Spider-Man Gets "Final Fight" Arcade Treatment

By Will Barker

Spider-Man is one of the biggest money-making franchises in motion picture history. The reason for its cash-magnetism? The brilliant story: it's about a school kid who gets bitten by a bovine humanoid in communist era Russia, then falls in love with a radioactive spider.

But I don't want to ruin the intrigue, so I'll stop there. The Spider-Man games on the other hand aren't quite the cash-cows that the movie franchise turned out to be. 

Why is this so? It could have something to do with the sticker price. A movie costs $15 in Australia, a videogame costs $99. You do the sums.

Anyway, Activision's latest game is a fun romp through the Marvel universe with some tried-and-tested gameplay elements, but is Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (SFoF) going straight to the reject bin like an unloved, malformed and possibly grimy sweater?

It really depends what you're looking for in a game, but ultimately I think this game will appeal to casual gamers, with enough charm to keep players coming back for some time.

In a nutshell, it's a beat 'em up with mild RPG elements that allows co-operative play for two players. There's also a one-on-one fighting arena mode.

There are themes to SFoF that borrow from both Final Fight and the MegaMan (RockMan) games. These were the games I played in my youth, the 1990s, and they rocked harder than Rage Against the Machine on Election day.

This game reminds of Final fight in the way that it's an easygoing but enjoyable scrolling arcade style beat 'em up. If you turn around to answer the phone, you probably won't be dead when you get back. And it's Megaman in the way that when you kill enemy bosses you then get to use them and their powers as your sidekick (or the second player can control them).

The graphics I thought weren't that good for an Xbox 360 game. The polygon count doesn't look real high, but the cell shaded characters move smoothly and unless there's a real close up the textures look good. 

The backdrops are pretty cool, if somewhat devoid of detail and like the original Final Fight you'll often walk through doors and portals and have to wait for a loading screen. Back in the 1990s on thecoin-op Final Fight arcade cabinet this was acceptable because the CPU was so slow. These days it's inexcusable and just gets in the way of your fighting rhythm.

The Megaman aspect of the game is thus: every few levels you'll fight a Marvel character end boss - Green Goblin, Doc Ock etc - who have huge health meters. They often require precise timing to be killed and inject a touch of variety into the constant button mashing that the lesser enemies require.

Now, the story behind the game, and reason these characters initially fight you is because of a strange amulet-like object. For whatever reason it seems to control their minds and turns them into evil malingerers. 

You bust up these enigmatic amulets by smashing the bejesus out of their wearers, the super villains, and then they come to their senses and decide to join your cause. After this you can then use the recently defeated character as your sidekick too.

All of this amulet malarkey started when a number of strange asteroids hit earth in six different countries, starting with Japan. This makes for six convenient backdrops and different enemy types. Once you've vanquished a supervillain, they join your cause to help discover why the asteroids are causing so much chaos

Between missions you can spend cash on upgrades for Spider-Man, unlocking new moves (most of them web-based, but still cool) and improving his defensive and offensive capabilities, a lot like the Marvel Alliance and X-Men Legends player statistics.

The gameplay itself would be fairly relentless were it not for the mid-level loading screens, but it is plenty of fun and there are a decent amount of moves and a heaps of characters to play as. Sure, it's senseless fun, but the controls are fairly simple (though timing is crucial) and the coding is fairly tight which makes for some rewarding battles.

There are your everyday 'X,X,X' combos, but the best moves are the combination throws, grabs and slams Spider-Man can execute with his spider webbing. The other characters have similar moves, but Spider-Man has the most powerful attacks. You can fling enemies around, kick them in the chops, or just shoot blobs of spider goo into their faces.

Everything moves very quickly, and in single player you'll always have a sidekick following you around, which ensures two things. A) your enemies won't swarm around you, and B) the game is quite easy to begin with.

In multiplayer mode, the second player takes control of the sidekick or whomever player one is not controlling and when you've got characters like Doc Ock, Venom and the Sandman, this makes the co-op gaming simple but satisfying.Some of the other characters include:

Rhino
Blade
Lizard
Scorpion
Iron Fist
Prowler

Basically these are the cheapest Marvel characters going round. Spider-Man's appearance fee ate up all the capital...

Button mashing is the name of the game here and though veteran gamers will probably tire of it quickly, I personally enjoyed the nostalgic gaming. There's a certain comic-book feel to the impacts of your attacks, and trying to outdo your mates with the highest possible combos can make for competitive co-op gaming.

There's also some pretty flashy CGI cut-scenes in there, and also in-game movies. Some of these are moderately amusing as parts of the Spider-Man movies get lampooned and there is very much a jovial feeling to the game and the way the story is told. Often the jokes are pretty average though. 

This brings me to the voice acting, which is okay on the whole but some of the characters - especially Spider-Man - sound nothing like their motion picture counterparts. It's not a deal breaker but the casting director for voice overs should be punished for his/her lack of effort.

There's not a lot left to say about this game, other than it's simple, old fashioned beat 'em up fun. It'd make a great rental, and would be perfect for those people new to videogaming who find the complexity in some of today's titles overwhelming.

Jaded gamers who are looking for the next big thing would probably be better advised to check out the Spider-Man 3 title if they want an in-depth Marvel comics game, as it's more involved and has a longer shelf life. Though the levels in SFoF are quite different and some of the level design is cool, the enemies merely get new costumes throughout the 24 levels.

On the plus side, the game starts off being quite easy but the difficulty does ramp up. The things that will keep you coming back to play it are the old-fashioned bash 'em up gameplay, unlocking all the characters and testing out their special moves, upgrading your skills and playing versus games. 

There are various secret arenas that have to be discovered during the campaign game before they can be opened for one-on-one fighting action, which adds an little something extra to the game, not to mention increasing its longevity. The one-on-one fights can be quite entertaining if both players are of a similar skill level, but I preferred the side-scrolling co-op action overall.

This new Spider-Man title won't captivate everyone like the big blockbuster titles do, but there's something to be said for this sort of button mashing game. I thought it would be another X-Men Legends or Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but it's a far more approachable game and one that will reward players in minutes, rather than hours.

I enjoyed SFoF's old school arcade stylings, and though it doesn't have cutting edge visuals (it feels as though it was made for the Xbox and Playstation 2, then ported to the next gen consoles) everything moves very fluidly and fighting tempo is pretty quick. 

A friend of mine complained that videogames are too difficult these days and the controller too complex. But my mum, I mean my friend likes this game because you don't have to memorise a million different moves. Spider-Man: Friend or Foe isn't going to make as much money as the movies, but it could well find an eager audience out there if the tides are right (and especially because it's available on almost every console, handheld, and computing device known to humankind and the PC and PS2 versions are priced lower than the rest).

Older gamers such as myself and my friend will dig this game for its nostalgic feel and pick up and playability, as will casual gamers, noobs, and the younger gamers out there. The game mechanics in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe are fairly solid, the controls are friendly, and it reminds me of being a young whipper-snapper playing a coin-op arcade. It's neither innovative nor creative, just simple, satisfying fun.

Game: Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
System: Xbox 360
Players: 1-2
Online: No
Developer: Activision
Distributor: Next Level Games

Rating: 65%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)