Spider-man: Friend or Foe

In the Marvel Comics universe, Spider-Man has faced off against a number of interesting foes that range from a crook that can turn into a being made of sand to a brilliant scientist that was somehow fused with experimental mechanical arms. In fact, there were moments when he faced them all at the same time. Therefore, you can imagine a Spidey fan’s delight in seeing the web-head fighting a mysterious foe alongside his old enemies like the Green Goblin and Venom. This is the situation that has Spider-Man joining forces with his various rivals and friends in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe for the Nintendo Wii.

Yes, this is a concept made in comic-book heaven but after playing through Friend or Foe the charm of battling a common enemy with a powerhouse like Rhino fades after you experienced the first five or so levels. I might be getting ahead of myself here, so please allow me to give you an idea of how Spider-Man forms an alliance with every villain he managed to beat a number of times in the pages of the comics as well as the movies. You see, during a routine night of crime fighting, Spider-Man is attacked by most of his old enemies such as Venom, the Sandman, the Green Goblin and even Doctor Octopus. During the brief skirmish, however, something snatches away each bad guy and Spidey soon finds himself aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier where he receives some distressing news from Nick Fury. It seems that an unknown enemy is linked to certain meteor fragments that landed in various spots around the globe. The arrival of strange enemies called Phantoms bring to mind the time the alien symbonite arrived on Earth so long ago (see Spider-Man 3) and so Spider-Man must do battle against the enemies that threaten the world.

Your first mission has you racing to Tokyo, Japan as you’re followed by Silver Sable, a familiar Spidey cohort and now recruited agent. From there you’ll travel to different corners of the planet that range from Tangaroa Island, Transylvania, Cairo and Nepal. Along the way, you’ll be joined by other friends such as the Black Cat, Blade and even Iron Fist. Yet, as I mentioned above, foes will turn into friends and the situation will join Spider-Man with a variety of villains you must first defeat in battle in order to recruit. The good news is that once you unlock your allies, you can pick anyone you want to tackle on a specific level. Sadly, thanks to the poor level design, it really doesn’t matter who you pick because there aren’t levels that really benefit from, say, using the Black Cat instead of the Green Goblin or New Goblin for that matter (and yes, it’s really out of context to find both father and son Goblins in the same game).

Adding to the game’s lack of creative level design is the dumb enemy and ally AI that makes combat both a breeze and frustrating at the same time. In levels where you’ll be jumping from platform to platform be prepared to see your chosen sidekick slip to his or her death and waste precious Tech Tokens as they’re instantly resurrected. The Phantoms aren’t even very intelligent and while they do manage to wallop you good on occasion, it’s nothing teamwork and power-ups won’t fix. Really, this is a game you should be playing with a buddy since a friend won’t be making many of the same mistakes your ally makes during the game. Plus, you have the benefit of having a friend jump in at any time during the game and coordinate attacks together to chain some pretty mean character specific combos, making for a better cooperative experience.

So what does the game do right? Well, for one thing, the game uses the Wii Remote and Nunchuck well so you’ll be flicking the Wii Remote to simulate body slams, throws and even cool air slam moves. Spider-Man can sort through different webbing styles (and extra ones once you unlock the black alien Spidey suit) and can swing enemies around to slam into other enemies with the flick of your wrist. Your sidekicks have their own interesting techniques and skills. For example, Rhino has a powerful charging attack while the Black Cat makes good use of her acrobatic skills. Aboard the Helicarrier, you can even upgrade your skills and powers as well as those of your allies. You can even check out extra features you might have unlocked during the mission such as extra arenas to use for battling against a friend in the head-to-head Versus Mode.

Visually, Friend or Foe looks like a cartoon and not a very pretty one at that but it gets the job done and, seeing as this game was meant to be different than the movie-licensed games, fits the game’s theme well enough. Still, the colorful characters and environments aren’t too ugly and the visual effects do look pretty neat despite the fact that some backgrounds lack graphical detail. Add the fact that there’s very little in terms of animation variety and we get a game that looks pretty average for a Nintendo Wii game.

The game’s graphics might not be so great but at least the voice acting is good with Spidey almost sounding a lot like Tobey Maguire and a voice actor that does a great job of doing a Willem Dafoe impression for the Green Goblin character. There’s also a pretty good soundtrack that works well throughout the game and the sound effects aren’t bad.

Take everything you love about the Spider-Man universe and the fact that you’ll be teaming up with known Spidey bad guys and cram it into an uninteresting action game on the Nintendo Wii and you get an idea of what Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is like. It’s too bad really since the game has an interesting setup and co-op multiplayer, but even the Wii controls aren’t able to save this one from the dull level design. Still, if you’re a true Spider-Man fan who can’t go without a Spidey game, forget the other console versions and pick up the Nintendo Wii version instead.

Gameplay: 6.5
The Wii-Remote and Nunchuck attachment make combat a bit more entertaining than the other console versions of the game but the dumb enemy AI, weak level design and bite-sized levels help make this a somewhat boring game even for younger gamers.

Graphics: 6.9
Friend or Foe doesn’t feel very next-generation but then again it’s meant to look more like an animated feature that takes its inspiration from the recent cartoons as well as the movie. The backgrounds are sometimes pretty barren but at least they’re as colorful as the character models.

Sound: 6.9
The voice acting is actually pretty darn good and the dialogue is ripe with witty repartee that won’t fail to put a smile on your face. Then again, some lines are repeated often during the action and get old fast. At least the sound effects are Ok and the soundtrack is decent.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The many Phantom clones you’ll face in this game can’t wait to receive the beating of their life that they almost line up and wait their turn … or so that’s what if feels like when you go up against them. The real challenge comes from the boss fights when you take on the villains.

Concept: 7.0
It’s Spidey and he’s fighting the bad guys with the bad guys. Just like Ultimate Alliance brought every Marvel Comics character together, Friend or Foe brings a variety of characters that appeared in the Spider-Man comics and animated features. You can play this game alone but this one is best served with a buddy.

Multiplayer: 6.5
I’ve experienced a slight drop in the framerate while playing alongside a friend in Versus Mode as well as Co-op play but other than that this game was made with cooperative play in mind so bring a friend along … it will make up for the weak ally AI.

Overall: 6.5
In another time, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe would have been a delight for Spidey fans of all ages but the next generation consoles and better Marvel games have set the bar for our favorite web-slinger. Nintendo Wii owners will get a kick out of the extra workout in the combat department but innovative controls just don’t rise above the simplistic level design and poor enemy AI.