Customer Reviews

Spiderman: Friend or Foe

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the Spiderman movies adding so much drama and character development to the original comics, it's nice to find a game that is less somber and more playful. This game will appeal to a younger crowd as the gameplay is rather easy to figure out. It's not that challenging but it is quite fun to play.

The story line revolves around some unknown mastermind that is using shards from the meteor that spawned the symbiotic suit to brainwash villains such as the Green Goblin and Doc Ock to do his bidding, as well as to power an army of holographic monsters called phantoms. With the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, you trot the globe, recover the shards, and free the brainwashed villains, which turns enemies into allies. Even though the story line seems a little far fetched, the game's jokey, playful tone makes it quite refreshing, and it ultimately serves its purpose of letting you fight alongside some of Spidey's greatest villains, a concept that manages to stay novel throughout. You'll also team up with other heroes along the way, including Spiderman regulars such as Prowler, Black Cat, and Silver Sable, as well as b-team favorites such as Iron Fist and Blade. A big part of what carries the humor in Friend or Foe is the quality of the voice work, which is consistently great.

The basic structure of the game isn't all that interesting by itself. You travel to some exotic locations, such as Tokyo, Transylvania, or Nepal, where you'll fight holographic phantoms before facing off with a brainwashed villain. The phantoms come in just a few different varieties, and though they get stronger over time and change appearance between locations, the same tactics seem to work pretty well from start to finish. Although the boss fights are presented differently, they all rely on the same basic strategy of throwing objects at the villains from afar. They can occasionally be a little time-consuming, but they're never particularly challenging.

There's really not much else to the game beyond the fighting. There's a little bit of exploration, in that there are DNA samples and secret arenas scattered throughout the game, but more often than not you'll just stumble over them in the course of playing the game. Spidey can double-jump and use his webbing to swing over small gaps, but platforming is minimal. When you do die, be it at the hands of an enemy or from falling off a platform, the only penalty is that you'll lose a couple of tech tokens, a type of in-game currency that falls out of defeated enemies and smashed objects. You use the tech tokens to upgrade the abilities of Spider-Man and friends.

It's pretty much all fighting, all the time, against the same handful of enemies, with no consequences for dying. The whole thing can be wrapped up in less than eight hours. So what makes the action in Friend or Foe interesting? A lot of it rests on the combat, which manages to be both accessible and somewhat dynamic. There's a single attack button that you can use to tap out some simple combos, but it's Spider-Man's web-based abilities that bring a lot of panache to the game. The webslinging abilities let him grab enemies from afar and launch them into one another, into the ground, or right off the edge of a platform.

You can earn additional web talents over time, including the ability to shoot projectiles and wrap enemies up, but your starting abilities seem to be the most useful. They're also the most visually interesting, though admittedly some of the actions look more exciting than they might otherwise be due to exaggerated physics that cause everyone to linger in the air before gravity pulls them back down. It's very easy to string these moves together, and even though it's not much of a challenge, fending off a dozen enemies at once with a constant flurry of attacks can be pretty satisfying.

It can be a real thrill to fight alongside some of Spider-Man's greatest villains as well, and you can switch back and forth on the fly between controlling Spidey and his sidekick. When controlled by the artificial intelligence, your sidekick can take care of itself pretty well. As awesome as it might sound to finally get to play as these villains, the sidekicks simply don't have as many abilities as Spidey, which makes them inherently less interesting. This ends up limiting the appeal of the game's two-player support, although it's consequently less disappointing that there's no online play.

The game uses the Wii Remote and Nunchuck well so you'll be flicking the Wii Remote to simulate body slams, throws and nice in air moves. Spider-Man can sort through different webbing styles (and you get extra ones once you unlock the symbiotic Spidey suit). You can also swing enemies around to slam into other enemies by flicking your wrist. You can also do unique moves with each side kick that you earn.

The games graphics are pretty good. The voice overs are even better. The cartoon look and simply game play make for a younger audience. However no matter what is said it is still a well crafted game with a lot of appeal.

