Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

Overview

Plot

This storyline describes players making the Red (Good/Light) decisions at every opportunity .

Peter Parker, Spider-man, is in terrible peril. All over the city, chaos and madness reign. As New York crumbles around him, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the symbiotes wage a terrible battle in the background. Peter however only has one goal in mind, to quell the symbiote invasion and rescue his city at any cost. Peter, as Spider-man, leaves the broken rooftop battle ground and engages battle in the streets of NY against the seemingly endless symbiote forces.

Desperately searching for any sign of his love Mary Jane, Pete encounters numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. convoys under siege. After rescuing the soldiers, he frantically demands to know if they have seen Luke Cage or Mary Jane. When the soldiers don't have the answer he seeks, Spider-man departs to continue his search elsewhere in the streets. Eventually finding the pair after a near automobile collision, Spider-man implores Mary Jane to think of her own safety especially given her broken arm. MJ rebukes Peter about still having the alien symbiote suit and demands he get rid of the black suit. All the while a mysterious black figure approaches through the shadows. Seeing this, Mary Jane begs Peter to flee, but to no avail. The black figure sends out tendrils that envelop Spider-man and drag him into the darkness.

Four days prior, Spider-man is in terrible peril. In the hands of none other than Venom ( Eddie Brock), Parker feels his life ebbing away. In an unforeseen turn of events, the symbiote suit tries to re-unite with Spider-man once again. Sensing Venom's grip abating, Spider-man wrests free from Venom's grasp but not before the symbiote reattaches itself onto Spider-man. Using his newly found augmented Black suit strength, Peter proceeds to beat Venom into submission by viciously hurling cars into Venom's face. While Spider-man is briefly distracted by checking on Mary Jane's well being, Venom absconds into the safety of New York's vast spaciousness.

Mary Jane is transported to a nearby hospital. As soon as the ambulance arrives at the hospital entrance, a violent gang war emerges endangering everyone in the area. Peter sets out to break up the gang war before the gangs can harm Mary Jane. As Spider-man he busts up the Park Avenues and the Rolling Sevens gangs until more re-enforcements arrive than he can handle.

Luke Cage appears on the scene to assist Spider-man in quelling the Gang war. Despite the gangs' barrage of bullets, Cage is unharmed and quickly overwhelms the remaining gang bangers. After the fight, Spider-man checks on Mary Jane's injuries. She expresses concern at the reappearance of the black suit, citing the previous experience where Peter lost control. Before Parker can decide, Powerman approaches Spidey with a deal. Frustrated by the constant gang war shoot-outs in his neighborhood, Luke Cage enlists Spidey's help to arrange a parley between the two rival gangs.

During the night-time park parley, talks seem to be progressing well between the two gangs. However, Spider-man discovers highly armed snipers taking aim at the peace proceeding! Springing into action, Spider-man soundly defeats the numerous snipers. He also uncovers a conspiracy to assassinate both gang leaders. Rushing back to the parley, Spider-man unveils the terrible scheme and brings peace to the two gangs once again.

Spider-man has a feeling who supplied the weapons to the sniper hit men and decides to go visit the richest crime-lord in town, the Kingpin. When he arrives at the building, Spidey finds no other than Black Cat exiting the rooftop entrance! Cat is seen being escorted by Fisk goons to a local robbery. While battling Fisk's goons, Spider-man is besieged by Moon Knight whom decides teams up to battle the Kingpin's cronies. Spider-man ultimately chases Black Cat back to her rooftop apartment where he is propositioned to stay with her. However, Peter refuses Black Cat's offer and leaves to continue investigating Fisk.

Acting on a tip from Moon Knight, Parker hurries to the Daily Bugle to foil a planned Kingpin robbery. Pete arrives at the Bugle only to find the nearby courthouse under attack. A violent shootout is taking place while The Kingpin's forces plant bombs on the court house, Spider-man assists the bomb squad in removing them until a giant mech attacks the courthouse. Spider-man pushes back the mechs and bombers until they retreat in failure.

After no sign of Venom and with no other leads, Spider-man heads back to Wilson Fisk's building to infiltrate and look for clues. Upon entry, he finds his old nemesis, The Vulture, in the midst of building flying tech for Fisk. Vulture, unable to contain his rage at being interrupted, slams Spider-man through the nearby skylights. The two engage in a spectacular aerial battle which eventually leaves the Vulture defeated and tied up for the authorities.

Afterward while patrolling, Spider-man is attacked by civilians with freakish powers. In the midst of defending himself Spidey is seen throwing civilians off the roof of a 50 story building by several policemen. Seeing as how the wall-crawler is the king of misunderstandings, the police open fire immediately. Spider-man returns to Moon Knight and the two theorize that perhaps symbiotes are infecting the common people! The two set out to stop the deranged civilian groups. After defeating several groups of deranged citizens, the packs seem to be growing in number with no end in sight. Spider-man then has a chilling thought, could the symbiotes be spreading? Is this all a result of the fight between Venom and himself?

