How far will you go to save New York?

Venom has returned with an army of symbiotes. What at first starts into an infection turns into an invasion. S.H.I.E.L.D. quarantines Manhattan to keep the invasion from spreading. Spider-Man must stop Venom before he himself falls under the control of the symbiote suit that possesses him again. From the game's direction to Spider-Man's destiny, Spider-Man®: Web of Shadows puts control in your hands.

Decide when to switch between the agile Red Suit and formidable Black Suit, whether to ally with Marvel's honored heroes or ferocious villains, which of Spider-Man's abilities to upgrade, and what missions to undertake in order to protect Manhattan from certain annihilation.

New York City has been invaded and only Spider-Man™ can save it.

Like Treyarch's previous Spider-Man games, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and Ultimate Spider-Man, Web of Shadows will allow free-roaming action, and players will be able to customize and choose Spider-Man's aerial and ground combat. For the first time in a Spider-Man game the player will be able to choose the game's outcome and Spider-Man's path, with multiple endings depending on how the game is played out. In addition, the player will decide which villain to fight against. The player will be able to switch between the original red and blue suit, and the Symbiote suit at any time during gameplay, even in mid-combo.

Game Chronicles goes inside this massively redesigned and re-envisioned look at the Spider-Man universe with Associate Producer, Brian Morrison .

GCM: Thank you for your time! Please get us started by introducing yourself and telling us about the team behind Web of Shadows.

BM: My name is Brian Morrison and I’m the Associate Producer for the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows side of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. I’ve been with Activision for about seven years and worked on Ultimate Spider-Man as well as Spider-Man: Friend of Foe and before those I worked on Spider-Man 2 – the movie game. So this is my third non-movie Spider-Man title.

There are two studios that collaborated on the project; Shaba Games and Treyarch studios. Treyarch developed Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 as well as Ultimate Spider-Man, so they have a longstanding relationship with the Marvel brand. Shaba Games was brought in to bring a new type of attitude and combat system. They have a lot of experience in action-sports titles and they brought a whole new combat system to this larger and darker comic-based version of a Spider-Man tale.

GCM: I know a big new feature for this game is the aerial combat. What were some challenges in taking the fight above the city and how much more freedom did it give you in creating moves and combos?

BM: When you have a superhero you have these expectations about what the power sets are whether it’s Spider-Man or any other character, and there are certain abilities that the character can do in the comics and the films, and now with the power of 360 and PS3 and the next-gen environment Shaba was able to take the next evolution of the combat into aerial combat. I guess the tricky things have been working with the pathing for the AI so they can follow you up the sides of buildings or in the air. We’ve also introduced a new camera system into the game that allows you to Z-lock on the different enemies and track them during combat.

The aerial combat and the wall combat is a very exciting element to the game and it gives you more freedom and allows the player to play the game in an improvisational manner. You have the freedom to decide how you are going to battle and defeat their enemies.

GCM: What’s the Rogue’s Gallery looking like for Web of Shadows. Who can we expect Spidey to go up against (or side with) in this new game?

BM: It’s very complete. The rogue’s gallery is going to include several heroes from the Marvel Universe. The symbiote threat which has taken over New York finds its way onto some of earth’s mightiest heroes and actually transforms Wolverine into an adversary for Spider-Man. That’s a very exciting match-up we have in the game. We also have a lot of fan favorites. Venom, Vulture, Black Cat, Moon Knight, and we have Luke Cage teaming up with Spidey. ,p> There is a large variety of heroes and villains and we haven’t unveiled all of them but as we get close to release we’ll start unveiling more of those. We won’t disappoint you. There’s a huge line-up of characters and a lot of interesting boss battles as well as characters you can team up with on various missions. Some of these will become “mission givers” or quest givers. They’ll give you tasks to go out and complete, so you’ll have different ways to interact with your heroes and villains.

GCM: How is the “black suit” going to be handled in Web of Shadows? Will there be levels dictating the wearing of the suit or will this be an “at will” costume change?

