Spider-Man: Friend or Foe

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a Spider-Man video game based on the comic book series and Spider-Man movies. The game was released on October 2, 2007.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe was originally announced via a promotional page on the back of the Spider-Man 3 video game instruction booklet. The teaser stated that the game would be a "A new twist on the legend. A new take on the movies." The game's website shows a few screenshots of the game and the Green Goblin makes an appearance. The game has a very different engine and style as compared to the previous official film tie-ins.

According to the company report, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe is a unique take on the media franchise. Inspired by the movies Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3, this action/adventure beat 'em up game reinterprets big-screen moments and battles with a humorous twist. Players team up with famous heroes from the Marvel Comics universe to combat villains and then convert them to sidekicks after defeating them in epic boss battles. The game includes a co-op multiplayer mode, as Spider-Man or a sidekick, in locations around the globe, including Tokyo, Egypt, and Nepal.

Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, along with most other games published by Activision that had used the Marvel licence, was de-listed and removed from all digital storefronts on January 1, 2014.

Plot
In an opening cutscene, Spider-Man finds himself beset by his enemies from the movies: Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and Venom. He gains help from New Goblin as he combats the villains. All six characters suddenly find themselves targeted by an enemy force and one-by-one, the villains begin disappearing. Meanwhile, Spider-Man is rescued by Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D., who informs him that the meteor which brought the Venom symbiote to Earth had broken up in the Earth's atmosphere and five more pieces had landed in numerous locations across the globe. Fury sends Spider-Man to retrieve the shards of meteors. Spider-Man quickly finds that the villains who attacked him and several more of his foes, including Rhino and Scorpion, have been placed under mind control of a mysterious villain. The villain also creates and controls holographic/symbiote combination foot soldiers called P.H.A.N.T.O.M.s (short for Perpetual Holographic Avatar Nano-Tech Offensive Monsters). As Spider-Man fights his enemies one-by-one and rescues them from the mind control, they promise to aid him in finding the villain responsible. As Spider-Man progresses, he obtains more allies such as Black Cat, Iron Fist, Silver Sable, Prowler, Lizard (not portrayed as a villain), and Blade. He discovers that the evil genius is Mysterio (whom Venom refers to as "bubbleman"), who intends to use his army to take over the world, using each shard of the meteor to make them stronger. Spider-Man decides to temporarily don the Black Suit for the final battle. Ultimately, Spider-Man defeats him and turns the shards over to Fury, who decides to analyze them and refers to the study as "Project Carnage". Even though she does not appear in the game, Madame Web is mentioned when the computer says she is here for Nick's 4:00 meeting.

Locations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier (serves as a hub)
 * Tokyo, Japan
 * Tangaroa Island
 * Cairo, Egypt
 * Stokerstov, Transylvania
 * Annapurna, Nepal
 * Mediterranean Undercity (Xbox 360 and PSP only)
 * New York (Xbox 360 and DS only)
 * Paris, France (Xbox 360 and DS only)
 * Patna, Bihar (Xbox 360 only)

Heroes and villains

 * Spider-Man & Black Suited
 * Black Cat
 * Silver Sable (not in the PS2 and in the PSP version)
 * Dr. Octopus
 * Green Goblin
 * New Goblin
 * Iron Fist
 * Prowler (not in the PSP version)
 * Scorpion (not in the PSP version)
 * Lizard (not in the PSP version
 * Rhino
 * Sandman
 * Blade
 * Electro (PSP only)
 * Venom
 * Carnage (PSP only)

Development
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe was developed by three different companies. The Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2 versions were created by Next Level Games. Beenox developed the Windows edition. A2M developed the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable versions of the game.

Reception
Friend or Foe received mostly mixed reviews from critics. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 55.04% and 55 out of 100 for the DS version, 59.62% and 57 out of 100 for the PC version,  63.64% and 62 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version,  60.80% and 58 out of 100 for the PSP version,  60.35% and 60 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version,  and 61.52% and 59 out of 100 for the Wii version. IGN gave the game a score of 4.9 out of ten, complaining of how incredibly easy and repetitive the game is.