By Daniel Ciszek
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows," Activision's latest Marvel game due out this fall, gives players the ability to be the kind of hero they choose to be, even if that means turning into the villain as the game progresses. Without hesitation, players can don Spidey's traditional red suit equipped with all of its long-adored grace and agility or switch to the raw power of the black, symbiote-ravaged suit. Gamers can switch at anytime to create unstoppable combos, experience new upgrades and fight both horizontally and vertically on some of the slickest and most precarious surfaces in video games. And there's no need to worry about the camera mucking up the action. "Web of Shadows" has a context-sensitive camera that won't make everyone's favorite webslinger hurl more than his fiercest attacks against his foes.
New screenshots and video fresh from San Diego Comic-Con show Spider-Man fighting both alongside Wolverine and against the symbiote-strangled X-Man. It's all about the choices the player makes. In addition to Wolverine, Activision has promised to include other famous characters and villains from the Marvel Universe, such as Luke Cage and Vulture. It's up to the player to decide whom to enlist as an ally or an enemy.
The Comic-Con video highlights Spider-Man's new aerial combat mechanics as not so much a high-wire act but a free-flying showcase of both poise and dominance over a New York teeming with black ooze as if the world's largest oil reserve just exploded! On the ground, it looks like Marvel's version of "Dawn of the Dead" with good old Peter Parker as the last man alive. The only catch is that, at any moment, he might just cave in and start eating some flesh himself. Visually, the Big Apple looks clean and uncluttered; but the new trailer reveals that it's also in chaos, making the alien symbiote creeping up skyscrapers all the more jarring.
The city, like the game's main character, is more malleable than ever. Want to obliterate whole blocks with powerful attacks? Go ahead. Just remember that the gamers' actions are laden with consequences. Scorch the city in fire to rid it of the alien invasion or slice out the symbiote like a surgeon. Take some of Marvel's greatest characters and make them your ooze-soaked adversaries or relish the opportunity to fight side by side. The choices are yours.
Stay glued to Marvel.com for more news, info and fresh looks at Spidey's next adventure!
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 "Spider-Man overlooks the New York skyline")
 "Spider-Man rushes to his next challenge")
 "Spidey and Wolverine fight side by side")
 "The not so Secret Invasion")
 "Wolverine sports a new look")
 "The side effects of a Symbiote invasion")
 "Spidey's on top of things")
 "Spider-Man reaches his vertical limit")
 "Aerial combat takes on different perspectives")
