Video Game Spotlight on Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

Welcome back to A Dose of Venom's Video Game Spotlight segment. Today, we shall explore one of my all-time favorite Spider-Man and symbiote video games, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Xbox 360 edition). Developed by Treyarch and Shaba Games and published by Activision in 2008 for almost every platform available back then, this game was perhaps one of the most exciting for symbiote fans because half of the game's campaign revolved around a city-wide symbiote invasion and players could switch between Spidey's classic red-and-blue costume and his powerful black symbiote costume freely.

Now, I loved this game when I first played it, and still love it even to this day. I know it has some mechanical issues (especially with wall crawling and targeting enemies) and people have their gripes with the voice acting, but I felt it was a solid game with a fun story at the time. There is a morality system to the gameplay as well that pretty much started the morality trend later seen in other Spider-Man games (including the recent The Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game adaptation, though that one had a comparatively dumbed down version). The morality system allows players to make one of two decisions during select cutscenes—depicted as "Red Suit" (good) or "Black Suit" (evil) decisions—which would ultimately decide which of the four ending cutscenes the player would experience in the campaign's conclusion. The morality decisions are set up as instances in which either Peter Parker or the symbiote was in control of his actions.

Wait, where did Spidey get the symbiote suit from, though? He gains his alternate suit shortly after the introductory level in which the game throws the player in media res during the symbiote invasion as Parker's narrative (voiced by Mike Vaughn) explains how everything began with a fight against Venom (Eddie Brock, voiced by Keith Szarabajka). During their fight, Venom's symbiote tries to bond with Spidey again, but the process is interrupted and Spidey escapes with a fragment of the symbiote. From then on, players can switch between the red and black suits, each of which possesses unique abilities and stats. The red suit is super agile and fast and executes web-oriented attacks while the black suit is all about power and symbiote-oriented attacks.

Both of Spider-Man's costumes are beautiful, neo-classic representations of their comic book counterparts, and the symbiote costume has a black base color with an indigo sheen. The ability to switch between costumes at any time really helped to sell the game to me, and I definitely felt the power of the symbiote suit whenever I used it (which was much more often than the red suit).

Venom is pretty cool in this game, as he's most definitely the classic Brock version—he even calls his symbiote "the other." You can't get much more Venom than that! The character design is passable, even if the spider symbols on his chest and back aren't that great and his white hand patches are missing. The little detail of Brock's mouth at the back of Venom's throat as seen in the video below made up for it, though, and was a very interesting take on how Brock integrated with the symbiote.


The first half of the campaign is pretty much inconsequential to Venomaniacs, as Venom only ever shows up once in a while as the mystery behind how Spidey came to possess the symbiote suit thickens. Players battle a host of classic villains, including the Vulture, Rhino, and Electro, as well as work with a team of heroic and villainous characters, including Mary Jane Watson, Luke Cage, Black Cat, Wolverine, Moon Knight (another favorite character of mine, and done very well in this game), Black Widow, the Tinkerer, and the Kingpin. Players are able to summon some of the superheroes and villains during combat for assists, as well. All of it, though, is setup for the third and most exciting act: the symbiote invasion of New York City!

The Venom symbiote takes control of Brock as it learns how to replicate itself on a massive scale, and New York is quickly overrun by its own citizens possessed by symbiotes. Spider-Man and his heroic friends work with Black Widow and S.H.I.E.L.D. to help evacuate uninfected citizens to quarantine zones, but their nightmares become realized when their allies and enemies are taken over as well. Players get to battle symbiotic versions of Black Cat (who receives a special second symbiotic form for those playing with a darker morality), Wolverine, Vulture, and Electro, each of whom have pretty bad-ass character designs. There was even a symbiotic Moon Knight planned, but he didn't make it into the game outside of concept art featured in the end credits. Of course, let's not forget the awesome character designs for all of the symbiote minions—of which there were many variations—and the endgame boss: a giant multi-headed Venom.

(Start the video at 8:50 for the symbiote Wolverine fight.)

Depending on players' morality choices made throughout the game, two of the four endings left the game open for a sequel as Spidey becomes completely overtaken by the symbiote and takes command of the symbiote hordes. There was a sequel planned, as evidenced by the release of some concept art that even included Carnage, but the game never panned out due to a lukewarm reception of the first one and the production of the more successful Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Despite its flaws and glitches, though, I personally believe the game possesses a high replayability rate, and I occasionally dust off the disc for another fond go-around.

If you're looking for an open-world Spider-Man video game with plenty of symbiotic action for your buck, you can't go wrong with Web of Shadows. It's a definite must-buy for the avid Venomaniac game collector. What did you think about the game? Who had the coolest symbiote costume? What more would you have liked to see in this game? Let us know in the comments section below, and, as always, check back in at A Dose of Venom every Friday for a new article!

