Cell Shading? Check. Great looking city? Check. Lackluster combat? Check.
The real letdown is the combat. It consists of repetitive button mashing with endless repetition. The high points of combat are the boss battles. They are stunning with exciting locations only let down by a repetitive forumla. Chase the baddie. Stuff up until you learn where he goes. Fight the baddie. This tired mission formula is let down further by action points where you must hit L and R as quickly as possible. In the later missions performing these are frustratingly impossible.
Once the game is finished you unlock the ability to play as Venom. He is good to play as with powerful attacks and an interesting twist to gaining health. Unfortunately the missions with him consist only of cops, cars and helicopters and races. Combat against some of Spider-Man's enemies would have been good.