Or: How to ruin a franchise. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=14826 Over the course of the video game industry's history, Spider-Man has seen his fair share of good games and bad games. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe joins the Wall of Shame, unfortunately, as this game seems to throw out everything good about the previous Spider-Man games in favor of a quick and easy cash-in on the franchise's success.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a classic beat 'em up game in the same vein as those horrible Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games that have been released in recent years. The story is that Spidey is drafted by Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. and teleported onto a "helicarrier" for a quick briefing on the situation at hand. Someone, it turns out, has been using symbiote-soaked meteorite shards to control the minds of super villains and create mysterious enemies called Phantoms, who are, in turn, wreaking all manner of havoc around the world. It'll be Spider-Man's job to defeat his archenemies, recruit them, and fight alongside them to find the mastermind.
The core concept of Friend or Foe, turning your enemies into allies, is an interesting premise in itself, but the numerous design decisions, which are questionable at best, mar the experience. Graphics are simple and bland, looking worse than the Spider-Man games from years past in many cases, including the more recent Spider-Man 3. Character models lack any real detail, and while they are animated well enough, the blaring lack of detail kills any hint of immersion. Environments are also a kill-joy, sporting minimal amounts of geometry and often muddy textures. Worse yet, there are hints of slowdown from time to time.
Sound in this game is best described as "generic". The in-game music is horribly repetitive and boring, a far cry from the past console Spider-Man games, which had notably better music and overall sound. The only saving grace this part of the game has to be the decent to good voice acting. The best part of the entire game has to be the computer on the helicarrier, which often spits out humorous or sarcastic remarks.
Gameplay is deep, yet repetitive. Being a beat 'em up game, repetition is just the nature of the genre, and the game attempts to remedy it by adding a character upgrade system for Spidey and his comrades. The upgrades at times add something to the gameplay, but for the most part, they seem awkward and forced. Another attempt at variety is seen in the combo system, which adds depth to the game. It's admittedly fun juggling an enemy in a constant combo loop for as long as you can, but the novelty of that soon wears off. There are unlockables in the game, but those are found easily just by going through the levels as you should, offering up no challenge or exploration aspects to the already simple game. Difficulty is also another issue, as the game never even attempts to challenge the player in the least bit.
The Wii version of Friend or Foe incorporates motion sensitive controls into the gameplay mechanics, allowing the player to switch between different combos on the fly. While this sounds good on paper, the execution is just plain poor. The motion controls aren't always responsive, which leaves you with one or two different combos you can do out of the three or four possible combos that are available.
This game could have been good, but almost every aspect of Spider-Man: Friend or Foe falls flat on its face. As a fan of the sandbox style Spider-Man games, I must say I am deeply disappointed that Activision chose to go the easy route instead of giving fans another high quality game. Avoid this game at all costs; it's not even worth a rental.
Pros:
Deep combo system Well written script Excellent voice acting Character upgrades Cons: Motion controls haphazardly implemented Repetitive gameplay Generic music and sound effects Subpar visuals Graphics: 3.0 Extremely ugly, almost first generation Dreamcast graphics are an eyesore. Well animated character models look bland and lack detail found in previous Spider-Man games. Repetitive and linear environments dominate the game, leaving much to be desired. Slowdown is also an issue in some instances.
Sound: 6.5 Generic music and sound effects abound in Friend or Foe, a stark contrast to the wonderfully written and acted script, which stands far and above the voice acting of some of the better games on the market.
Control: 3.0 Motion controls are included, but they don't always function correctly, often leaving you stuck with two or three combos out of many combo options available to the player. The game otherwise controls exactly the same as its counterparts on other consoles, despite the addition of motion controls, which is disappointing.
Gameplay: 6.0 Halfhearted character upgrades and surprisingly deep combo attacks cannot stave off the repetitiveness and monotony that plagues many games of the beat 'em up genre. Friend or Foe doesn't even offer much in the way of difficulty, which makes for ever so slightly above average gameplay.
Lastability: 3.0
There are unlockables and multiplayer modes, but with a game so unremarkable, bland, and mediocre as this, why even bother? Kids may have fun for one or two times through, but this game will quickly collect dust very soon. For older gamers, this game may hold your attention for an hour or two, and then you'll move on to something better.
Final: 4.0
This game is a disgrace to the Spider-Man franchise as a whole. Terrible graphics, generic sound, problematic controls, and boring gameplay round out this disgusting game. If you have the urge to play a Spider-Man game, I highly suggest you either check out Spider-Man 3 or the last generation offerings. They can be found on the used game rack at your local game store, which is exactly where this game will be heading for the unfortunate few who bought Friend or Foe without reading reviews first.
Topic: REVIEWS: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (Read 4475 times)