I am writing this review to hopefully help someone in a similar situation as my family with Wii game buying. We got our Wii for Christmas and our son is just about to turn 4. He got the Go Diego Go Safari game when we got the Wii (by the way, I also recommend this title if you are looking for something that very little children can play on the Wii.) He played that game a handful of times, won the game, and now won't touch it, it's too easy. However, there seems to be a gap between that game (there aren't many that young) and the bulk of the games which are much too difficult or slow moving. So...we are having a hard time finding anything besides Mario Kart he can/will play. When we were shopping recently we found a sale rack of Wii games and this one was on there. It went against my better judgement to buy it without reading the reviews first, but he absolutely had his mind made up that this was the game he wanted. The main point of my review is to encourage buyers looking for games they can play WITH their younger kids. I am not sure he would do as well alone, but I am astounded how well he does when his dad or I play with him, in fact he really does as well, if not better than I. I agree with many other things that other reviewers have said, that the graphics and tone of the game in general are light hearted enough to engage kids. The controls are easy enough to figure out, if you care, and if you don't (like me) or are really young (like my son) then you can just push the "A" button over and over and still be effective. However, there are upgrades and combo moves and all that fancy video game stuff, that my husband will not die of boredom or frustration when he has to play with our son. And again, I think the graphics are a great mixture of realistic and cartoon to be pleasing to many levels of players also. Additonally, I can see that it will grow with our son (and his younger brother in a year or two) and therefore I am very happy with the purchase. Overall I am very pleasantly surprised by this game, and think it is filling a void in our Wii library and highly recommend it for families.

I love this game! The graphics are great and the plot is good. I love being able to play as villains, especially Venom. However, if you are considering buying this for Wii because of the remote's abilities you MUST know this: The Wii Remote is hardly ever used for this game. It is used only to click on options and do slam attacks. However, my little brother loves this game, and the Co-op works nicely. For fans of arcade fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom the versus mode 1-1 is a must. But going back after beating the game on the first and second levels is too easy. You can't really fail so for those that like a challenge, this is too easy for you. But for those who aren't that good at hard games should buy this. For ages 7-12 this game makes a great gift. This game looks animated instead of looking like the movies unlike Spider-Man 3 for example, so people who don't like games aimed for kids might not want this game. Yet younger children will adore this game and its humor. Lots of levels, collectibles, and characters make this game a lot of fun for kids.

Bought for my son of 4 (almost 5) this is a great 2 player game, so we can play together, best of all is the "drop out" ability during game play. You always have 2 players during the game, and you can switch between them, or play with 2 players, if one person has to leave, "Drop out" and the computer takes over your player. This is great when you have little time to play with other players.

This is one of his top games, which is wonderful for young kids, and fathers looking for a bonding moment with their kids. Not sure where the age gap will be when they will find the game boring, maybe in the late teens.

Easy controls and simple story line that anyone can follow.
A+ for family time,
A+ for young kids

i got this game for christmas just as an extra present.

Pros:

fun versus mode.
easy
simple
lots of missions so this is not a game that you beat in a short amount of time

cons:

enemies appear form nowhere
repetitive gameplay
cartoony graphics
non interactive controls so even though ti is a wii game it plays just like any other system.
too easy for serious gamers such as my self
versus mode requires that you unlock levels by playing story mode so you only start out with one level...

this is a great game for kids around the ages of 6-12 especially if they arent into long story modes and difficult gameplay, if violence is an issue this shouldnt be too bad because all you do is punch, throw and smash the enemies into the ground until they disappear into nothingness, great for younger players but for older kids try something else

My boys 10 and 12 think this game is it. They had played it at a cousin's house and fell in love. They borrowed it and couldn't get enough. I looked high and low for it in stores so we could "own" it and not have to give it back, but to no avail. I was so happy to find this older game at Amazon which got it to us quickly and in perfect condition.

Not sure why this game is not more popular - kids under 10 seem to really enjoy. We were looking for a less costly game at the time of this purchase (it was $19.99) and it has proven to a relatively good value.

