foolish enough to keep playing while doing the equivalent of driving while blind.
The Vulture battle in front of the Chrysler building in the first Spiderman Movie game was probably the highlight of the game for me personally. It was fun and memorable. It is almost as if Shaba recognized that as a highlight in Spiderman games and took it to the next level for this one by perfectly fusing it with the open game play aspect that has since become the standard since that first game. I know I want to fight Vulture in the air again.
I'm looking to this game to show me if they can actually look at the mistakes of the existing games and take what each one actually did well....then improve upon and expand into other areas....then create a game that sets the standard for what a Spiderman game is.
It will largely depend on the control scheme. SM3 didn't feel responsive or consistent. There was no real intuitivness. If there is any super hero game out there that defined the standard to meet for well mapped control schemes, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction should be it.
Watching those clips of Web of Shadows.....while I am awestruck on one level....I'm not so sure. I don't really care for all the flashes of colorful light. They get in the way. The red highlight beam on Vulture, for example....gets in the way of seeing Vulture. Instead of Vulture I see a vertical red ray of light bouncing around in the sky. Then the moves.....I'll be amazed if all of those moves are easily executed due to a well designed control mechanism, especially when you have to mesh two different sets for the two Spidey costumes. It looks great otherwise without knowing the reality of playing it. I just don't want to be dissapointed.
I also wonder if when swinging around the city, if the possessed will just jump out at me when least expected or if I'm going to see a red dot on my compass which I swing over to find I need to break up a gang of symbiotes.
From the Comic Con trailer....which has better definition than the gameplay vids, it does looks like Shaba lovingly tended to the development. It's visually stunning. They face the duty of restoring the good name of Spiderman in the gaming world.
t:
NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! 
