"Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can..." except swim. It’s the holiday season and time for another game about our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and another review where I will try and type Spider-Man as many times as possible, just to see an army of hyphens staring back at me. In any event, the latest offering in the Spider-brand is Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, a slightly charming little beat em’ up in the vein of old Spider-Man classics like Maximum Carnage or games featuring Spider-Man, like the stellar Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
"Control is a variation on the Ultimate Alliance system. "
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There’s a twist this time around though. Like the mother-approved Kix, it’s for kids. With the impending launch of the new "Spectacular Spider-Man," which blends movie visual design and story elements from the Ultimate Spider-Man books in a child based cartoon, the game comes off as if Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Lego Star Wars had a baby. This is actually a good thing. The story starts on a quiet New York night, with Spider-Man facing every villain you’ve seen in the movies and more (New Goblin in this iteration is your friend, as it seems Green Goblin for all intents and purposes is still alive and crazy). Right as Harry and Peter seem to be outnumbered, creatures that look mysteriously like Venom attack the fighting super-duo. Afterwards, they promptly disappear. Spider-Man has luckily been teleported out in the nick of time by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury. His quirky computer explains the rest of the kid-friendly storyline to you.
The game begins quickly, which is good for children or those with their attention span. You choose an ally and start whooping some symbiotic backside. You fight through countless hordes of three enemy types, which evolve over the course of the twenty-some stages. In each stage there are hidden objects to find as well as two or three strands of DNA (never more), and sometimes a hidden door that leads to an unlockable stage in a tacked-on Battle Mode later on. You eventually run into an evolving boss creature or two, and then you come across an ally who will join your cause. As time goes on you come across one of Spider-Man’s foes, and upon beating the boss, you take out the mind control device controlling them which will then allow them to help you for the sake of revenge on whoever is doing this, because well, they are the bad guys. The second player automatically takes control of the villain while playing, but you can switch at any time by having second player drop out, have the first-player change characters, and have the second player come back in again. It is important to note that Spider-Man always has to be in the party, because Spider-Man is the main character after all.
Control is a variation on the Ultimate Alliance system. Controls are mapped to the four face buttons. The strong attack has a few extra tricks if you tap the stick in different directions. There are three sets of special moves that you can toggle through using the shoulder buttons, adding to Spidey’s versatility. Each villain (and subsequently ally) has an unlockable move as well, adding options for those who decide keep playing as a certain villain instead of trading up when a new one is unlocked. Finally, there is a collectible gem system which allows for brief invincibility, power, health regeneration, or a double team attack. The gems are mapped to the D-pad and should be used in extreme situations.
The visuals as I previously mentioned are a child-friendly version of the design provided by the three recent Spider-Man movies. The colors don’t have as much range or depth as Ultimate Alliance had, but they stay bright and bold, so it works out in this case. A certain level of detail seems to have been assigned to each character, but honestly, I would have to say the most work was poured into my favorite game character, Doctor Octopus. It was nice to see that the metal arms were given a decent amount of detail, and the animation while he’s holding a large crate invokes laughter. Audio seems to be kind of tacked on here; no effects really stand out, but they are where they should be. Spider-Man has a few canned in-game phrases, to which the other characters have their own unique canned responses, to which a few canned video-game background music titles become the glue that holds it together.
"The game lasts a kid-friendly eight hours at the most. "
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The game lasts a kid-friendly eight hours at the most. Younger kids may spend up to ten hours nabbing all the unlockables, which include one piece of concept art for each playable character, two for Spider-Man himself, bonus stages for the battle mode, and a trailer for the aforementioned "Spectacular Spider-Man" cartoon series. All in all it’s refreshing to see a piece of synergy like this aimed at a kid, which for once, isn’t broken. Too often as a reviewer and a retailer do I see the name of a kids brand stamped on shovel-ware. This game is a recommended buy for children, and certainly worth a rental for web-heads.
