Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

No longer relying solely on perfect swinging, Spidey games have finally evolved with the best yet: Web of Shadows. Shaba Games kept what worked in Treyarch’s movie-based games and ditched what didn’t: The plodding combat is blessedly absent, replaced with a new, more acrobatic system that keeps our hero in the air, web-zipping between foes and using agility as much as strength. He’s no slouch while scaling walls either, with a vicious new set of purely vertical attacks. Mission variety is also loads better, with spider-sense hunts for enemies, aerial rescues, and even a trivia section breaking up the brawling.

They’re all part of Spider-Man’s latest battle with the alien symbiote, which he’s also benefiting from via a more-powerful black costume. His struggle to control it is the center of a smart yarn full of moral dilemmas for the player, each with major plot implications.

Shadows has a dark side of its own, with a few glitches like foes and objectives occasionally disappearing or freezing, but they’re not enough to mar this otherwise spectacular adventure.