Video Game Spotlight on Disney Infinity: Marvel Superheroes

Welcome to another Video Game Spotlight on A Dose of Venom! Today we shall be exploring everything symbiotic in Disney Infinity.

Last year, Disney released their answer to Activision's Skylanders, which took advantage of collectible figures that connect and play with a video game. Disney Infinity would be the name of Disney's latest cash cow published by Disney Interactive Studios and developed by Avalanche Software. It revolves around the sandbox game mode called the "Toy Box" where players can use hundreds of items to create their own world and make their own games.

The game comes with a base that connects to your video game console and has two circular and one hexagonal pad. You place your purchased figures on the circular pads, which makes them "magically" appear on the screen with the option to place other items called "power discs" underneath the figure that grant your character additional weapons or power boosts. You place "play set pieces" and other hexagonal shaped power discs onto the hexagonal pad, which can spawn vehicles and animals or change the ground and sky of your Toy Box. The play sets allow select characters to play a story mode that takes place in a giant hub world where you can complete missions and unlock more toys for your Toy Box. Disney Infinity became vastly successful and with Disney's purchase of Marvel back in 2009, it was only a matter of time until Marvel characters came to the game.

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, or Disney Infinity 2.0, released last week and adds a ton of new content while still allowing you to use all of your 1.0 characters and power discs. Marvel figures from The Avengers movie, the Ultimate Spider-Man TV series, and The Guardians of the Galaxy movie were released that also came with a new skill tree mechanic where as you level you earn points to increase your character's abilities. New power discs centered on these franchises—some change a character's costume and others allow you to team up with characters like the Winter Soldier and the movie version of Ant-Man. Also unveiled were three new play set pieces for each of the three represented Marvel franchises. Additionally, a new game mode called "INteriors" allows players to create their own house by adding rooms, changing the rooms' themes, and decorating with a various items from both Disney and Marvel.

Right from the first glance, you can tell that the Venom figure is not modeled after his Ultimate Spider-Man TV incarnation, which is odd seeing how he's the only Spider-Man figure that does this. In-game, he has a "Venom sense," a super jump, super strength, web shooting, web swinging, wall climbing, and a super move which all together make him a very versatile character. Matt Lanter, who voices Venom, Harry Osborn, and Flash Thompson in the TV show, provides Venom's vocals, but it's like nothing we have heard Lanter do in the show. This Venom is fully in sync with his symbiote, and Lanter does an excellent job at conveying a dark and cunning symbiote despite one or two corny lines. As for the host of Venom, the detail never directly mentioned, but with all of these changes from the show's interpretation and Venom occasionally stating, "I'll save Peter Parker's downfall for another day!" I am lead to believe this Venom is or takes inspiration from the Eddie Brock version—but again, it's anyone's guess as to who it really is.

The Ultimate Spider-Man playset also has its fair share of symbiotes and unlockable toys. The story starts off as Green Goblin and Mysterio clone the Venom symbiote and spread the clones throughout New York in an attempt to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. The symbiote enemies come in a few different forms such as a swarm that can attach itself to NPCs to become full symbiotes and the large symbiotes that can spawn more symbiote swarms. Throughout the story, you'll be tasked with often boring and repetitive missions of defeating enemies and protecting scientists, but there are the occasional fun missions like traveling in the sewers and using a sonic weapon to take care of symbiotic growth and enemies. Unlockable toys and INterior decorations include a Venom portrait, a Venom rug with the classic symbol, a container that holds a symbiote, a huge chair shaped like Venom's head, and a tiny character called a "costume" dressed up as Venom. The best symbiote-related item in my opionin would be the "Alien Symbiote" power disc that allows Spider-Man to become the classic Symbiote Spider-Man.

Overall, Disney Infinity may not be for most because it does require a hefty amount of spending if you want to get the full experience and the play sets do not put up much of a challenge for experienced gamers, but it can be rather enjoyable in the Toy Box and for designing an INterior. For any symbiote fan, the Venom figure is a must-have in my opinion for around $13, and you can even download Disney Infinity 2.0 for FREE on their official site if you just want to use the web code the figure comes with and play around with the Toy Box. There's infinite possibilities (sorry).

Have you played the game and received the full symbiote experience? What do you think about the Venom figure design? Let us know in the comments section below, and check back on A Dose of Venom every Friday for new content!

Video Game Spotlight on Marvel Heroes 2015

Welcome to a new segment here on A Dose of Venom in which Venomaniacs review and report news about symbiotic activity in the realm of video games. If you like to play games and you're looking for some new titles in which you get to play with, against, or as Marvel's symbiotes, then this is the segment to follow. For the first installment, we're putting the spotlight on Marvel's most ambitious gaming venture yet: Gazillion Entertainment's Marvel Heroes 2015.

