Spiderman: Friend or Foe
System: Wii
Score: 3.0

Spiderman: Friend or Foe is one of the worst games that I’ve played in a while. It looks and feels like it belongs on a Nintendo 64 or a PlayStation 1, not the Wii or any other console of today. Levels are extremely simplistic looking and even allow players to see the pixel when shadows are shown during cut scenes. The lack of detail throughout levels makes the entire experience of playing this game bland and dull.

For instance, when you’re in Tokyo, you run along grey rectangles which are supposed to be platforms of some kind. Why there are random platforms in the middle of Tokyo is beyond me. As you progress through the game, you encounter different enemies of Spiderman, such as the Green Goblin. Apparently someone is controlling the minds of Spiderman’s enemies and making them wreak havoc on the world, which is something I’m sure that they would have gladly done without being mind controlled. However, once Spiderman defeats his enemies and frees their minds, they instantly agree to help him combat this evil unknown villain.

What is even more unbelievable is that Spiderman accepts their help and they team up. Why Spiderman’s enemies would join him to save the world when they’re normally terrorizing it is completely beyond me and the game offers no explanation. Besides the traditional enemies, who end up becoming Spiderman’s friends, there are some holographic monsters who the evil villain has created from shards of a meteorite. How holograms are able to inflict any damage on anything is also something that I don’t understand, but I guess that’s what this game was going for; being completely irrational and unbelievable, even for a superhero game.

Besides the horrible story and ten year old graphics, the game play mechanics are horrible themselves. First of all, Spiderman’s web-swinging ability, which is usually my favorite part of Spiderman games, is absolutely useless; it actually got me killed many more times than it helped me. Second of all, this game focuses entirely on combat. The levels are extremely linear, and in order to progress to the next screen, you must defeat all of the enemies. Unfortunately, the combat is so boring that it will probably put you to sleep (I know I fell asleep while I was playing this). All that you have to be able to do for almost any enemy is to shoot a web out, which will auto-target onto a nearby enemy and swing that enemy around. While that enemy is being swung around, it will knock all of the other enemies over and damage them. Do this a few times and you’ll quickly clear the entire screen. The enemy encounters rarely get any more difficult than this, and when they do the solution to whatever else you’re fighting is to throw things at it. I honestly can’t think of a redeeming quality to this game. Stay away from it and if you see it at the store, start walking in the opposite direction.