When I heard that Activision is releasing a new
Spider-man game less than six months after Spider-man 3 hit store shelves, I
obviously had my doubts. However, Spider-man: Friend or Foe truly surprised me
by offering an engaging and easy-to-grasp co-op experience. The game was on-hand
at a recent event held by Activision, and was geared towards a younger, more
casual audience. However, that wasn’t to say that the game didn’t have anything
to offer hardcore Spidey fans or those who’ve played through the games based on
the film trilogy. Friend of Foe combines fun and simple gameplay with an
engaging multiplayer component, and should be a blast for the younger set.
Spider-man: Friend or Foe presents a storyline
that features a bevy of famous villains from the comics, done in a slightly
cartoonish manner, but with a look that is familiar to the way the characters
appeared in the films. Spider-man’s “rogues gallery” has gone a bit crazy, and
seem to be all seem to be under the power of a nefarious force, and Spidey must
intervene to defuse the situation before it gets out of hand. You’ll travel to a
variety of locales like Cairo and Tokyo, fighting with the possessed baddies and
freeing them from their possession. Once you’ve beaten them and freed them, you
be able to have them fight at your side.
The co-op elements are some of the most important
in the game. The game allows for “drop-in drop-out” multiplayer, meaning that
players can pop in and out whenever they feel like. Before and after the second
player is in the game, the other character will be AI-controlled.
Combatwise, the game showcased some pretty casual
controls, with simple gestures of the Wii-mote for attacks and special moves
that can be charged. Each character has their own set of special moves, as well
as a special team attack that lets them dole out massive damage with Spidey’s
help.
Graphically, the game is somewhere between a
cartoon and the look of the films. The aesthetic uses simple polygons and little
detail in favor of flair. The art direction uses the style of the movies, with
characters like the New Goblin and Doc Oct wearing the same outfits that they
had in the film storyline. The game uses a fixed camera system, and guides you
through the environments.
Spider-man: Friend of Foe is turning out to be a
pretty different type of Spider-man game, simplifying things quite a bit for
casual gamers and younger Spider-fans. Those looking for something easier to get
into than the free-form Spider-man games of the past, then keep an eye out for
Friend or Foe later this fall.
