Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

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Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was a 2008 video game starring Spider-Man as he tried to stop Venom and his symbiote army from taking over New York, and is helped by Moon Knight, Wolverine, and Luke Cage.

The game takes notes from the Wide Open Sandbox of Spiderman 2: The Game, ironing out the flaws introduced there and adding an evolving environment that gradually turns New York's appearance into that of a symbiote entrenched alien world. The gameplay involves an in-depth combat system similar to Spiderman 2's as well as changes in web-swinging mobility that actually allow aerial battles and wall-crawling battles to be fun. The Symbiote Suit/Red Suit duality is back, with each suit requiring distinct playstyles and with the ability to be instantly interchanged even in the midst of battle to switch up combos. The variety of combat options and the ease in switching between the different modes of combat means battles are extremely dynamic.

The game was often touted by advertisements and previews as delivering the "complete" experience of being Spider-Man. Because of this, the console game is considered one of the best Spider-Man games in recent history to fans, but most critics found it So Okay Its Average due to graphical and sound flaws, as well as repetitive main- and side-quests.

This game provides examples of:

  • A Winner Is You: In the PS 2 version, once you beat the final boss, all you get is a pop up saying "Congratulations, you beat Spider-Man: Web of Shadows!" before going back to the main menu. You don't even get an image for your efforts.
  • Action Commands
  • Action Girl: Mary-Jane. Rather than being the Distressed Damsel, she actually takes part in the boss fight against Symbiote Black Cat, blasting away at symbiotes with her shotgun from a hovercraft.
    • She also fires that shotgun with essentially one hand, as her right arm is broken.
  • AI Breaker: the last two bosses of the Nintendo DS version are Those Two Bosses of the game, until you start Whoring two of the most basic moves in the game. Venom, the penultimate boss, can be beaten simply by standing on either the lower edge on the far left or on the other on the far right, and then keeping shooting webs, causing Venom to be slammed to the ground, while the Final Boss can be beaten by... wait for it... kicking him by spamming web-swinging. So much for the "final boss".
  • Alliterative Name: It is Spider-Man, after all.
  • Always Save the Girl: The Black Cat ending
  • Animal Motifs: Obviously -- Spidey, Black Widow, Rhino, Vulture, Black Cat, and so on...
  • Ax Crazy: Venom, when Eddie's not in control.
  • Badass Boast: Spider-Man after getting the symbiote near the beginning of the game.

 Spider-Man: Venom, get ready for a world of pain!

  • Badass Bookworm
  • Badass Normal: Moon Knight, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, and Mary Jane.
  • Betty and Veronica: Mary Jane and Black Cat.
  • Berserk Button: Only just averted. During Kingpin's Kick the Dog moment (see below), Spider-Man almost uses the Black Suit to pummel the guy, but stops himself, because he made a promise to Mary-Jane that he wouldn't use it.
  • Brick Joke: When Spider-Man talks with Luke Cage about ending the gang violence in Harlem, he mentions that, growing up in the relatively peaceful Queens, he probably wouldn't have any idea what it was like on the streets. Later, when arranging a meeting between the rival gang leaders, this exchange occurs.

 Spider-Man: Now, be there, or be square.

Gang leader: "Be square"?! Are you from Queens or something?

