Tech News on G4'Spidey game spins simple funOctober 25, 2007By John Powell - G4 Canada |
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Webhead. Arachnid. Wallcrawler. Webslinger. Whatever you want to call him, your friendly nieghbourhood Spider-Man is back in perhaps one of his most amusing Activision adventures. ‘Spider-Man: Friend or Foe’ is a return to the superhero we know and love. The quip-cracking, happy-go-lucky, mischievous crime fighter whose tongue lashes the villains just as much as his webs do. Mercifully, he is not the "Gloomy Gus' we’ve seen in the recent ‘Spider-Man’ movies as the humour is one of the best things about ‘Friend or Foe’. There are many hearty chuckles to take pleasure in as you battle through an adventure which spans the globe. S.H.I.E.L.D. head honcho and resident Marvel universe busybody, Colonel Nick Fury, has enlisted Spidey for a new assignment. Shards of a comet containing traces of those pesky alien symbiotes have fallen to Earth and into the wrong hands. While the details aren’t exactly important and don’t make much sense any way, a mysterious evil doer is combining those samples with hologram technology to create some nasty creatures. At the same time, the baddie is also hypnotizing many of Spider-Man’s most dangerous foes to do their bidding. Why the villains have to be conned into targeting Spidey is a question only The Watcher or The Beyonder can answer. For all intents and purposes, ‘Friend or Foe’ is ‘Marvel Ultimate Alliance’
for children, allowing them to team up different characters and level them
up to increase their powers and abilities. The catch is that unlike
You don’t need to fret about keeping track of all those web cartridges either. You have an unlimited supply of webbing to ensnare or blast enemies with and that is a good thing because each level of the game is broken into four parts and those parts are just massive. They have to be though because it is next to impossible to be killed. If the unchallenging foes do happen to beat the odds and get the better of you, it is not a problem. You will respawn minus a few of the upgrade tokens you had banked then it is right back to kicking butt almost without skipping a beat. Whoopie! In addition to using the villains as punching bags, you will also have to
complete a smattering of mindless and bothersome objectives like locating
and collecting DNA Helix icons scattered throughout each level and ‘Friend or Foe’ is not all that demanding and not all that innovative but it is so darn charming, mostly due to the light-hearted humour. That is what puts the title head and shoulders above your standard button-mashing adventure game. All that’s really missing is the ‘Spider-Pig’. Doh!
Rating: 7 / 10
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Unlike ‘Ultimate Alliance’ though there aren’t any intricate puzzles to
worry about. It is purely a button-mashing, pummel-anything-that-moves kind
of game. Spidey and each of his amazing friends do have their own
individual maneuvers and can join forces to unleash some sweet ultra
powerful finishing moves.
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
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About G4 in Canada
G4 Canada (formerly TechTV Canada) launched in September 2001. G4 is the one and only television station that is plugged into every dimension of games, gear, gadgets and gigabytes. Owned Rogers Media Inc., the channel airs more than 24 original series. G4 is available on digital cable and satellite. For more information, see www.g4tv.ca.