Spider-man: Friend or Foe?

[Previsionary]

Anyone heard anything about this game? It seems like it has an interesting premise, but I'm not sold on the graphics.

gamespot

marvel + video

[murs47]

It seems interesting and I'll probably end up giving it a whirl. The graphics aren't up to par for next gen but look at it this way: If they're not spending that much time on the graphics, maybe it's because they're spending a majority of their time on gameplay. Gameplay>Graphics IMO.

The idea of playing as some those character is really cool, especially Iron Fist. If they spend a lot of time individualizing the characters feel and gameplay this could really be something good. I hope there's more characters.....

[crimsonquill]

Interviews from E3 2007 have revealed that this game is targeted for a younger audience (hence the more cartoonish graphics) and that it's a merger of movie designed characters with old school characters using that style. Rumors are that is utilizes a more linear approach to the gameplay used in Shrek Superslam and TMNT Mutant Melee with some platformer elements. I wouldn't mind a game that followed the Spider-Man Trilogy and made some mild improvements along the way (i.e. Venom finally acting like his 616 namesake) with the addition of new villians and heroes which you can add to your "team" as you defeat then. I already have it on my list for getting the Wii addition since it's rumored to have multiplayer support so my son and I can play along side each other.

- CrimsonQuill

[UnfluffyBunny]

....
this looks really bad >_>
and why does venom appear to have some kinda sonic attack??? he keeps opening his mouth and a sonic cone comes out...

[zuludelta]

The cartoony graphics might have also been because of a ratings consideration. Most games that feature brawling or fighting as the main gameplay mechanic are automatically slapped with a "T" rating, which can seriously cut into the potential number of buyers. However, "cartoon violence" (the ratings board's term, not mine) gets more leeway, and games that do have it can get away with an "E" or "E+" rating.

The game looks okay to me, although my decision to get the game will largely be influenced by the variety of playable characters (and the platforms it'll be offered on, of course). I'm not that big of a Spider-Man fan, so hopefully players won't be limited to choosing just the characters already shown in the preview.

[Previsionary]

Zulu, from what i can tell, the game will be on Wii, Ps2, PSP, DS, PC, and Xbox 360 and the playable characters are:

    * Peter Parker/Spider-Man
    * Norman Osborn/Green Goblin
    * Eddie Brock, Jr./Venom
    * Daniel Rand/Iron Fist
    * Flint Marko/Sandman
    * Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock
    * Harry Osborn/New Goblin
    * Nick Fury
    * Silver Sablinova/Silver Sable
    * Hobie Brown/Prowler
    * Eric Brooks/Blade
    * Alex O' Hirn/Rhino
    * Mac Gargan/Scorpion

Anyway, I'm not a graphic hound (as I still find time to play old ps1/DC games), but it's hard for me to look at this game when I keep thinking dr. otto is moleman or nick fury is a square faced Guile or something. It's probably just my expectations being set high because of the presentation in the marvel hero games as of late. Ultimate spider-man had a cartoonish style, yet, it didn't pull me out of the game or make me think of it in a lesser manner. This game isn't managing that so far...but I'll wait until it's closer to the release date before I comment on the style again.


*note: character list taken from gamespot and wiki. Dunno if all of those characters will be playable (IE: nick fury)*

[TheMarvell]

it looks ok, however, definitely something I can wait till it hits "greatest hits" status or the bargain bins. It's meant for kids, so I doubt it will be anything that great. Definitely not the next Ultimate Alliance or anything like that. Seems more like a Spider-Man game to tide you over till the next bigger and better Spider-Man game comes along...

[JeyNyce]

it looks ok, however, definitely something I can wait till it hits "greatest hits" status or the bargain bins. It's meant for kids, so I doubt it will be anything that great. Definitely not the next Ultimate Alliance or anything like that. Seems more like a Spider-Man game to tide you over till the next bigger and better Spider-Man game comes along...

I wonder what game that will be?  Spider-man 4???

[zuludelta]

it looks ok, however, definitely something I can wait till it hits "greatest hits" status or the bargain bins.

I hardly ever buy new games for the PS2 anymore. I either buy the $20-something "Greatest Hits" re-releases (like I did for God of War and Devil May Cry) or wait until the I can find a decent used copy on the cheap (which is what I did for the X-Men Legends games and Shadow of the Colossus).

[TheMarvell]

I hardly ever buy new games for the PS2 anymore. I either buy the $20-something "Greatest Hits" re-releases (like I did for God of War and Devil May Cry) or wait until the I can find a decent used copy on the cheap (which is what I did for the X-Men Legends games and Shadow of the Colossus).

