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Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (DS)

Status: Stopped playing - Something better came along
I started playing this game on Thursday 10 June, 2021  //  I stopped playing this game on: Sunday 20 June, 2021
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.

June 20, 2021 11:37:44 PM
Ok, I've finished the first "section" by defeating Doc Ock and it's on to the next mission. It takes place in Japan, but you wouldn't know because the environments look the same except for some billboards on top of buildings that are in Japanese.

I spent some token improving my health, ym "energy" (that you use for your spidey powers).

The only other real novelty since is that there's a safe-cracking mini-game! You rotate the safe dial until a light turns green, rotate in the opposite direction, and then again.


Oh, I made a video showing the two screens and how they operate 'cause I still think this is an interesting implementation.
https://youtu.be/eWz-q0jKfTk


June 13, 2021 11:55:48 PM
I don't understand the spelling on the name (hyphen?) BUT, this is an officially licensed product. I thought it was interesting that the game announced itself thusly in the begginning! So, it's listed as merchandise and Columbia Pictures is one of the publishers? At least their name is no the back of the box. I wonder if this was because of the weird licensing for Spiderman? Like, Columbia could do the movies and merchandising, so this game - which AFAIK is NOT based on any of the movies, was listed as merchandising so that it would fall within the licensing agreement because other companies had the rights to make videogames?

According to the wikipedia page that I just checked - the game was de-listed from digital storefronts on New Year's Day 2014... so, definitely tied in to the movie-based license.

The wikipedia page also notes that the game is (supposedly) "based on the styling of [the three first movies]" and that it "reinterprets big-screen moments and battles with a humorous twist". We'll see about that. I don't even remember the movies much at this point (Tobey Mcguire?) and it's even possible I didn't watch all three...so we'll see.

The first level so far has been interesting though because:

(a) There's two PCs! You can switch between Spidey and Black Cat(?) like you do between characters in the LEGO games. According to the back of the box it also has two-player co-op play, which is pretty neat (and not that common on the DS?)

(b) The game uses both screens in an interesting way. Rather than having a single "picture" that's cut in half. The lower screen represents a view that makes sense with the upper screen but, in a slightly different perspective. They're connected - but it's like there's a slight camera shift when you move into the lower screen. It's hard to explain in words - but it looks interesting as you play even if it's still something I'm getting used to as I play.

Gameplay so far is "meh" (it's a brawler, you collect tokens, etc.), but we'll see...


 
kudos for original design to Rodrigo Barria