  • Building Swing
  • Car Fu: The super-powered variant, but Spidey can only use it while in Symbiote mode -- presumably, he has too much restraint otherwise.
  • Catgirl
  • Chest Insignia: Spidey and Venom have spiders and Moon Knight has a moon.
  • Continuity Nod: The first time you meet Kingpin's gliders, Peter will say "Gliders are so 2004, guys. Sandman is in now!" Then there's Woverine's questions that he asks you.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Kingpin's thugs use goblin gliders, Powered Armour, and Mini Mecha. And people thought his guards having laser guns was improbable!
  • Dating Catwoman: Black Cat initially shows up in the game working for Kingpin because she is still in love with Spider-Man and did it to help him from the inside. Problem is, he's currently married to Mary-Jane. Over the course of the game, she gets infected with the symbiote, and the option is actually given to choose her over Mary-Jane, especially in the "Black Suit" storyline.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Spidey, of course.
  • Dirty Old Man: The Tinkerer's demands to build the sonic bomb include a specific girl from a tool catalog.
  • Enemy Mine
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Venom.
  • Fallen Hero: Spidey in the Black Suit endings.
  • Face Heel Turn: Spider-Man in the Evil Endings. Black Cat as well if you choose her over Mary Jane.
  • Five Bad Band: Black Suit players end up with:
  • Five Man Band: Red Suit players get:
  • Genius Bruiser
  • Half the Man He Used To Be: If you pick the Black Suit option after beating Symbiote-Wolverine, Spidey will tear him in half, Hulk-vs-Wolverine-style. It's given a Gory Discretion Shot, but damn.
  • Heel Face Turn: Eddie redeems himself, and turns good to help stop Venomzilla in the Red Suit path.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Eddie Brock/Venom in the Red Suit path.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: A lot of the Black Suit choices invloves this, including letting the two gang leaders kill each other, violently beating Electro, and tossing Venom into the turbine instead of letting him make the choice himself.
  • High Altitude Battle: The Symbiote Vulture boss battle cranks this trope to epically extreme levels as, considering the fact that you're Spidey, the battle takes place high above New York and quickly becomes a warzone when SHIELD troops arrive... and there is no ground. Therefore, you'll have to swing across hovercrafts and use air combos and web strikes on the Vulture and his mooks to keep up in the sky. Speaking of which, the game's final mission and boss is on the SHIELD Helicarrier.
  • In Medias Res: Leading to How We Got Here.
  • It Got Worse: One of the central themes to the story was how quickly the symbiote infection seemed to spread. Made apparent when, after unwillingly giving Spider-Man back the symbiote in the beginning of the story, without losing his, Venom soon realised he could reproduce the symbiote and do the same to others. After that, it literally takes one night before things get out of control.
  • I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: When Luke Cage makes a crack about Spidey's costume, Spidey points out that Cage used to run around in a yellow silk shirt and a tiara head band. "It was the 70s!"
  • Kick the Dog: After escorting a convoy of non-symbiote survivors to the safety of Fisk Towers, Spider-Man realizes that only one vehicle didn't make it... the one that was carrying Mary-Jane. Kingpin then mocks Spider-Man over the fact he got everyone to safety, except who he cares about most.
  • Leaning On the Fourth Wall: In the best ending, Spidey narrates how the loose ends are all tied up, and we are led to believe that it is an internal monologue... until Mary Jane calls him out on talking to himself.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Spidey vs. Black Cat and later Spidey vs. Wolverine.
    • Just barely averted with Moon Knight.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower
  • Made of Iron: Luke Cage.
    • Spider-Man as well. In this game, you can jump off the top of the Empire State Building, and Spidey will impact the ground with such a force that he's almost flattened, and he will slowly pull himself up with just a minor loss in health.
  • Ms. Fanservice: The Black Cat, who pretty much throws herself at Spider-Man, including one instance of her practically shoving her breasts in his face.
  • My God What Have I Done: During the final confrontation, Spider-Man tries reaching out to Eddie Brock, within the writhing mass that is "Venomzilla". Peter convinces Eddie that his vendetta against him has gone too far, as he has begun hurting innocent people. In the Red suit choice, this causes Eddie to sacrifice himself to destroy the symbiote for good.
  • Multiple Endings: Four of them, depending on how many "Red vs Black" choices are made during the game.
    • If all/most of them were Red, and Spider-Man picks Mary Jane, then New York starts returning to normal following the elimination of the infection and Spider-Man is reunited with Mary-Jane.
    • If Peter picks the Black Cat with mostly Red choices, Peter attempts calling Mary-Jane to apologize for his actions in the story.
    • If only more of them were Black, and Peter picks Mary Jane, Spider-Man becomes leader of the symbiotes and vows to get back Mary Jane at any cost. Black Widow, working with Kingpin and The Tinkerer, prepares to send in Wolverine, fully in control of his own symbiote, to bring him in, dead or alive. Wolverine opts for "dead".
    • If all/most of them were Black, and Spider-Man picks the Black Cat, Spider-Man becomes leader of the symbiotes, with Black Cat at his side as his "queen", and opts to spread the symbiote infection. He also rejects With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, as in his own words; "I never knew what power was." Again, Wolverine is brought in by SHEILD to bring Peter to justice.
  • Pop Quiz: Wolverine gives Spidey one to make sure he's the genuine article.
  • Press X to Not Die: A pretty forgiving example, since failure just restarts the sequence.
  • Product Placement: Billboards advertising everything from Five Gum to the Watchmen DVD release can be seen throughout the city in the 360 and PS 3 versions, mixed in with ads from in-universe companies including Stark and Roxxon.
  • Psycho Electro: Electro was always nuts, but in Web of Shadows, it gets worse. Mostly due to his sister being taken in by SHEILD.
  • Shown Their Work: On the mythos.
  • Rapid Fire Fisticuffs
  • Redemption Equals Death: In the Red suit choice, Eddie comes to his senses at the end of the game and climbs into the turbines of the heli-carrier, using tendrils to drag and trap "Venomzilla" with him. This causes the turbine to explode and the heli-carrier to fall out of the air and crash into the river below.
  • Redheaded Hero: Mary-Jane and Black Widow.
  • Shooting Superman: Luke Cage's first appearance. The gang members keep firing until the car behind him explodes, but not even that scratches him.

  "Now that was rude."

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