Mary Jane isn’t quite herself. Literally. When she is taken over by the alien Symbiote known as Scream in the mission This Isn’t You, she develops long hair-like tendrils and other mutated physical transformations that cause her to become a female version of Venom.
After throwing Peter Parker out of May’s house, Scream (formerly known as Peter’s sweetheart), takes the battle to the streets with our friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler. The fight isn’t easy but if you follow our guide, you’ll be shouting in joy instead of screaming at your TV screen.
Phase 1
You don’t have your Symbiote Suit during your fight with Scream but you still have your other Spider-Man abilities at your disposal. Use these as much as possible, as well as using environmental attacks, in order to bring down Scream’s health bar.
Remember to use your gadgets too. The Concussion Burst (R1 and circle) is especially effective against Scream so take advantage of this when it’s available.
Another tip for this fight is take the fight airborne. Hold down the square button to lift Scream into the air and get a few heavy hits in before she escapes your grasp. It’s also a good idea to web Scream up when you can. She will break out of your webbing eventually but you’ll still have the opportunity to either heal yourself or deal some damage to the Symbiote before she becomes untangled.
During the first phase, Scream will use various attacks on you. These include:
– Hair Burst – Scream’s tendrils explode outward in all directions. Dodge these to avoid getting spiked.
– Claw Swipes – Scream uses two swipe attacks, one from the left and the other from the right. Press L1 to parry this attack or dodge these strikes if you’d rather.
– Hair Swipe – An advantage of having long hair is that you can flip it at your opponents. This is something Scream does against Spidey in a sweeping horizontal swipe. You can parry this attack but be prepared for a second hair swipe that will follow the first. Don’t want to get hair in your face? Hit that dodge button!
– Spike Attacks – Scream will throw spikes at you, usually 2 or 3 in quick succession, so don’t stand around waiting for them to impale you. As these attacks will occur when she is at a distance from you, it’s wise to web zip towards Scream to keep her in close proximity.
If you’re having trouble in this fight, adjust the difficulty level to make the battle a little easier. If you’d rather not do that, there’s another way you can get the upper hand. When Scream is standing near a car, use L1 and R1 to rip the car doors off and trigger its alarms. She will be stunned momentarily, giving you time to use your melee attacks, gadgets, and abilities to bring down her health bar.
Phase 2
This phase isn’t too dissimilar to the first, although Scream does have one new attack. This time around, she will tilt her hair towards you, causing it to grab you if you’re not able to get out of the way. It’s best to dodge this attack and then move in towards her to deliver some damage.
Scream is also a lot more agile in this phase. She will hop around the rooftops like a hyperactive Santa and fling her projectiles at you. Dodge these and then press L2 and R2 to zip up to Scream where you can inflict your own attacks.
Phase 3
Phase 3 takes place in an area where several houses are under construction. This gives Scream more room to manoeuvre but it also gives you more places to take shelter in if you need to heal yourself quickly.
Scream has another new move this round – a hair slam that causes a large explosion – but your Spider-Sense will warn you about this, giving you time to get to safety.
Use all the attack moves you have used previously, remembering to use the environment to create a few high frequency noises to stun Scream. When you bring her health down to zero, you’ll move into the next phase where you can finally save MJ.
Phase 4
Scream doesn’t only hurt Peter with her hair this round. She also hurts him with words, but don’t worry, he’s man enough not to let her emotionally wound him.
When it comes to physical attacks, these are more aggressive than before so you will need to hit that dodge or parry button regularly if you want to escape damage.
Use all of the abilities and gadgets at your disposal, and the nearby iron piping that will make a high-frequency noise, to get the better of Scream. Persevere and you’ll bring her health bar down to zero, thus freeing MJ who will be very glad to see you.
The alien Symbiote will slither away but don’t assume you’re safe. The next boss fight is Venom himself and beating him won’t be so easy. Don’t worry though as we have linked you to our boss guide for this climactic battle.
Read More: How to defeat Venom
Hopefully, this boss guide will help you take down Scream! Are we missing anything here that you’d recommend players know? Do let us know in the comments below!