PlayStation 2

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe

You begin each level in a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, where you can switch your partner and upgrade your characters through tokens found in the levels. You’ll unlock new characters in these levels that you can then go back and use in earlier levels. The game supports two-player cooperative multiplayer, and allows the second player to come in and out of the game at will since the AI will take over otherwise. You’ll also find a simple versus mode that lets you pair off any two of game’s characters.

But alas, the game is not free of flaws. You know the first one: repetition. No brawler / beat-‘em-up can exist without it. Friend or Foe runs on a set path: select a level, defeat all the enemies, and make your way to the unmarked exit (you’ll know it’s over when the screen turns black – just like The Sopranos). That’s a couple steps back from Spider-Man 3, only because that game allowed you to select from a variety of missions at any point in the game. Friend or Foe boxes you into the one-mission-at-a-time setup.

Friend or Foe is a great ride but only for about 8-12 hours. This game was way too easy for adults and even kids will breeze through the entire game in a few days of casual gaming. The levels do seem endless but in a good way. There are so many hidden passages and doors that really encourage you to explore each level thoroughly rather than just rush through them. One sign of a good game is that when I wasn’t playing Friend or Foe I was thinking about playing it.

The low level of challenge, the cartoon-inspired look, and a tone that favors humor over pathos certainly make it seem as if Spider-Man: Friend or Foe was designed with a younger, less sophisticated audience in mind, but for what it is, this is a well-crafted game.

A peine sorti des sentiers battus que Spider-Man : Allié Ou Ennemi y revient prestement. Ainsi donc, à l'exception d'un design très typé et d'une bonne dose d'humour, le titre de Next Level Games n'offre qu'une aventure certes agréable à jouer mais de très courte durée et non exempte de défauts. Un bon moyen pour s'amuser le temps d'une soirée mais certainement pas suffisant pour redorer le blason vidéoludique du tisseur.

Once again, though, the simple combat really looms as a shadow over the game. Even with completely different characters, it always boils down to hitting melee a few times, maybe grabbing a guy or two, and if you feel like it using your special attack. Unlike similar titles where you have a plethora of skills to utilize and upgrade, Friend or Foe really limits your options.

Some of the character animation is solid, but what's with the lack of textures on the environments? Friend or foe? Well, I'll give you a hint: friend has been taken off the table.

The action-adventure brawler, developed by Next Level Games and published by Activision, started out with a unique idea - that Spidey would battle a horde of mysterious baddies with the help of his sworn Marvel-universe enemies. But what begins as an interesting premise turns out to be the most ordinary of gaming experiences, and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe very early on proves itself to be its own worst enemy.

Friend or Foe may bear the likeness of one of comics' most popular characters, but it doesn't feel like a Spider-Man game at all. At the end of the day, this is an unfortunate stain on the tights of a character that has had a fairly respectable video game career.

Das hat Spider-Man wirklich nicht verdient: Von der absolut unzeitgemäßen Grafik bis hin zum total langweiligen Spielablauf ist alles dabei, was man nicht haben möchte. Sie werden also selbst als Fan des Spinnen-Manns Mühe haben, sich mit diesem Spiel ein wenig anzufreunden. Ständig laufen Sie durch höchst ähnliche Gebiete und bekämpfen die immer gleichen Gegner nach dem immer gleichen Muster: Sie hämmern stupide auf dem Pad herum. Dann geht's ab in die nächste Spielstufe und - richtig - der dröge Unfug geht wieder von vorne los.