Spider-Man: Friend or Foe demo swings onto Live

by Justin McElroy { Sep 13th 2007 at 1:00PM }

The name of Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is sort of oddly appropriate. From its ignoble announcement in the instruction manual for Spider-Man 3 to the first time we laid hands on it, we've never been sure whether or not this Spidey-based brawler would be a good or bad egg. Now that a demo has been released to Xbox Live, we find our feelings on it to be (unsurprisingly) mixed.

What's pleasant about the experience is how very "Spider-Man" it feels. It's not overly serious in tone and the voice actor playing Spidey is more chipper and in-character than Tobey Maguire ever dreamed of being. Even the combat feels more authentic than the movie games. That said, the combat is not only very basic, it's pretty much the whole game, so if you're looking for something deep, look elsewhere. If you're looking for some mindless action though, you may have just made a new friend.

Tags: activision, demos, friendorfoe, spiderman, xboxlive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Christopher7xii @ Sep 13th 2007 1:06PM

the VA for Spiderman is Tidus from Final Fantasy X & Leonardo on the new Ninja Turtles CGI flick. James Arnold Taylor. Maybe it's from playing FFX, but I'm partial to his roles. He always does an awesome job... Kind of like Steve Blum (Spike from Cowboy Bebop, "Oh Thank Heaven" voice from 7-11 commercials).

NATO_Duke @ Sep 13th 2007 1:06PM

Spiderman + Video game = disappointment

Its a proven formula.

Sean @ Sep 13th 2007 1:26PM

Spider-Man 2: The Movie: The Game was very good, imo.

Chameleon @ Sep 13th 2007 1:47PM

i second sean

NaeemTHM @ Sep 13th 2007 2:33PM

You are SO wrong dude. Spidey 2 was about as close as you're going to get to actually being Spider-Man, and the first Spider-Man game for PS1 was also tons of fun.

They CAN do a great Spider-Man game...but choose instead to be lazy and crank out crap for the masses.

Side Note: Hulk Ultimate Destruction=Greatest SuperHero game....EVER.

Ska Oreo @ Sep 13th 2007 1:09PM

blargh I'll try before I give out an opinion.

So far it seems to be like a 3d side scroller and remember this is for the kids, though hopefully it's enjoyable for us adult gamers too.

Ska Oreo @ Sep 17th 2007 4:01PM

I actually enjoyed the demo. It reminded me alot of the old Spiderman beat em ups in the snes days. This game would make a good rental.

Scott @ Sep 13th 2007 1:36PM

This one is targeted at the kiddies so I expect the combat system to be basic.

Ska Oreo @ Sep 13th 2007 2:06PM

same here. Though it is annoying for reviewers to criticize the controls when they know damn well who it's marketed to.

Po0py @ Sep 13th 2007 2:04PM

Looks like a ps2 game to me.

robert @ Sep 13th 2007 2:14PM

You know, for kids.

DangerMouse @ Sep 13th 2007 2:27PM

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Give the license back to Capcom. Thanks.

jman @ Sep 13th 2007 5:01PM

idk bout yall but im really not liking the charcter models for the bad guys...i know its supposed to be a kid game i just dont like the design...could just be me tho

tmacairjordan87 @ Sep 13th 2007 6:23PM

the demo was terrible and really boring

Grendizer @ Sep 13th 2007 9:33PM

When you complete the demo, they give you a code to redeem something special on the website...but before they make you fill out a survey, here's the comment I sent them :

"The story is bland and the gameplay is old...like beat'em ups game from the 8 and 16-bit years which is good...for the 80s and 90s but if you're going to make a game like that please copy games like Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance, at least they made it fun."

hadoken @ Sep 14th 2007 10:17AM

Plays like a bad devil may cry, Villan models are in limbo somewhere between the movie and the comic, (green goblin looks movie, Doc Ock is the comic)