I must get asked this question about 10 times a day. I have boys (ages 4 and 6) and more than Mario Kart, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Wii Sports, or Super Mario Galaxy they absolutely LOVE this game. They would play it 24/7 if I let them (which I don't). As a parent, the reasons I like it are:

1) It is very straightforward and easy to play. Three buttons and the nunchuck are involved. All for 4 year old does is continuously press all three buttons and Spidey makes all sorts of cool moves.

2) While there is violence - They are fighting after all - it is very cartoonish. No blood, bruises, cuts, etc. and, for the most part, they fight robot-looking villains

3) The levels, bosses, etc. are beatable. If you are an adult and want some hardcore gaming via Call of Duty, this isn't for you. But I really like that my boys can play it, have success at it, and they don't have to learn all these complex moves to win (ie: press AB at the same time, then move to the right and press X then Z and some very cool move will happen).

All in All - a great place to start if you just got your Wii and are looking for a great, fun game for boys (and girls).

This is a non-canicol (meaning it does not follow any one or stay true to any one of the current spiderman historical narratives) Spiderman Action Game that takes characters and plot points from both the Classic Marvel Universe and the Sam Rami movie franchise and combines them in this fun Marvel Vs. Capcom and Street Fighter style like game.

The story starts outs when Spiderman is suddenly ambushed by different villians from his rogue gallery of villians (aka Sandman, Green Goblin, Dr. Octopuss, Venom, Scorpion, and so forth) when originally rescued by the "New Goblin" from the Sam Rami movie Franchise (Yes, we all know he died in the 3rd Spiderman along with some of the villians being killed off in the previous movies, but again this is non-canicol). Then when out of nowhere they are all suddenly attacked by a unknown Mysterious Villians lacky's and taken prisoner, just when it looks like Spiderman is about to be captured he is at the last moment saved by a transport beam by Nick Fury of SHIELD (The Classic Marvel Universe Nick Fury and Not the Samuel Jackson incarnation from the new Marvel Universe movie franchise) from the Shield Helo Carrier. From this point on Nick explains the situation of what, when, and why and how you spiderman are going to help in making all things better.

You then proceed to be transported to your objectives along with 1 of 2 sidekicks at your disposal (Either Genric Hero or the Silver Sable) in locations around the world to retrieve the objectives along with saving and converting the captured foes (who are under mind control) to helping you accomplish your long term goals, you will also come across other heroes (Iron Fist, Blade), and questionable Allies (Black Cat, Lizardman, New Goblin) along the way as well. The levels start out like Street Fighter, were you walk along and fight the mysterious villians lackeys either by yourself or a sidekick (Once you gain allies it can be one of them) face the big bosses until you defeat and rescue one of the mind control villians. You then have the option of fighting them in a "Marvel Vs. Capcom" style versus mode which can be loads of fun. You will also have the option at the end of each level to "upgrade" not only your powers but that of your allies with the points you are rewarded by playing the levels.

While I did not get this version of Spiderman Friend or Foe thru Amazon (I ended picking up a pre-owned copy at a Competitor for around $18), I did originally buy this for the PC 4 years ago and the Wii Controls did make this game easier to play. I just could not bring myself to pay $80 to $100 dollars buying this new for the Wii Version.

There are some people who have critizied the game for being "To Short" I personally feel that the game played long enough and does have great replay value. Both me (Age 42) and my son (Age 14) have spent countless hours playing it (especially in the Vs mode) and would highley recommend this game for kids and adults alike of all ages. Heck even my daughter who is 9 loves roughing it up in this game and she is your typical Princess/Barbie like girl.

I am pretty strict as to what I let my young kids see. I bought this for my son for Christmas 2008. He was a few weeks shy of 6 at the time. There is violence, but it really is cartoon like. No blood or guts. Some of the action makes me motion sick, but my son is fine with it. It has been almost a year and he still plays it. Not ready to move up to the teen version though.