Video Game Vintage Title: Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows

Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a video game title encompassing three versions: a full-3D action game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360; a 2.5D sidescrolling beat em up action game for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 , and a 2.5D side-scrolling brawler/platformer for the Nintendo DS.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, along with most other games published by Activision that had used the Marvel licence, was de-listed and removed from all digital storefronts on January 1, 2014.

Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows Plot

Spider-Man searches for Mary Jane Watson while the city of New York is infested with symbiotes. He finds her with Luke Cage but then sees a mysterious figure and is attacked. During a flashback to four days earlier, Spider-Man retells his account of how his latest encounter with Venom ended with a piece of the symbiote binding to himself. After the fight with Venom, a hurt Mary Jane is sent to a hospital and Spidey meets Luke Cage during a gang war. Cage explains the Rolling Sevens and Park Avenue gangs are at war, and that their task is to bring the two to a truce. After pursuing the two gang leaders across the city, Spider-Man manages to get them to agree to a peaceful meeting in a park in Harlem.

Outside the rendezvous point, Spider-Man discovers high-tech assassins on top of the nearby buildings. After defeating them, he traces the assassins back to the Kingpin. He ends up running into the Black Cat, who appears to be working with the Kingpin. The two fight briefly, but in the end, Black Cat reveals she is working against Kingpin. The two join forces with Moon Knight in order to stop the Kingpin's illegal activities, battling several of his men including the Vulture. Eventually, Spider-Man confronts a number of Kingpin's henchman on the roof of the Daily Bugle, where a number of civilians suddenly attack them with their hands and teeth. A news helicopter sees Spider-Man throwing civilians off of the building, and the police believe him to be a murderer. Unknown to them, the civilians have been infected with symbiotes.

Wolverine, thinking Spider-Man to be possessed by a symbiote, tracks down and confronts the web-slinger in Hell's Kitchen. After a battle, the two settle their differences and begin tracking down infected citizens. Eventually, Spider-Man finds Venom throwing people into symbiote pods, turning them into monsters. The two engage in a cross-city battle in which Venom escapes and several of the pods are destroyed. A S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by Black Widow arrives quarantines New York and sets up symbiote controlled citizen quarantine camps. Electro attacks one of the camps looking for his sister, who accidentally infects him with the symbiote attached to her.

Since no genius heroes are available, Spider-Man decides to break the Tinkerer out of Riker's to utilise his scientific genius to find a countermeasure to the symbiotes. Upon reaching the prison, Spider-Man teams up with the Rhino, using his strength to help free the Tinkerer. The Tinkerer (in return for a pardon, etc.) then designs a device to be installed on the Trask Building; it will not harm the infected hosts, only remove the symbiotes. While the Tinkerer constructs the device, Spider-Man aids S.H.I.E.L.D. in dealing with the symbiote infestation in the streets of Manhattan. First, he confronts the symbiote Electro in Central Park, defeating him and stopping him from reaching the city's power supply. He then helps Wolverine in evacuating a church filled with civilians, but Wolverine ends up getting infected and attacks Spider-Man. Spider-Man is able to purge Wolverine of the symbiote, and then goes looking for Mary Jane.

He finds her and helps her and Luke Cage clear out Harlem, but goes to a building, which has been invaded by symbiotes. There, he finds a symbiote possessed Black Cat, apparently the leader of the hive, and defeats her with help from Mary Jane. The Tinkerer's device is completed, but a symbiote Vulture leads an attack against the Trask Building to stop it. After defeating the Vulture, Spider-Man is confronted with a choice which is determined by the actions you have picked in the game. He can activate the device, which kills the symbiotes, or become dominated by the black suit, and leave the device turned off. He then responds to an attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, which is being attacked by Venom.

Enlisting Moon Knight or Vulture (depending on your actions) to carry him to the Helicarrier, Spider-Man sets bombs to destroy the ship, but is confronted by Venom in the form of a monstrous five headed behemoth. Spider-Man is able to destroy four of the heads, and calls on Eddie Brock. Here, you can choose to either get Eddie to try and assist with destroying the symbiotes, or kill Eddie.

In the good ending, realizing the destruction that has been caused by his alter ego, Brock sacrifices himself. In the bad ending, Spider-man becomes dominated by the black suit and pushes Eddie towards a Helicarrier engine, killing him. The symbiote monster weakens, and the Helicarrier explodes, destroying the Venom symbiote.

Red/Hero Ending : A week after the catastrophe, Spider-Man narrates about his victory on the top of a building before swinging away with Mary Jane, to make her forget he was narrating.

Anti-hero Ending: A week after the catastrophe, Spider-man calls Mary Jane to tell her that he's sorry for his bad decisions, but she doesn't answer, so he leaves this message in her voicemail.

Anti-villain Ending: Spider-Man dominates New York's symbiotes with the power of the Black Suit.

Black/Villain Ending: Spider-Man dominates New York's symbiotes with the black suit, and with a symbiote Black Cat at his side. After this, it is revealed that Kingpin, the Tinkerer, and Black Widow have all banded together to stop Spider-Man, by unleashing a symbiote Wolverine, which you defeat earlier in the game.

Reception
Web of Shadows has received generally positive reviews from critics praising the idea of an original story, but citing poor execution. IGN criticized the story, and also pointed out that the lock-on camera has a tendency to detach itself, making mid-air battles difficult. 1UP.com praised the game as having "plenty of cool "Spider-Man" moments throughout thanks to the basic locomotion and combat", which "settles into a rhythm of repetition", summing up with "Shadows might be the best Spider-Man game yet, but that's just a testament to the series' now-mediocre standards." GameSpot mentioned occasional technical issues with the graphics, sound, and camera, while praising the story, combat system, variety and "memorable" boss fights. Gamespy commented "Web of Shadows manages to provide a good deal of fun even if it doesn't bring much new to the table.", praising the animation and combat, and mentioning camera problems and visual glitches along with a repetition of objectives. Game Informer criticized the voice acting, camera, and animation, claiming "As explosive as the new combat is, it�s all this game has to offer."

The DS version of the game, in contrast to the console versions, was relatively well-received, with reviewers praising level design similar to the Castlevania and Metroid franchises while criticizing the short length.