Available on PC, Mac, and through Steam, Marvel Heroes 2015 is the lovechild between Diablo and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. There are two features that sets the game apart from its competition—DC Universe Online and Champions Online: first, it's not a traditional World of Warcraft-style MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game); it's actually an MMOARPG, which is slightly different in that the play style is top-down with mouse-intensive action, much in the way of Diablo II (from which it borrows some of the classic game's developers). Second, players don't get to create their own unique hero or villain characters to interact with the copyrighted intellectual properties; instead, players can play as their favorite Marvel heroes and villains from comic book lore and can completely customize the clones with gear, powers, and alternate costumes until they are unique within and of themselves.

Gazillion has been doing a bang-up job with frequently releasing new game and system updates, and has even managed a new stride of introducing one new playable character each month. As of yet, there has only been one playable symbiotic character: Spider-Man with his enhanced Symbiote costume (which includes a special voice-over by the Peter Parker of the '90s Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Christopher Daniel Barnes, plus special cosmetic powers). Don't hold your breath at getting your hands on this costume, though, as it was exclusive to the $199.99 pre-launch Ultimate Pack. You can get its non-symbiotic brother, the enhanced Back in Black costume (which also has a Barnes alternate voice-over) for 1,250 Gs (account currency; $1 = 100 Gs), but that's just the cloth version of the famous symbiote costume, so there are no symbiotic cosmetic powers.


Don't be down, though, if you missed out on the Symbiote costume because a playable Venom (Eddie Brock) character is slated for a pre-New Years 2015 release for an estimated 600 Eternity Splinters (an in-game randomly dropped currency). There are no details as of yet about his powers or alternate costume, but if you feel like getting the full Venom experience out of Marvel Heroes 2015, then head over to its online store and pick up the "Bring On the Bad Guys + More Pack" to pre-order Venom along with Magneto and the Juggernaut (plus getting the already-released Mr. Fantastic, Star Lord, and Rogue), or you can wait until Venom's release date approaches to preorder his solo Hero Pack for $17.99, which will come with the alternate costume, Venom's own unique Hero S.T.A.S.H. (an in-game inventory storage container), and a few other in-game goodies.

On the off-chance that you're interested in getting just the character by himself (why wouldn't you want all that swag?!), there's a way you can get him for FREE, essentially. Log on or create an account (it's a Free-to-Play game!) at least a month or more before his release (just to give yourself some time) and play the game. By completing the entire story mode (up to defeating Doctor Doom) on the first go-around, you'll automatically receive 200 Eternity Splinters. Then all you need to do is continue grinding the game for Eternity Splinter drops, especially in PvE instances like Midtown Madness or the S.H.I.E.L.D. Holo-Sim. Luckily, the drops aren't the most uncommon in the game (Gazillion ranks the random hero or costume drops as the rarest of all). You can then purchase Venom from the in-game Eternity Splinter Vendor in the player hubs when he comes out, and the player community estimates that he'll cost 600 splinters.

Sorry for the low graphics quality. My graphics card isn't the best.

If you can't wait to play as Venom, though, you can always fight against him. Venom first shows up as a non-interactive NPC during the Raft breakout tutorial zone as you get to watch Eddie take advantage of the breakout to rebond with the symbiote and escape. Then in Chapter 1, if you head into the Police Station in the open Hell's Kitchen map, you'll trigger the "Symbiote Infestation" mission in which you see yet another brief cutscene of Venom making his escape to leave you with symbiote-infested civilians. After that, you can fight Venom as an instanced boss in the Storage Yard of Chapter 2 and in Midtown Manhattan, and as a special boss fight in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Holo-Sim. Take it from a fellow Venomaniac: it's very satisfying to fight him.

As one last note, you can get a summonable Team-Up Hero of the Back in Black (non-symbiote) Spider-Man to fight beside you in battle, but there is a rather expensive catch: you can only attain him through the Mark VI Fortune Cards (100 Gs each) as either a rare drop or from collecting 95 Armor Tech Blueprints (with a 1:1 drop ratio per Mark VI Fortune Card)—so that's either a $95 purchase or a really lucky Fortune Card. Yeesh.

That's all of the symbiote goodness Marvel Heroes 2015 has to offer right now. Only Venom and the Symbiote Spider-Man costume are the symbiotes currently featured in the game, and there is no ETA on any other symbiote character cameos. Still: when Venom finally arrives as a playable character, it's going to be EPIC. Sound off below! Will you be getting Venom when he becomes available? Were you one of the lucky few to purchase the enhanced Symbiote Spider-Man costume? What do you think of Venom as a boss in the game? As always, check back every Friday for a new dose!