While investigating Hell's Kitchen, Spider-man is attacked by none other than Wolverine! The duo battle it out while Wolverine quizzes Spider-man about details of his past. Parker' s answers prove his identity but the two are interrupted by the infected citizens. After the situation has calmed down, Wolverine helps Spider-man tune his spider sense to track down the infected civilians. With Logan's help, Spider-man sets out to continue the battle against the growing symbiote horde.

In the midst of tracking down renegade civilians, Spider-man stumbles headfirst into Eddie Brock. The symbiote Venom claims to have taken full control and no longer bows to Eddie. Venom then demonstrates how he captures innocent people and turns them into his symbiote minions. Venom sends his captured servants to delay Spider-man and runs off to continue propagating his species. Spidey gives chase to Venom all over the city discovering more and more pod hives that Venom uses to convert people into unwilling symbiotes. After being soundly defeated, Venom slinks off while Spider-man resolves to destroy the symbiote pods and stop this madness.

At the S.H.I.E.L.D. blockade, Spider-man finds Black Widow leading civilians into a quarantine camp. Black Widow tries to arrest Spider-man (for his misunderstanding with civilians on the roof) when Electro bursts into the scene. Spiderman gives chase around the city trying to calm Electro, who is devastating several S.H.I.E.L.D. quarantine camps. Eventually Black Widow snipes Electro who was searching for his sister. Unfortunately Electro's sister was infected with a symbiote who then spreads it to Electro.

With the infection spreading, Spider-man tries to contact the Fantastic Four and Iron Man for help but to no avail. Even famous scientists Hank McCoy and Henry Pym are missing in action. Out of options, Spider-man resolves to free the Tinkerer from Rikers island prison to develop a device against symbiotes and freeing the people inside. Spidey heads to Rikers Island maximum security prison with the help of Moon Knight. Rhino breaks free from his cell, but Spider-man uses it as opportunity and rides Rhino to smash through all the security doors. Spider-man makes it to Tinkerer's cell and the two escape upon an elevator to freedom.

After a terse confrontation with Black Widow and Kingpin, Spider-man and Tinkerer are taken to the command center at Stark industries. In the meantime S.H.I.E.L.D. destroys the only major bridge exit, effectively isolating the city. Spider-man only hopes they can save the city before it's too late. At the S.H.I.E.L.D. compound, an electric barrier has been erected to keep out the infected. While Tinkerer develops the weapon, Spider-man assists in S.H.I.E.L.D. operations including defending the command center from waves of invading symbiotes. Peter also escorts the rescue waves sent out to round up remaining civilians.

To fully realize his master weapon, Tinkerer demands parts located at Kingpin's Trask building. Black Widow decides to commander Fisk headquarters to complete the job. Black Widow sends Spider-man to infiltrate the building and make a deal with Kingpin. Spider-man begrudgingly asks Kingpin for help, but Kingpin forces Peter do menial tasks in return. Tinkerer then moves into the Trask building to continue development of the symbiote anti-weapon. Once established, Tinkerer unveils a device that can generate a Colossal sound wave freeing the entire city from the symbiotes. Using the Trask building's unique steel resonance the device's sound wave will be amplified enveloping all creatures within the area. While Tinkerer readies the device, Spider-man is dispatched to handle new electric symbiotes preventing S.H.I.E.L.D. from evacuating the city.

Peter destroys many symbiote pods, but the numbers continue to grow. The general consensus is to hit the symbiotes at their source starting with the electrical symbiotes, Spider-man chases a group of electrical symbiotes to a park where a large husk seems to be channeling massive amounts of electricity. After defeating several spawning pods the remaining symbiotes channel their power to summon Electro who has been consumed by the symbiote. The minions then funnel their power directly into Electro, causing him to go into a mindless rage. Spiderman defeats several more pods and minions, thereby rescuing Electro from the symbiote controlling him. Although severely wounded, Electro joins Spider-man in his quest to save New York.

In all the chaos, Peter receives a frantic call from Mary Jane asking to meet at the Harlem park. Spider-man arrives to find Mary Jane and Luke Cage organizing a rescue attempt. They plan to evacuate everyone in Harlem, but know that it would impossible to escape on foot. They ask Peter to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. re-enforcements and to find Wolverine whom left to attack symbiotes in the area. Mary Jane, armed with a shotgun and her arm in a cast, leaves with Luke to round up survivors. Peter leaves to secure an evacuation zone, the nearby church where Wolverine was last spotted. When he arrives at the church, Wolverine is using church bells to stun the symbiotes who are weak to sonic attacks. The two set out to cleanse the church so Harlem residents can be saved.