I used to buy new, full price games all the time. In hindsight, I wish I hadn't as I know damn well the price will drop at least once in less than a year. Still, lately, I've only bought games at full price that I absolutely want right away, like God of War 2. If and when I get a 360, I'll probably only stick to paying full price on high profile games that will last me awhile (ie-Mass Effect; Halo 3)

As for the bigger and better Spidey game, yeah it will most likely be another movie-licensed one on Spider-Man 4. But you never know. They might come out with another one solely based on the comics like Ultimate Spider-Man (maybe a sequel to that, perhaps?).

Has anyone played Spider-Man 3? Almost every review I've read said it was absolutely terrible, especially the PS2 version.

[zuludelta]

There's hands-on preview over at IGN. It looks like it's going to be a decent game judging from the article, and the description of the level designs in the versus mode puts me in mind of the PowerStone games (always a good thing).

[murs47]

I just downloaded and played the demo on the 360. It's definitely targeted at kids, but I still found it entertaining. This is something you'd probably rent. While I did enjoy the demo, I could see myself getting bored with the game in about a week.

The demo had 3 playable characters: Spidey, Venom, and Green Goblin.

Spidey had different move sets that you could toggle between....sadly no web swinging :(

Green Goblin relied on his special moves to be effective. Multi-hitting AoE, heat seeking explosives, and pumpkin bomb AoE aerial attack.

Venom was a bruiser with multiple grappling and throwing moves. They all start from a simple grapple and what happens after is dependent on what you press or which direction you push/pull the thumbstick.

I beleive GG and Venom are incomplete because they didn't have move sets that you could toggle between. Either that or just Spidey gets them cause he's the main chraracter, which I hope isn't true.

From what I can tell this will be a very good rental or an ideal purchase if you have a little one.

The graphics look better then the pictures provided on the internet, still a cartoony feel to it though.

[BentonGrey]

I actually think this looks really good!  It should be a lot of fun, and I'll have to try and pick it up if it comes out for Xbox.

[UnfluffyBunny]

rechecking the video from the first post, 48 seconds, venom is definately using a sonic attack

that in itself will stop me from buying this game, it isnt even a slight mis-characterisation, that is a game ruining mistake

[daerdevil]

Do yourself a favor and try the PC demo first.  I tried it, and got bored before even completing the mission.   The graphics were reasonable, but not the best.  Game play, I felt, was limited and cumbersome.  I particularly hated the lack of web swinging or wall crawling.  The esoteric button pressing to pull off fighting combos, was just not worth it when hitting the same button over and over worked just fine.  I'm sure there's some potential here with grappling moves, but why bother?  Enemies were weak and generic.  The only challenge that I found was trying to jump across the platform standard, "chasm o' death"-- again, it's spider-man, and he can't swing across a pit?  The camera seems to be set somewhere between a "I don't know where I'm supposed to go" and a "oh hell, spider-man fell to his death again".  Character variety looks surprisingly strong for this game.  Overall though, this seems like a watered down MUA.  I'm steering clear of this one.

[The Nemesis]

I played the demo on the 360, and the graphics don't bother me. I think it was fun, especially with my bro playing along too (yeah, two player).
Unlike daerdevil, I did webling across some places, though I'm not sure if that was an attack or not. I think fans of Justice League Heroes would like this game.
I'll be getting it when the price comes down.

[murs47]

Game play, I felt, was limited and cumbersome.  I particularly hated the lack of web swinging or wall crawling. 

I actually started web swinging, I don't know how, it just started happening when I was fighting Dr. Octopus.....no wall crawling though. I'll look into how I did it and post when I figure it out. It may have to do with which power set you've toggled to.

[Tomato]

Game play, I felt, was limited and cumbersome.  I particularly hated the lack of web swinging or wall crawling. 

I actually started web swinging, I don't know how, it just started happening when I was fighting Dr. Octopus.....no wall crawling though. I'll look into how I did it and post when I figure it out. It may have to do with which power set you've toggled to.

I jave a feeling it's an unfinished part of the jump system... Sometimes when you double jump, you will web-swing, other times you just do a regulardouble jump, and at really odd intervals. I know this because I attempted to double jump up to a higher platform and it web-swung me across instead and, because web swinging brings you forward instead of up, I died. I finally just switched to my other character for all things jump-related

I guess I'm in the minority as far as the graphics... I like the more cartoony feel, it's more fun that the steriotypical UBER-REAL-ZOMG graphics (but then, I've always been sort of prejudiced in the direction of the cartooney) but yeah, the gameplay is just typical Arcade insanity.

I'll be buying this, but like Nemesis, probably not until the price drops.

[Sledgehammer]

I tried the demo, and liked it. It's not MUA, it's not JLH, but, in general, I liked what I saw. Besides of thinking this is actually fun, I'm still dreaming about trying to extract sounds out of this :)

You can actually web swing once, if you press spacebar and keep it pressed.

Something I found lacking was the melee fighting. Just one button doesn't work for me. But anyway, I'll give it a try when the price comes down.

