Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
Score: 70% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Activision Developer: Beenox Media: UMD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Action/ Fighting/ Platformer (3D)
Graphics & Sound: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is one of those game you want to like so much. I'm a fan of Marvel comics and Spider-Man is right up there as one of my absolute favorites. The sad news is that our hero doesn't show very well at all in this boondoggle of a game. There are worlds of things that better graphics might have done for Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. The comparison I would make is at least back to some of the less attractive PS2 games from the early days... even some of the better looking PSOne games might have this one matched! There was some effort made to create destructible environments and vary the background enough to create a sense of exploration. In a straight-out brawler like this it helps to give players some scenery along with wave-after-wave of bad guys. The design of each level is a series of large rooms connected by hallways, pathways, bridges, etc. Once you see a big room coming up you know enemies are going to materialize. The enemies have a bit of variety in that they switch costumes between each major area of the game. You'd be forgiven for thinking that's all they did because there are only a handful of enemy types in the game. The clothes may change but the enemy behavior doesn't... The overall presentation is flat but there are some nice effects from special attacks the heroes in the game pull off. It's never boring to watch an enemy being punched up in the air and it isn't boring to jump up as Spidey and pound them a few times before planting them in the ground with a killing blow. The character animations are cool enough but they can't compete with such a drab backdrop. There are good voiceovers during the game when certain events are triggered. There are cut-scenes that don't "cut it" at certain major transitions. The dialog in these sequences is funny, well-written stuff. Spider-Man and other characters deliver the kind of lines you'd expect them to from being familiar with their style in the comic books. The downer is that the cut-scenes are static images with some panning and window dressing to suggest motion. The lack of sophistication here makes Spider-Man: Friend or Foe feel like it's already expecting to land in the bargain bin. Nothing featuring these characters should feature less than top-notch design. When it works, as was the case with Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the fans go crazy and the game gets accolades. Few accolades are likely at this point with Spider-Man: Friend or Foe because it just feels unfinished and half baked.
Gameplay: The resources may be lacking from a design standpoint but the Marvel assets in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe are tremendous! You have the Web Crawler along with a chorus of bad guys that have been enslaved by the strange power of crystal shards taken from a meteor crash that spread pieces of hot rock across both hemispheres. Road trip! Spidey embarks on a journey to destroy the shards and prevent the spread of fiends that are drawing power from the crystals. S.H.E.I.L.D gets involved and Nick Fury sends Spider-Man on several fool's missions. The upside to these missions (beyond the tourist quotient) is that Spider-Man finds allies that help him in his battle to overturn the alien power. Black Cat is the first uneasy ally and there are a dozen more that come out of the woodwork before the credits roll. The single-player campaign or Story is really a straightforward brawler. There is the option to play ad hoc and probably enjoy the whole experience much more. The team-up you get from the CPU is a drag because you constantly have to watch your partner's health and prevent them from dying. With Black Cat I can maybe understand this, but when Spidey is running interference for Doctor Octopus, I don't know... Comic-fan suspension of disbelief taken out of the picture, how does it play? There are moments of exhilaration but they are quickly lost in the tedium. Traveling across the same area for too long and knowing exactly what to expect makes Spider-Man: Friend or Foe begin to feel like an exercise. There are some light puzzles or challenges from level to level, not gathering keys (thank the gods!) as much as throwing switches and moving those handy blocks and statues onto pressure plates to unlock passages through the game. There aren't many secret passages, only tucked-away sections that might come out on a second playing. The biggest issue comes from players that may buy based on the Spider-Man name and then be frustrated that there isn't more depth in the game. Enemies either hunt you down relentlessly or get lost in the level and require you to hunt them down. As you play you'll collect points from enemies you defeat and be able to cash these points in for health and other upgrades. Toward the middle of the game you'll be able to play mini-games that test you but also offer rewards in that they grant extra points you can use toward nifty rewards in that upgrade department already mentioned. Spidey and friends have some extra special abilities for Spider-Man: Friend or Foe that involve triggering offensive or defensive moves against tougher enemies. At the "Web Shop" you can take points gathered in normal levels or mini-games and hone your skills. The bigger question is, Why bother? If the game is not going to reward a perfectionist or show us something exciting and novel, what's the point?
Difficulty: It's been a long time since I played a game with boss battles that are so out of balance with the remainder of enemies. Most enemies are coming on strong and there are some aggressive moments with each boss but nothing that will blow you away. Since defeating the boss character means you can add him to your entourage, there may have been incentive for the game's creators to make sure that average folks would pass each boss level. The first two bosses are ridiculously easy, to the extent they might be considered part of some tutorial if they didn't arrive an hour or so into the game. Teaming up on bosses, using special powers and projectiles to stay far away...everything works a little too well and gives the impression that one boss is not much different than the one before. The mechanics of battling bosses is different from stage to stage and even a bit creative as in the case of Rhino. When you battle Rhino he's charge up with an impermeable barrier so Spidey has to pull a series of switches during the boss battle to lower Rhino's shields. The boss battles are anything but epic and each boss when defeated will come fight on your side and be available as a member of the party. The battles in later stages are easier when you have some heavy hitters on your side.
Game Mechanics: The control scheme for Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is actually pretty good. In the main story where you have a leader and a sidekick, it is easy to change between characters by using the shoulder buttons. Two buttons can be combined for multiple move sequences or held down to trigger special moves. Spider-Man's webbing comes into play regularly for moving around and makes a great weapon in battle. Spidey can grab objects or small enemies and throw them at large enemies for big damage. Shooting web always happens with the (O) key and if used against large enemies will pull them toward Spidey to be punched and sent flying. There aren't many more tricks up the sleeve during battle but the strategy of choosing a sidekick. Some sidekicks are fast but lack power and others are great in a boss battle or when levels include lots ofoversize enemies. The CPU does a pretty poor job of controlling the sidekick in battle so you are left with the strategy of watching your partner's health gauge and switching out to save them once it starts getting low. The impact of a K.O. is that you are stuck flying solo and you lose some points at the end of the stage. If you bite the dust during one of those times you're fighting alone, you'll have to return to the beginning of that segment. Considering some lackluster design choices in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, the levels are designed in a nice bite-sized way that prevents frustration in a do-over scenario. Most gamers won't find themselves doing over, unfortunately. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a button-masher's paradise and there aren't many bosses or minions that you can't dispatch by just going wild on the two attack buttons. Trying out the different sidekicks and attempting to pull off combos is some fun but the tedium of levels that just look the same, play the same, and are populated by the same enemies is too much. Especially for fans of previous Spider-Man games and even for gamers that are willing to overlook some bumps and bruises for a chance to play their favorite Web Slinger, this joint is more about trials and tribulations than friends and foes.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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