Spidey and Wolverine clear the church so that S.H.I.E.L.D. ships may land safely. As the evacuation ship is leaving with civilians, several brute symbiotes attack the ship. Wolverine leaps off to handle them, but is quickly overwhelmed and infected by the symbiotes. Being possessed by the symbiote, Wolverine is nearly consumed with blood lust and attacks Peter with no hesitation. Spider-man and Wolverine then have a battle that leaves the entire churchyard in ruins. After being handily beaten, Wolverine regains enough of his senses to attack the symbiote from within and claw his way to freedom.

Spider-man goes back to Harlem to check in on Luke Cage and MJ. Mary Jane expresses concern about the black suit controlling Peter, but Pete promises to be careful. While MJ and Cage guide the lead convoy to the safety zone, Spider-man leads the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle convey out of Harlem through infested symbiote streets. Fighting his way through block after block of ruined New York City, Spider-man makes it with his convey safety. When he arrives with no sign of Luke Cage and Mary Jane, Peter starts to freak out. He dives back into the streets desperately searching for Mary Jane (which took place at the beginning of the game).

Time shifts back to the Present, Peter is enveloped by black tendrils and at the bottom of a symbiote dog pile. He bursts free from the pile in search of Felicia Hardy who has been possessed by her own Symbiote. Finding her on a rooftop, Peter tries to save Felicia Hardy from what she has become. Using a primal shriek Black Cat is able to command other nearby symbiotes to attack Spider-man. Despite the overwhelming numbers, Spider-man turns the tide once Mary Jane arrives with a shotgun aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport. Enraged at the interference, Black Cat orders all nearby symbiotes to target Mary Jane instead. With Mary Jane's help, Spider-man continues to eliminate the remaining symbiotes. Black Cat, sensing her imminent defeat , attacks Mary Jane directly and almost succeeds in killing her. With no other choice, Spider-man is forced to viciously defeat Felicia to save the life of Mary Jane. Gravely injured, Felicia apologizes that should couldn't help defeat Venom before being taken away on a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport with MJ.

Back at the Trask tower, Tinkerer is ready deploys his ultimate device when it immediately comes under attack by the Vulture who has been taken over by a symbiote. Spider-man once again takes to the skies along with the S.H.I.E.L.D. fleet to save the device from Vulture and numerous vulturlings. Spidey defeats the Vulture and ensures the device goes off freeing thousands of citizens from their Symbiote fate. Being at ground zero for the sonic explosion has completely destroyed his Black Suit.

At long last, Venom is spotted piloting a captured S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier flagship. Having infected all agents on board, Spider-man and his allies prepare for one final battle. Assaulting the ship, the plan is to destroy Venom by exploding the entire ship from within using bombs located in the hangar bay. Battling his way through the symbiote army, Spider-man break several devices that prevent access to the hanger doors. Forcing his way to the bomb armory, Spider-man places bombs all over the ship.

Once Spidey has planted the bombs, gigantic tendrils seize the ship. The symbiote form of Venom latches onto the ship and pulls itself aboard. Using its accumulated power, Venom has taken on a monstrous five-headed form that is staggering in size. Peter tries to appeal to Eddie Brock to end the madness once and for all, but the symbiote has taken complete control of Eddie's mind. None too pleased with the actions Spider-man has taken, Venom tries to destroy Spider-man once and for all.

Frantically fighting for his life, Spider-man systematically destroys the extra heads of Venom. Dodging various crushing blows, Peter calls out to the last shred of humanity Eddie has left. Reaching out his hand, Parker tries to save Eddie one last time. Eddie Brock, exhausted by his ordeal at the hands of the symbiote, decides to take control of his life back at any cost. Refusing Peter's help, Eddie Brock drags himself into a nearby engine turbine, trapping the gargantuan Symbiote aboard the exploding ship. As the ship sinks into the bay, it erupts into a magnificent explosion utterly destroying the terrible monster.

Spider-man finds himself on a rooftop, shaken but not broken by the events of the past week. Narrating to himself, Peter feels a slight sense of relief and believes that peace has finally returned to his city at last. With Mary Jane in tow Pete web-slings off into the distance, happy that today starts a brand new day.

Gameplay Overview

The game is set in the mainstream Marvel Comics universe. Like its predecessors Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and Ultimate Spider-Man, the game allows free-roaming web slinging action. Prior to release, Shaba Games stated that they wanted to blend web slinging and combat together to make this Spider-Man game, unlike any other to date. Using an upgrade tree, players are able to customize Spider-Man's aerial and ground combat abilities via experience points.

