With the exception of Web Strikes, the combat in the game was essentially mashing the attack button in combination with others for win more purposes. It wasn't great by any means, especially when you can just web strike, which is more beneficial. It had very little thinking and there was a lot of combat sections, which takes away from the traversal element of Spider-Man. It was just swing there, mash square for victory, swing there, maybe switch to black suit and do it again. These ideas were better implemented into the Beenox beat 'em-ups in my opinion for better flow in combat.
None of the Spider-Man games had good combat. Spider-Man 2 was a precursor to the Arkham style combat that we know and love today but it was very basic and forced you to impact web everything before attacking. It was fun for its time but that was 12 years ago.
Web of Shadows has shades of a good game in there but the awful story, voice acting, script, mindless combat sections and the dumb RPG-like morality system really ruins the experience. The quick-time events were horrible too as they came out of nowhere and gave you no time to react. It tried to throw in everything that was hot at the time (Mass Effect, God of War) and it just doesn't seem right. Some of the boss battles were definitely cool, but I feel like Spider-Man games typically always deliver on that front. I also agree with how apocalypse based storylines just don't work for a Spider-Man anything. Game story wise, Ultimate Spider-Man and the OG PS1 games still had it best.
Best wishes.