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There have been a lot of Spider-Man games over the years, and it’s never really much of a surprise to me when a new one shows up on the shelves.  In fact, it’s such a non-surprise that pretty much every time I DO see one, I end up sighing piteously before wondering if I should give it a try.  I mean, it’s not like I haven’t found good Spider-Man games before, and it’s not like I haven’t played the most godawful crap with that red and blue freak of nature stamped boldly across the front of the box.

And when I took a run at Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, now available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC, as well as for scads of handhelds and last-gen systems, I was downright surprised.  See, the basic plot of the game looks like your normal run of the mill class X beat-em-up.  And when you actually sit down to play it, that’s exactly what you get.  But it’s the little things that make all the difference.

See, in Spider Man: Friend or Foe, you’re going to be taking on a series of villains in the standard Spider-Man vein.  You’ll be going to Tokyo, Egypt, Nepal, and even Transylvania in pursuit of what are called Phantoms, beings that are a combination of hard-light holographic projects (think Star Trek: The Next Generation’s holodeck technology) combined with, of all things, the Venom symbiote.  But these symbiote / hologram hybrids aren’t here on vacation–they seem to be interested in taking over the planet.  And to do so, they’re taking over the minds of some of Spider-Man’s most feared villains, including Doc Ock, the Green Goblin, and even, somehow, Venom himself.

Interestingly, you can probably figure out who’s behind all this, if you know anything about the Spider-Man universe: who’s the only villain you’ve ever seen who handles holography as both weapon and method of disguise?  Yeah, I know–really only obvious in retrospect, but still kinda obvious when you think about it.

Aside from that, you’ve really got to hand it to Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, because while they did make a fairly derivative sort of game, they infused it with a cartoony charm and a sense of humor that’s all its own.  Yes, of course, Spider-Man himself will crack wise throughout the WHOLE GAME, almost nonstop…but he won’t be the only source of humor in this game.  For instance,  the SHIELD helicarrier’s computer will have a really choice line about how, while Venom is a pretty nasty way to die, there are worse—including wasps with laser-guided missiles.  See?  Funny!  It’s fantastic to know that games can still introduce humor into otherwise lackadaisical brawlers.

It’s not a huge game, nor is there a whole lot to do, but a couple days’ rental will be terribly entertaining.  If you like your games packed to the gills with action, and not a whole lot else, then you’ll have an absolute ball with Spider Man: Friend or Foe.  But if you like complex and thrilling titles, well, the vicarious thrill you’ll get from this won’t be near enough.