[TheMarvell]

so I just tried out the demo on the 360, and I gotta say I'm pleasantly surprised. It's definitely a basic brawler meant to be played by a younger audience, but that doesn't mean the game won't be fun. Worth full price? I think it's obvious it won't be, but definitely something worth checking out when the price drops for some good light hearted fun.

Some things in the demo really don't make sense though, which have basically already been covered here. It makes no sense that Spider-Man or Venom can fall to their death when they can both websling. And Venom having a sonic attack is almost as contradictory as Hydro-Man or Iceman from the X-Men being able to spit fireballs. What the heck were they thinking? I hope they realize the continuity error here and fix this.

But the demo sort of reminded me of those fun old-school beat-em-ups like Streets of Rage, or even the fun arcades like The Simpsons and TMNT. I'd imagine this will be much more fun with two players though, as the second player in the demo often hardly did anything and died frequently. The game also reminded me of the first Spider-Man Playstation game, which back then was pretty damn awesome.

You know, I never played the Spider-Man 3 game, as it got rotten reviews, but just from the FoF demo, I can tell this has much higher and better presentation value than the last two movie games. I liked Spider-Man 2, but basically the only real good thing about that game was the webslinging. Not saying this will be better, but it already has better cutscenes and voice acting, even if the graphic are rather lackluster.

[detourne_me]

just played the pc demo.  it was quite fun!
i wouldn't mind seeing who else is a playable character.

[murs47]

i wouldn't mind seeing who else is a playable character.

I beleive line-up is:

Spidey
Venom
Green Goblin
Sandman
Dr. Octopus
Iron Fist
Silver Sable
Harry Osborne (Spider-Man 3 flying snowboard movie version)
Prowler
Black Cat
Scorpion
Rhino
Lizard
Blade
and Symbiote Spider-Man
(possibly Nick Fury)

PSP Exclusives:
Carnage
Electro

[johnnyboy]

this game is gonna be great .
its gonna be fun to use the new goblin!

[TheMarvell]

ugh, why are more game developers putting "exclusive" characters in the PSP version? I know it's probably to rake in more sales since the PSP isn't as popular as the PS2, but I still think that's crap. Playing as Carnage and Electro would be pretty cool but it's not like I'd ever waste my money on a PSP or even buy that version over the PS2. :rolleyes:

[TheMarvell]

so this supposedly came out today (10/2/07). Has anyone picked it up yet and tried it out?

[Premonitioner]

I haven't seen it in stores yet so I'll look again later. However, why is the pc game cheaper than the psp, ps2, and next gen versions?

[TheMarvell]

ouch. IGN hated this game and gave it a 4.9:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/825/825487p1.html

Yet, Gamespot thought it was decent with a 7.0:
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/spidermanfriendorfoe/review.html?sid=6180451

Since I liked the demo, I'll probably check it out when it's $20 or less, but critical response for the game is basically, well, what everyone here predicted.

[Previsionary]

ouch. IGN hated this game and gave it a 4.9:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/825/825487p1.html

Yet, Gamespot thought it was decent with a 7.0:
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/spidermanfriendorfoe/review.html?sid=6180451

Since I liked the demo, I'll probably check it out when it's $20 or less, but critical response for the game is basically, well, what everyone here predicted.

With IGN, you should probably go with the press/reader average. I usually take the reader average with a higher regard than the profs since the readers are "usually" fans and will point out pros along with con and a buyer can decide from there. We also must remember that IGN isnt exactly the best review site and that particular reviewer really wasnt the intended audience. Reading that review...the only thing he/she did was point out problems left and right...there must have been something good in that game...somewhere beyond the hero attacks. The reviewer did paint quite a horrible game though.

I still want to know why the pc game is 20 dollars and the console games (+psp) are 30+. :huh:

[TheMarvell]

the PC version of games are almost always cheaper, and I'm guessing it's because the PC gaming market is significantly less these days. It's still there, sure, but I'm guessing console versions sell more.

and for the most part I think IGN is a good review site. There are some reviews that are completely biased, but that happens everywhere. No, that reviewer probably wasn't the best person to review it (sometimes they get two people to write reviews for this reason) but even still, I was expecting more of a 6-7 score, like GameSpots, instead of a 4. To me, a 4 is almost unplayable and the IGN reviewer sounded like he gave it a 4 because it was boring to him, not because glitches were holding him back or if the control scheme was so out of whack (read their Lair review, which also got a 4, lol). Anyways, I usually trust IGN's reviews as opposed to their lead competitors: Gamespot. But in this case I'm thinking Gamespot is much more on the money.

[zuludelta]

The Wii version of the game (which is basically identical to the other console versions except for the controls) got a 4 out of 5 on Gamespy. I just might rent this game.