Spiderman Friend or Foe
Written by Sean Colleli on 11/29/2007 for
Wii
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Spiderman Friend or Foe
Activision has been mining the Spider Man license for the past decade or so, ever since the excellent adventure game for the PS1, N64 and Dreamcast. The various teams at Treyarch, Neversoft and Vicarious Visions have delivered some great titles over the years, including games based on all three feature films. While the first two movies delivered some solid web slinging (the first was a competent adventure, the second a free roaming sandbox New York), Spiderman 3 was a major disappointment across all platforms. Ultimate Spiderman was a pleasant surprise, and had the charm and corny wit of the comics that the movies were lacking. Now Activision is taking one last stab at the franchise, specifically the movies, with Spiderman: Friend or Foe. This game is an alternative take on the movies, with a different play style and gameplay focus.
The game supposedly starts some time after the movies, with several of Spidey’s super villain rivals inexplicably resurrected. All of the characters are styled to look like the ones in the films, so Green Goblin still looks like a Power Ranger, Venom is still a skinny wimp, and Harry Osborn still looks incredibly stupid. The game begins with all of these villains getting captured by some bigger villain, who has harnessed the power of the symbiots or somesuch nonsense. It’s up to the web-head to rescue his nemeses, and grudgingly team up with them to stop the greater evil. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Spidey’s backup, offering his headquarters as a base of operations and providing Spiderman with his mission objectives.
This premise may seem a little ridiculous compared to the plots of the movies, but that’s really the whole idea. Friend or Foe has the tongue-in-cheek, self referencing humor that the movies didn’t, which is a refreshing change from Tobey Maguire’s angsty emo-Parker. In any case, it’s a perfect excuse for the game’s main mechanic. Instead of a sandbox game, it’s an old-school beat-em-up. Instead of taking after Maximum Carnage and the brawlers of old, Friend or Foe feels more like the Spiderman version of Lego Star Wars.
Each level is played in a team, with Spidey accompanied by one of his enemies-turned-ally. In solo mode, the sidekick is controlled by the computer, and it does a competent job of assisting you. You can swap between the two characters at any time by shaking the Nunchuk, which works well and can be done quickly. Solo play is fun for a while, but this game is really meant to be played with two people.
Like Lego Star Wars, Friend or Foe is built on the “drop-in, drop-out” concept. A second player can start a co-op game from the start of a level, or enter at any time by picking up a second controller and pressing start. Many of the game’s features, such as team combos, are much easier to pull off when you have a sapient companion helping you out. The easy co-op makes this a good family game, as it has a simple, uncluttered multiplayer setup that anyone can use.
The combat and controls are pretty standard for this kind of game, even on the Wii. The developers wisely limited the number of gimmicky motion controls, so you’ll only be shaking the remote for the odd combo or attack. The Nunchuk is used for character movement, while the face and trigger buttons are used for various attacks. The actual combat is relatively simplistic, in keeping with the game’s pick up and play mechanics.
Every character has standard melee attacks and grabs. Combo multipliers are achieved by “juggling” an enemy in the air; the game plays fast and loose with the laws of physics, so it’s common to uppercut a bad guy into the air, and then beat on him for several seconds while he floats there. The game tries to balance the sidekicks and Spidey, but ultimately the web-head is the best character. The sidekicks have a couple special moves that can be upgraded, but Spidey’s web lab grants him a much wider selection of attacks and grapples. Every character has the same access to damage, health and speed upgrades, but all of the sidekicks come off as underpowered. You and your friend will probably end up arguing over who gets to be Spiderman next round.
Even with the underpowered sidekicks, the game is a breeze. There is no penalty for dying, aside from losing some upgrade tokens, but these are so numerous that it really isn’t a problem. Friend or Foe is so forgiving that older players will quickly get bored, but the game’s target casual audience should have fun. Playing as the villains does offer a bit more challenge because they are so limited compared to Spiderman.
Spidey ends up as probably the most varied aspect of Friend or Foe. The levels range from Tokyo to Egypt, but the gameplay never changes much. The enemies you fight are pretty much the same from start to finish, and most of the boss fights involve chucking debris at the villain du-jour. Friend or Foe has the same kind of repetition you find in many brawlers, but for some reason it just gets stale fast in this game. There are pickups and extras to find along the way, but most of those are used to buy the character upgrades or unlock levels for the boring versus mode. The rest of the powerups activate special moves or grant invincibility, which make an easy game even less of a challenge.
