First of all, I want to address to everyone that is reading that this free games was designed for a much younger audience in mind. I believe adults or older teens looking for the more mature Spidy game that followed the recent movie plots should take that in consideration. The title's core play games consists of Spider-man and a teammate fighting a bunch of creatures who are under the command of a mysterious enemy. You do nothing else but fight and that is where the problem lies. Maybe the developer wanted to keep
it as simple as possible. What is good about the fighting games is that there is a range of Spider-Man's most notable villains that you can play as. Most of their "special" moves are refreshing. You earn tokens to buy more of Spider-Man's webbing abilities. You can also upgrade your sidekicks as well. And as one reviewer pointed out, the co-op play deserves credit in the fact that if your partner playing along side of you decides they want to quit, they can do so without losing your game. It is all in the pause menu. I think this is a good rental since beating the game isn't difficult, but playing as some of the other characters are fun. In my opinion, Blade was pretty cool and he should get his own adventure title with all of his arsenal and abilities. Scorpion had some awesome moves in this game and lets not forget about Sandman.
Spider-Man has tended to have a pretty decent track record over the past few years in the video game arena, with the earlier released Spider-Man 3 being the only real disappointment. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe attempts to put a different spin on the Spidey/brawler formula, but sadly, the end result is pretty disappointing, and above all, it's pretty lame. Friend or Foe begins with an interesting enough premise: someone is using symbiote-controled villains to wreak havoc, and head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury has recruited Spidey to take them on and team up with his various rogues in an attempt to take down the mystery villain behind it all. Teaming up with the Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and more? It sounds great on paper, but what kills Friend or Foe is how ungodly boring the game's action elements are. Beat up one group of baddies, move on to another, repeat. This is basically the whole concept of Friend or Foe.
Now I like beat 'em up's as much as the next guy, but Friend or Foe is so easy to breeze through and filled with a number of technical glitches that you'll be left wondering why you picked the play games up in the first place. I know the PS2 is showing it's age more than ever these days, but Friend or Foe offers a choppy frame rate, fuzzy graphics, and overly bland environments. There are some secret rooms and hidden features to find, and the voice acting is pretty good as well, but as far as positives go, that's all she wrote. All in all, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a disappointingly lame and overly boring beat 'em up that fails to live up to the promise of the license.
