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Fun Gameplay, Lots of Action, Beat It in 6 Hours

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: November 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

Great Game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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.

Could Have Been Better

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This was written by my 13 year old son:

"This is a reasonably fun game. This game has a pretty straightforward storyline. Beat 2 different levels then turn a foe into friend. Each villain has a device on them that makes them totally under a bad guys control. Its up to Spiderman to knock them out and destroy the device on them. Then they want to join you to find out who did it to them. This game has OK graphics, but the levels are the same thing and are way too long. You fight your way through tons of enemies and then find the bad guy. But when I say the levels are too long I mean it. To capture Venom it took me a whole half hour even with my buddy. This game is for 10 years and older. It is definitely not for people who hate superheroes and not for those who like games that last them a while."

spidey

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It was a gift for my boyfriend. he has enjoyed it. I played it several times and enjoyed it myself. When you bet the villian they become your teammate and you can play as them.

Rather Challenging for Young Children

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The difficulty level seems a bit above the typical Spiderman fan age, but perhaps I am not aware of an older kids and adult fan base. However, my 6 & 8 year olds enjoy producing the character moves, even if they haven't mastered the game strategy. As a parent, I like that so-called foes can be seen in a different light -- as a friend or teammate. This makes a point that even a "villain" maybe isn't all bad. I'm not crazy about the beat-'em-up part, but there is no gore. It looks like an animated comic book, and therefore is obviously fantasy, not reality.

Review from NJ

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for my 5yr old son for Christmas, and it's been his favorite game. He is able to use the controller without difficulty and loves to count how many villains he has converted to friends. He especially likes the versus (or 2 player) mode. It says the game is for ages 7-12, but he seems to be able to manage it fine. My older kids (13 and 15) will often play with him in the versus mode. My 10 yr old nephew has been over to play, and has requested the game for his birthday. It may not be challenging enough for the 12 yr old who is really into games, but for the ages 5-10,it is really a fun game.

Kids and adults enjoy spiderman friend or foe

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Both my grandson and I enjoy playing spiderman. It is challenging yet axxhievable and has so many different charcrters and areas that it is hard to ever get bored

Great Young kid Fun! (and for Mom and Dad)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

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

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