Quick Time Events Web of Shadows at times uses Quick time events to handle difficult tasks thereby increasing immersion. An example is usage during boss fights where Q.T.E. provide special combos or evasion maneuvers to defeat Spider-man's foes. Often times Spider-man uses Q.T.E. prompts to save civilians from a grizzly falling demise. The last example is to hasten the process of a certain enemy types (specifically the mech), where a Q.T.E. removes the mech's gun and pilot thereby destroying the mech instantly.

Suit Mechanics

As a result of being infected by the Venom symbiote, Spider-Man has a black suit similar to that of Venom's, rather than the enhanced costume seen in Spider-Man 3. During the course of the game the player can instantaneously swap between the red and black suits with the press of a button, regardless of being in the air, running, or in combat. The double suit is an emphasis on the contrast between Light and Dark, with the game's new morality system. Prolonged use of a specific suit also affects morality standing.
ameplay is affected by which suit the player is currently using. The red suit emphasizes agility and numerous webbing-based attacks. The black suit on the other hand, embraces strength rather than speed. In addition to being stronger, the black suit allows players to use symbiote based attacks such as springing tendrils from the suit to grab or smash enemies. This suit also allows the player to perform such feats aslifting cars in the air and throwing them at opponents. Also as a new feature, players can actually swim in water instead of either dying or being shown a cut-scene of climbing out on shore.
Even though the player can freely switch between the suits at any time, upgrades are completely separate. Red suit upgrades only affect attacks and combos for the Red, and Black upgrades only impact the black suit. However, by collecting the "Spider Collectibles" Spider-man gains levels (up to 11) which increase his overall speed and damage in both forms.

Morality System

Choices

Depending on where the player currently stands on the morality bar, the city will begin to see Spider-Man as either a hero or a rebel. This moral alignment will determine which allies Spider-man can call on for assistance in given missions. Should the city see Spider-Man as a rebel he will team up with villains to destroy Venom, but if the city sees Spider-Man as a heroic savior he will team up with other well known heroes to stop the invasion of New York City. At times the player is presented with a choice between Red Suit (Light) and Black suit (Dark). The decisions the player makes will result in consequences, which impact the outcome of the game. This also leads to a branching storyline where decisions change characters and missions available as well as multiple endings.

Allies

There are allies who can be called into the fray once Spider-man has a full special meter. The meter is filled by completing objects and defeating enemies. Based on the player's alignment, assists are locked to either Heroes or Villains to be called forth. Once a player is over 50% alignment in towards Red or Black, the assist characters available change. Depending on what point in the story the player is, assist characters are both unlocked and sometimes even relocked.

Red Side	Black Side
Wolverine The angry Canadian himself, shows up to help out Spider-man after he proves himself worthy. Mostly does melee attacks with his claws and some lunges.	Black Cat On again off again flame for Spider-man can be called on for assistance regardless of the outcome of their meeting. Uses a whip like baton device to attack and travel.
Luke Cage Power Man himself, is here to send your enemies packing. He definitely doesn't take no Jibba Jabba, FOO! Does a full on charge move as well as punching.	Vulture The Vulture, found working for Wilson Fisk is a deadly foe and a formidable ally. Capable of flight and using the individual wing pieces to attack.
Moon Knight A pious follower of Khonshu, Moon Knight offers his skills and his technology to right terrible wrongs. Has Moon shaped projectiles.	Rhino A big dumb bulldozer of a brute, Rhino charges through obstacles with as much sense as a brick wall. Much like the mission, when summoned Rhino is Spider-Man's personal bull in a china shop.
	Electro Not the brightest bulb in the socket, but he'll burn foes to a crisp at light speed. Hits with blasts of lightning, Bioshock style.

Other Versions

The DS, PSP and Playstation 2 versions of the game are side-scrolling beat-em-up styled platformers, featuring a large 2.5D world to explore. These platforms contain "other" heroes and villains to call upon, to help Spider-man. E.G. Nightcrawler, Carnage

Endings

In Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows, the game contains four (alternate) endings that can only be gained from doing "certain" in-game objectives.

• Hero: By picking more "Red Choices" than "Black Choices", but you decide to heal Black Cat, instead of going with Mary Jane.
• Anti-Hero: By Picking more "Black Choices" than "Red Choices", the only way to see this ending, is by, "not healing Black Cat", and picking more black choices. Spider-Man is seen controlling "all" of New York, and Black Widow sends in Symbiotic Wolverine to kill or bring Spider-Man in alive.
• Mary Jane and Spider-Man: By picking more "Red Choices" than Black Choices, Spider-Man is caught by Mary Jane, narrating the game. They swing off into the sun set.
• Black Cat and Spider-Man: More "Black Choices" than "Red", Black Cat and Spider-Man control all of New York together. Black Widow then sends in Symbiote Wolverine to kill them or bring them back alive. Wolverine decides "Dead".