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Activision and Next Level Games cook up a simple brawler based on the Spider-Man universe. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a simple yet fun action game that pairs up various characters from the Spider-Man universe. The game isn’t the deepest brawler but those looking for a light, pick-up-and-play game with memorable characters should find a lot to like in Friend or Foe.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe’s story doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but provides just enough logic to explain why Spider-Man is joining forces with sworn enemies like the Green Goblin, New Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman and Venom. Basically, Mysterio has placed mind control devices on Spider-Man’s classic enemies and retrieving meteor fragments from around the world to power his army of symbiote-powered phantoms. S.H.I.E.L.D. has to make sure this doesn’t happen and enlists Spider-Man to travel to the various locations, defeat the mind-controlled enemies, break their mind control and have them join you.
You begin each level in a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, where you can switch your partner and upgrade your characters through tokens found in the levels. You’ll unlock new characters in these levels that you can then go back and use in earlier levels. The game supports two-player cooperative multiplayer, and allows the second player to come in and out of the game at will since the AI will take over otherwise. You’ll also find a simple versus mode that lets you pair off any two of game’s characters.
Once you’re in the actual levels, Friend or Foe plays very much like your typical brawler. You and your partner (you can switch between by pressing a button) will have to defeat a lot of enemies before moving on to the next area. The action is broken up by some simple puzzles (where you’ll typically just need to hit a switch) and boss battles (which are more difficult than the typical brawlers). Combat in the game lets you kick, punch and grab and makes it easy to pull off cool-looking combos. You’ll also have access to special attacks (like Spider-Man’s web attacks) and charged moves, which pack a bit more punch. The game also has power-ups like team attacks and extra damage that can be found in the levels.
The game’s graphics are respectable but not great. The key characters from the Spider-Man movies including Spider-Man, Venom, Green (and New) Goblin, Sandman, and Doctor Octopus look like the their movie counterparts although they’re considerably more comic-book and cartoony in Friend or Foe. The various environments look different enough and boast a good amount of variety. But on a purely technical level the game isn’t going to win any awards since the main characters aren’t super-detailed, the enemies are somewhat generic, and the environments don’t show off any insanely detailed textures.
The audio fares a bit better. There is plenty of voice acting from Spider-Man and the rest of the gang in the form of usual dialogue, but Spider-Man in particular has some great one-liners. The rest of the audio is pretty good, too. The kicks and punches sounds good enough, the explosions have the proper oomph and the background music keeps things moving while not stealing the spotlight.
There isn’t much difference between the game on the Xbox 360, PC, PS2 and Wii. The Xbox 360 and PC versions are comparable in terms of visual quality, with those versions having slightly more detailed characters and textures. The Wii version of the game has motion-sensitive combat, which works surprisingly well here thanks to the relatively simple combat engine. The Wii and PS2 versions are obviously less detailed than the other versions, but not by much.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, despite being aimed at a squarely younger audience, is a very fun game despite its simplicity. It doesn’t have the depth of something like say, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, but should provide plenty of fun for those looking for a simple brawler with characters from the Spider-Man universe. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Oct 3, 2007
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