Friend or Foe doesn’t impress much on the visual front, but at least its graphics are competent. The levels have a bland, generic appearance that corresponds to the current theme, but they are cleanly textured and serve as a decent backdrop for the action. The characters take after their movie counterparts but have a goofy, toy-like style that fits with the game’s humor. They tend to blend in with the environments though, and in the chaos I lost track of my character numerous times. The battles usually degenerated into a mess of particle effects and explosions, so to survive I just started button mashing. The Wii version is pretty much what you’d expect: it gets the job done, but it won’t win any beauty contests.
The sound fares about the same, except for one aspect: voice acting. After Tobey Maguire’s dull, monotone acting in the other movie games, the lively Spiderman voice actor in Friend or Foe is a nice change. All of the characters have much better dialogue to work with, even if some of it is campy. It’s certainly better than the wooden stuff they droned out in the movie games. Most of the acting is done in the cutscenes, which are well done and choreographed for a more lighthearted attitude. On the Wii all of the cutscenes are prerendered, so at least you won’t be staring at pasty textures and lo-polygon models the whole time. I liked the voice actor from Ultimate Spiderman better—his lines were snappier and his delivery was tighter, but this new guy is a workable analog, and definitely preferable to Maguire.
In some ways, Friend or Foe is a more enjoyable experience than the wholly disappointing Spiderman 3, but instead of a better sandbox game we have a mediocre brawler. Friend or Foe really is Lego Spiderman, a game I’m surprised hasn’t been made yet. At the same time, it lacks the charm and depth of the Lego Star Wars titles it seems to emulate, offering instead some very repetitive gameplay and a list of characters that are unfortunately not very fun to play as. Friend or Foe is a rent at most, but it doesn’t warrant the same price as a standard Wii game and will probably end up boring the kid audience it was intended for.
The game supposedly starts some time after the movies, with several of Spidey’s super villain rivals inexplicably resurrected. All of the characters are styled to look like the ones in the films, so Green Goblin still looks like a Power Ranger, Venom is still a skinny wimp, and Harry Osborn still looks incredibly stupid. The game begins with all of these villains getting captured by some bigger villain, who has harnessed the power of the symbiots or somesuch nonsense. It’s up to the web-head to rescue his nemeses, and grudgingly team up with them to stop the greater evil. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Spidey’s backup, offering his headquarters as a base of operations and providing Spiderman with his mission objectives.
This premise may seem a little ridiculous compared to the plots of the movies, but that’s really the whole idea. Friend or Foe has the tongue-in-cheek, self referencing humor that the movies didn’t, which is a refreshing change from Tobey Maguire’s angsty emo-Parker. In any case, it’s a perfect excuse for the game’s main mechanic. Instead of a sandbox game, it’s an old-school beat-em-up. Instead of taking after Maximum Carnage and the brawlers of old, Friend or Foe feels more like the Spiderman version of Lego Star Wars.
Each level is played in a team, with Spidey accompanied by one of his enemies-turned-ally. In solo mode, the sidekick is controlled by the computer, and it does a competent job of assisting you. You can swap between the two characters at any time by shaking the Nunchuk, which works well and can be done quickly. Solo play is fun for a while, but this game is really meant to be played with two people.
Like Lego Star Wars, Friend or Foe is built on the “drop-in, drop-out” concept. A second player can start a co-op game from the start of a level, or enter at any time by picking up a second controller and pressing start. Many of the game’s features, such as team combos, are much easier to pull off when you have a sapient companion helping you out. The easy co-op makes this a good family game, as it has a simple, uncluttered multiplayer setup that anyone can use.
The combat and controls are pretty standard for this kind of game, even on the Wii. The developers wisely limited the number of gimmicky motion controls, so you’ll only be shaking the remote for the odd combo or attack. The Nunchuk is used for character movement, while the face and trigger buttons are used for various attacks. The actual combat is relatively simplistic, in keeping with the game’s pick up and play mechanics.
Every character has standard melee attacks and grabs. Combo multipliers are achieved by “juggling” an enemy in the air; the game plays fast and loose with the laws of physics, so it’s common to uppercut a bad guy into the air, and then beat on him for several seconds while he floats there. The game tries to balance the sidekicks and Spidey, but ultimately the web-head is the best character. The sidekicks have a couple special moves that can be upgraded, but Spidey’s web lab grants him a much wider selection of attacks and grapples. Every character has the same access to damage, health and speed upgrades, but all of the sidekicks come off as underpowered. You and your friend will probably end up arguing over who gets to be Spiderman next round.
