Spiderman: Friend Or Foe

Hey, this is Zee. You can usually find me over at Gamer Fetish, but today I’m here to write a very special guest review - about Spiderman: Friend Or Foe. I played the Xbox 360 version, for reference.

I really loved Marvel Ultimate Alliance and X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse, so I had high hopes for this game. I’ve always loved the Marvel heroes, and lately I’d been reading more and more Spiderman comics, so it sounded like something I’d love. Unfortunately, I wasn’t terribly impressed - actually, I’m kind of disappointed.

The first thing that got on my nerves was the fact that the game seems to be set in the movie universe rather than the comic book universe - call me a snob, but after Spider-Man 3 and the whole emo/Saturday Night Spidey thing, I’m seriously over that movie franchise. Plus, I just hate Kirsten Dunst and anything that reminds me of her, so, y’know, automatic points off. But yeah, we see the “New Goblin” on his weird flying snowboard thing in the opening, even though he’s not really in the rest of the game and only becomes a playable character after you’ve beaten the game once. And honestly, I seriously doubt I’ll be replaying solely to try out Gobby Jr.’s skills, because…

…the game has absolutely no replay value, in my eyes. Spidey can be completely leveled up in the first few areas, and each of your allies only have ONE “super-power”, so leveling them up beyond that isn’t even fun or necessary. Furthermore, all the areas are incredibly repetitive, and the chapters all follow similar formulas. For example, in part three of every area, you always have to destroy the PHANTOM generator. Considering it’s a remarkably easy task and doesn’t get more challenging in later levels (really, nothing in this game increases in difficulty - I actually found the last foe-to-ally battle, Venom, the easiest of the entire game) you really begin to feel that you’re just playing the same area over with a different backdrop. The writers for this game really slacked off - honestly, the only unique or clever parts of the entire game is Nick Fury’s dialogue with the remarkably sentient S.H.I.E.L.D. computer between each area.

The game isn’t unattractive by any means; it favors a more cartoony look that’s reminiscent of Escape From Monkey Island, and Silver Sable looks like she hails from the Marvel Mangaverse (strange, because she’s the only one that really looks anime at all). Some of the levels are a bit too dark, which can get annoying, but it’s not a huge complaint.

All this isn’t to say that the game isn’t fun; it is. It’s a good time-waster and trying out your new allies’ moves is always entertaining. However, it’s simply not worth purchasing. GH and I rented it from GameFly, and that’s pretty much the way to go if you want to give this game a shot: rent it via GameFly or BLOCKBUSTER Total Access, or trade for it at a website like Goozex if you simply must own it. Buying it pre-used from Amazon is another good option, but bottom line: it’s not worth the current $39.99 price tag.

Gamer Hero (er, well… Zee) Score: 6/10