Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

MARVEL'S UNIVERSE UNLEASHED

You're not the only hero in town anymore. When Venom attempts to take over New York by cloning himself into an army of aliens, a huge swath of the Marvel universe shows up to either defend the city or take advantage of the chaos. SHIELD covers the skies with ships and quarantines the population. During our demo, Peter accepted a mission from Luke Cage.

The developers worked on Marvel: Ultimate Alliance's downloadable content, so they're familiar with the famous cast of characters and are eager to have Spider-Man interact with them again. Speaking of which...

POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY

Your interactions matter. Your preference for red suit or black suit matters. Your choices matter. At multiple points, in fact, you will be faced with a game-changing decision that can affect not only what ending you see, but which fellow heroes are still standing with you at the end... and which villains are still lurking.

More intriguing is the transformation of the city itself. As the story progresses and the alien invasion spreads, you'll explore several variations on the familiar Manhattan setting (which is still free roaming, by the way). Watch the trailer below to get an idea of how much destruction is in store.

Speaking of which...

BASED ON THE COMICS, NOT THE MOVIES

The first thing we noticed about the setting in Web of Shadows was the color - it was back. Freed from the movie license, this game is also liberated from the drab, real world palette used in Spider-Man 3. The universe is more vibrant, more pop-off-the-page. You can almost imagine a dialogue balloon materializing in this version of Manhattan.

Plus, no more bored, listless voice acting from Tobey Maguire or Kirsten Dunst. We'll give the Spider-Man franchise another chance just because of that...

Jun 9, 2008

Charlie Barratt
I enjoy sunshine, the company of kittens and turning frowns upside down. I am also a fan of sarcasm. Let's be friends!