Even with the underpowered sidekicks, the game is a breeze. There is no penalty for dying, aside from losing some upgrade tokens, but these are so numerous that it really isn’t a problem. Friend or Foe is so forgiving that older players will quickly get bored, but the game’s target casual audience should have fun. Playing as the villains does offer a bit more challenge because they are so limited compared to Spiderman.
Spidey ends up as probably the most varied aspect of Friend or Foe. The levels range from Tokyo to Egypt, but the gameplay never changes much. The enemies you fight are pretty much the same from start to finish, and most of the boss fights involve chucking debris at the villain du-jour. Friend or Foe has the same kind of repetition you find in many brawlers, but for some reason it just gets stale fast in this game. There are pickups and extras to find along the way, but most of those are used to buy the character upgrades or unlock levels for the boring versus mode. The rest of the powerups activate special moves or grant invincibility, which make an easy game even less of a challenge.
Friend or Foe doesn’t impress much on the visual front, but at least its graphics are competent. The levels have a bland, generic appearance that corresponds to the current theme, but they are cleanly textured and serve as a decent backdrop for the action. The characters take after their movie counterparts but have a goofy, toy-like style that fits with the game’s humor. They tend to blend in with the environments though, and in the chaos I lost track of my character numerous times. The battles usually degenerated into a mess of particle effects and explosions, so to survive I just started button mashing. The Wii version is pretty much what you’d expect: it gets the job done, but it won’t win any beauty contests.
The sound fares about the same, except for one aspect: voice acting. After Tobey Maguire’s dull, monotone acting in the other movie games, the lively Spiderman voice actor in Friend or Foe is a nice change. All of the characters have much better dialogue to work with, even if some of it is campy. It’s certainly better than the wooden stuff they droned out in the movie games. Most of the acting is done in the cutscenes, which are well done and choreographed for a more lighthearted attitude. On the Wii all of the cutscenes are prerendered, so at least you won’t be staring at pasty textures and lo-polygon models the whole time. I liked the voice actor from Ultimate Spiderman better—his lines were snappier and his delivery was tighter, but this new guy is a workable analog, and definitely preferable to Maguire.
In some ways, Friend or Foe is a more enjoyable experience than the wholly disappointing Spiderman 3, but instead of a better sandbox game we have a mediocre brawler. Friend or Foe really is Lego Spiderman, a game I’m surprised hasn’t been made yet. At the same time, it lacks the charm and depth of the Lego Star Wars titles it seems to emulate, offering instead some very repetitive gameplay and a list of characters that are unfortunately not very fun to play as. Friend or Foe is a rent at most, but it doesn’t warrant the same price as a standard Wii game and will probably end up boring the kid audience it was intended for.
Spiderman Friend or Foe is obviously an attempt to cash in on the holiday rush. It doesn’t have the variety necessary to keep anyone playing for long, and the presentation is average at best. The dialogue is refreshingly funny, but only because we’ve been watching the self-indulgent Spiderman movies for the past few years. It might appeal to the Wii’s younger, more casual demographic, but this holiday the Wii has so many better games for the same price or cheaper. Do yourself a favor and keep this repetitive brawler off your holiday gift list.
Rating: 6 Mediocre
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
I've been gaming off and on since I was about three, starting with Star Raiders on the Atari 800 computer. As a kid I played mostly on PC--Doom, Duke Nukem, Dark Forces--but enjoyed the 16-bit console wars vicariously during sleepovers and hangouts with my school friends. In 1997 GoldenEye 007 and the N64 brought me back into the console scene and I've played and owned a wide variety of platforms since, although I still have an affection for Nintendo and Sega.
I started writing for Gaming Nexus back in mid-2005, right before the 7th console generation hit. Since then I've focused mostly on the PC and Nintendo scenes but I also play regularly on Sony and Microsoft consoles. My favorite series include Metroid, Deus Ex, Zelda, Metal Gear and Far Cry. I'm also something of an amateur retro collector. I currently live in Westerville, Ohio with my wife and our cat, who sits so close to the TV I'd swear she loves Zelda more than we do. We are expecting our first child, who will receive a thorough education in the classics.
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