Spider-man: Friend or Foe – PC – Review

With the release of the last three Spider-Man
movies the interest in Spider-Man has probably never been greater. Say what you
want about licensed video games but latest batch of Spider-Man games released
have actually been decent to really good. It seems that developers have actually
been given time to make a Spider-Man game fun and enjoyable for a broad
audience. It seems everyone has captured the essence of having Spider-Man
swinging around with his web while performing spectacular moves and stunts while
in combat. Friend or Foe takes the Spider-Man franchise in a different direction
by allowing you to team up with a large ensemble of Spider-Man’s worst enemies.

The story of Friend of Foe would fit right at
home in the comic books with its extravagance premise. A comet from outer space
containing the Venom parasite breaks apart upon entry in the earth’s atmosphere.
Pieces of the comet are sent flying across parts of the globe and somehow the
Venom virus has been infecting other enemies of Spider-Man. The enemies are now
controlled by a mysterious boss, who has his own gang made up of holographic
creatures that can actually attack. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. captures
Spider-Man and sends him out on a mission to break the mind control on
Spider-Man’s enemies and take out the mysterious boss.  Simply plot and absurd
theories have always been great ingredients for a fun comic book and it works
well for this game. You get to hear plenty of wise cracks from Spider-Man and
his foes along with various other characters in the game as the plot unfold.

It’s not just you controlling Spider-Man instead
you get to team-up with characters during the entire game. The game starts off
with a few characters unlocked for you to team up with and you unlock additional
characters after you defeat them in the game. So if you ever wondered what it
would be like to have Spider-Man fight along side Doc Ock, the Green Goblin, or
Sandman this is your game. The game will only let you team up with one character
at a time and the starting characters are definitely not the characters you want
to team up with.

The gameplay reminded me of the X-Men Legends
series, recently seen in Marvel Ultimate Alliance. This is typical beat-em up
where you can just keep hitting the attack button to get through the game. You
have do have more moves than just a simple attach such as a ranged attack or
even a team-up special attack. You also have power-ups that you can use during
combat or heal you if your power is low. The game follows a simple RPG type of
approach by letting you spend “coins” you’ve collected during combat on power-up
items or skill points for Spider-Man or your partners. The skill points range
from additional health to extra toughness (defense) for your characters. There
is an additional upgrade for Spider-Man which allows you to add new attack
powers. These attack power upgrades are separate from the skill points so you
must spend your bounty wisely.  The game always starts out on a S.H.I.E.L.D.
ship where you upgrade your characters, save your game, view additional content
(character art and videos) and change your partner before the start of each
mission.

The graphics in the game do a nice job of pulling
off a comic book look without being too simplistic or “cartoony.” All of the
characters look just like their comic book counterparts and animate almost
perfectly. The graphics for the levels were well done with large areas ranging
with beaches to skyscrapers all with some great detail. The camera angle will
vary depending on each section of the level you are one. The camera is usually a
top down approach similar to Marvel Ultimate Alliance but it will move to a side
view from time to time. The camera angle is always locked in place and there is
no way to adjust the camera during gameplay.

When I first started to play the game I was
really enjoying the game but after a couple of stages I noticed the games
biggest problem: repetition. All of the stages are setup almost exactly the same
and the majority of the enemies are the same character models only with
different colors and textures to match the stage. The combat, which is the
biggest part of the game, also becomes a rerun of punching and kicking through
countless waves of enemies. The progression of the levels is nearly identical
for each stage: Show brief cut scene of enemies, take out enemies, cue another
cut scene of enemies approaching, take out enemies, and show cut scene of harder
enemies approaching. Even the boss battles are almost identical to each other
which were really disappointing.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe does an admiral job of
trying to be a great Spider-Man game only to end up being a good Spider-Man
game. The ability to team up with classic enemies is a nice premise for the
game. The two player Co-Op gameplay is always a nice feature, especially in a
beat-em up. The graphics were well done and should please even hardcore comic
book artistic fans. Unfortunately the repetitive gameplay and level designs
really bog down the game after just a couple of levels. Take this one at a slow
pace to make sure to get as much enjoyment as possible.

Gameplay: 6.5
While the game is similar to Marvel Ultimate Alliance it doesn’t have the same
polish as that game. The game is a straight beat ’em up that never strives for
anything else.

Graphics: 8.0
Great character models and well done stage graphics only get brought down by the
repetitive design of the levels and enemies.

Sound: 7.9
All of the voice acting in the game was top notch, from Spider-Man to the other
characters in the game. The only disappointment for me was the actor doing the
Green Goblin’s voice; he was close to William Dafoe’s voice but just not there.
The music fits the game well but did get a repetitive at times.

Difficulty: Easy
No one should have any problem getting through this game. Just keep punching and
kicking away and you will finish the game in no time.

Concept: 6.0
Really if it wasn’t for the repetitive nature of the game this could have scored
higher. You see almost everything in the game repeated several times before the
game is finished.

Multiplayer: 7.5
This game was built with a buddy in mind since the entire game can be played
with up to two players at the same time. At anytime in the single-player game a
second player can join in on the action. There is even a Versus mode that let’s
you and a buddy square off against each other using any of the characters
unlocked in the game. Unfortunately no online Co-op.

Overall: 7.1
Spider-Man: Friend or Foes doesn’t end up being as a classic Spider-Man game. It
ends up being a fun, short game that is just too repetitive. Playing this game
with a friend I’m sure would make you forget some of the short comings. Also
taking your time and not rushing through the game should help as well. Just
don’t expect perfection. Cause remember with great power comes…..well you know
the rest.