I'm writing this review in two ways. One is as an adult/young adult audience player (say above the age of 15) and one is as a youth audience player. I didn't want to rate it highly as an youth player and have the adult audience thinking it was a decent game for them, but conversely I didn't want to rate it poorly playing as an adult and have the youth audience (or a parent) read it and think it was not a good buy for a younger audience. Hopefully that explanation clarifies the review a little bit.  

After I played Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows, a friend of mine had another Spider-Man game he let me borrow, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe. He was lackluster about the game, but he also had said he had hardly played it so I could give it a shot if I wanted. I picked it up and gave it a try. Although it wasn’t a complete let down, I didn’t realize it was more of a kids game than anything else.

Overview
The game begins in the thralls of a battle. Spider-Man is engaged with Green Goblin, Sandman, Venom, and Dr. Octopus. During the battle a mysterious light envelops the enemies and they begin to disappear one by one. Stunned, Spider-Man is suddenly rescued from this mysterious force by Nick Fury, who explains to him what just happened. 
A meteor with magical powers had just recently crashed down to earth and broke up into 5 pieces landing all over the globe. These pieces of the meteor are being used by a villain to, you guessed it, form an army and take over the world. Nick Fury requests Spider-Man's help and he agrees to travel the globe and retrieve the shards of meteor in order to stop this villain from his desired world conquest. 

Game Play / Objectives - 5 / 10 (adult audience)  8 / 10 (youth audience)
The player only has one goal throughout the game which is finish the level, beat the bad guy. Now most games are like this, but they have side objectives or other engaging activity to do between point A and point B. This solo objective is a little too monotonous for adult players but the simplicity is good for the younger audience. Resembling arcade play, the levels seem to just go by without any excitement. New screen, kill enemies, move on. As I said this simplicity is good for a younger audience but leaves some to be desired for the older group. A younger audience won't have to worry about getting lost in levels and not knowing where to go as some games are too detailed and have too many avenues to go down and confuse the player. This simplicity is good for youth and keeps them focused and moving forward toward their main objective. 

Each level has a key hidden in it which is used to open up a secret room. The secret room holds no special significance, other than when you find all of the secret rooms, it unlocks an achievement.

Again touching upon the simplicity of the game, there are just two types of attacks you can do, consisting of two buttons and of course the control stick which gives you movement. Great for the younger audience with such ease of play but the lack of engagement with the controller makes for very bland play for adults.

The game consists of five main levels, each level having a few sub levels to get through before completing the main location. The locations are Japan, Tangaroa Island, Egypt, Transylvania, and Nepal. 

Going through the sub levels of each main location, you encounter numerous villains which, oddly enough, become your allies after you defeat them. The enemies are under the mind control powers of the shards of meteor, once you break that mind control and they regain their thoughts, they all decide to join you in your efforts to defeat this main super villain who is trying to take over the world. Some of these allies / enemies include Black Cat, Venom, Scorpion, Venom, Iron Fist and more.

Graphics - 5.5 / 10 (adult audience)  6 / 10 (youth audience)
Any age group will appreciate good graphics and this game, sadly, does not deliver for either age group. The graphics level to level are very bland and cookie cutter. The surroundings in the different environments match the environment but lack detail that I would expect from an Xbox 360 game. The leaves of the trees are broad and lack detail and the terrain is uniform across the level with minor protrusions of rocks or boulders in some levels, or trees and patches of bushes in others. The characters themselves lack the detail that one would be accustomed to in an action game like this. There are no curves or detailed muscles on any of the playable characters. They resemble classic arcade games with bubble like arms and legs to make them appear muscular.

Sound - 6 / 10 (adult audience)  6 / 10 (youth audience)
As with the graphics, youth can appreciate good soundtracks and sound effects just the same as adults. That being said, both aspects of the game get a low score. The soundtrack is very bland and lackluster with mediocre cheap sounding sound effects. I was definitely disappointed with the lack of good sound coming from the game. I found myself muting the sound and playing my own music which I almost never do while playing a game. Overall a weak display in the audio category for the game.

Achievements - 3 / 10 (adult audience)  6 / 10 (youth audience)
The game has 12 achievements worth 1,000 points. I have never seen a game with so many gamer points, and so few achievements. As far as the adult audience, the achievements are incredibly easy. They were the easiest 1,000 gamer points I've gotten and it only took me about 6 or 7 hours to beat the game. I'll always take the easy points but I do like a challenge once and a while and this game offered none in regard to the achievements. The youth audience however will definitely appreciate them. They are not too complicated but they are certainly hard enough for a youth playing to occupy them for a while. Most of the achievements are simply earned by beating the different stages, but there are a few more complicated ones you earn by upgrading characters and achieving hit combinations. Good ease for youth but too few achievements overall so they lose a few points bringing it to a 6/10 for the youth audience.

Down Sides
The shortness of the game is a big down side. As I said above only about 7 or so hours to beat this game AND earn all the achievements was astoundingly short. Even for a youth audience the game can be short so play time is a down side as well as replay value. The game pretty much has none. There is nothing enticing about the game that would make you want to come back for more. 

Overall - 5 / 10 (adult audience)  6.5 / 10 (youth audience)
The adult audience will definitely find it too easy as some youth audience players might as well. But the non violence and non graphic/gory gameplay make it for a relatively safe buy for cautious parents. The ease of the game and lack of replay value will make this a quick sit down for any player so be prepared to shell out some more cash for a new game once this one is knocked out. 

© Copyright 2009 - ace3502

Any Questions? Feel free to message my Xbox Live Gamertag: DJTherapy1

Other Xbox 360 Game Reviews:
Call Of Juarez 
Civilization Revolution
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Project Gotham Racing 4
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows
Viking: Battle For Asgard

Recommended: No