BM: It’s actually a different take. The user can actually decide whether they want to play through the storyline as either black suit or red suit, so the only ill effect I can think of is if you want to go through the story as all black suit and have your alignment black then you’ll just follow that path in the storyline. You’ll be given choices at key moments throughout the game as to whether or not they want to choose black or red. As well, the user will be rewarded in their experience. If you perform any air, wall, or ground combat or complete any mission that is specific to a certain suit you’ll gain experience and you can use that “currency” to purchase specific items or moves for that suit.

GCM: Explain a bit about Spidey’s upgradeable powers and just how much of an impact it can have on the gameplay.

BM: You can basically spec out your character. If you are casually going to pick up and play the game you can decide how you want to modify your attacks based on wall combat, ground combat, or if you decide you want to play more as a ranged fighter, which is the red suit, where you are going to use your webs to constrict and web-down enemies or shoot at distance you can spend your currency on red suit attack upgrades. If you enjoy the brawler side of the black suit you can invest your experience in that. It’s really up to the player how they want to control how the suit evolves and what they want to see. All of the moves are previewed within the shell of the game so you can see the move before you buy it. Also, within the shell are instructions on how to do all the combos.

GCM: Is there a public perception factor within the game on how the citizens react to you when you are wearing either suit?

BM: Yes, the pedestrians will react to you based on your red or black suit alignment, and even if you quickly switch between the black and red suit you won’t fool the pedestrians. They’ll know something is up with you, and they’ll either run away from you or cheer and applaud you based on how you perform.

GCM: Past Spidey games keep making New York City bigger, better, and more complex. How big of an improvement will we see in this latest version?

BM: The city is definitely a character within the game. There’s over 8 square miles to fight and play in. Beyond those 8 miles we’ve extended the playground with all of the wall and air combats and air boss battles. We also have a richer level of detail as far as the destruction of the environment, not just the decay from the symbiote side but also from all the battle damage that takes place. The city map is all created from scratch. It’s different geometry.

GCM: How much control do you really have over the outcome of the game? How many endings are there and are there completely unique plot threads and exclusive missions to get there, or just key decision points?

BM: I’ll say there are more than two. There are optional, suit-specific missions you can go on for more rewards, so there is definitely an extended amount of replayability in the story structure.

GCM: Some of the media hype indicates that Spidey gets to team up with others in the Marvel Universe. Does this mean multiplayer or co-op play?

BM: Web of Shadows is strictly single player.

GCM: The online community and hardcore Spidey fans are pretty vocal about this game. What concerns have you found in reading the forums and getting feedback from the tradeshows, and how have you addressed them?

BM: With the history that Activision has with doing a lot of Spider-Man games I think there is a highly educated group of developers as well as Marvel themselves who we work right alongside of, so I think there is definitely a “dream team” that is working on these games and we definitely listen to our fans. Especially with Web of Shadows, we reached out to the community and asked, “what do you want?” That’s even tied into the marketing of the game like the box art. It’s all community driven.

GCM: How much input did Marvel have with the game and did Stan Lee play any role in the creation of Web of Shadows (i.e. supervisory or consultant)?

BM: We have Brian Reed, who’s been the Marvel writer on the games and was also the designer on Ultimate Spider-Man. We have weekly meetings and feedback all the time with Marvel on everything we do; story structure, music, art, concept work, animations…we definitely work hand in hand with Marvel on everything. We really go out of our way to make sure we are getting it right.

GCM: What (if any) significant differences are there between the various consoles and the PC versions either in content, technology, or gameplay, especially the Wii?

BM: Miraculously, they all share the same code base. The PS2, PSP, and NDS are obviously all separate products and completely different. The Wii obviously has different textures but it was developed and worked on at Treyarch. They’ve also customized the controls to be suitable for the Wii so it plays in a fun way. For the PC, the fight mechanic, camera lock system, and the web strike abilities lend themselves really nicely to the mouse and keyboard.

GCM: What kind of Achievement Point rewards can we find on the 360? Any favorites? And will the PS3 support Trophies?

BM: I’m not at liberty to discuss those but I will say there are some funny ones. The PS3 trophies arrived too late in our development cycle, so we just decide to stick with Achievements and do them really well.

GCM: Thank you again for your time! Do you have anything to add that I may have missed or something you’re particularly proud of in this game?

BM: The core locomotion system for all our Spider-Man games has been really great and I think this new combat system we have layered on top of it takes the game to a new place and makes it really fun.

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