With Spiderman 3 coming out on DVD, Next level Game's Spider-Man: Friend or Foe comes out to offset the movie release, though this isn't a movie game in the traditional sense. Friend or Foe is a new storyline that, while having many similarities to the movies, takes a different approach to the characters that longtime fans should appreciate.

In Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, Spidey is forced to work with old friends and enemies to defeat the evil villain trying to control them for his own gain. It all starts when Spider-Man is attacked by a group of bad guys familiar to anyone who's seen the movies. Just when things are looking pretty bad for Spider-man, it gets worse, and an army of hologram "phantoms" attacks all of them. He makes it out, thanks to Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. He soon learns that a mysterious villain is controlling many of his former enemies, and forcing them to search for meteor shards. The shards, much like the ones seen in the third movie, will give great power to the villain and his army. Spider-Man then has to search for clues by finding his former enemies, beating them up, and then letting them tag along as sidekicks. What ensues is 25 levels of beat-em up action, light puzzle solving and boss battles.

You can play as either Spider-Man or one of his many sidekicks, and switch back and forth with a quick flick of the nunchuk on the Wii remote. You can also have a buddy jump in on the second controller to help wreak some havoc on the baddies. What you'll soon find out is that the other characters don't come anywhere close to stacking up to Spider-Man. While he has a pretty deep move set that grows as the story progresses, all of the sidekicks just have 2 charge type moves aside from the basic punches and grabs. It isn't such a terrible thing that the main character is better developed than his counterparts, but the lack of depth with the sidekicks makes them lose their individuality, and it really makes no difference as to whom you bring along. Through the whole thing there's really no point in having a sidekick, as Spider-Man can destroy an entire screen of foes by himself, and the other character, whether AI or human, has trouble keeping up.

The game has no way to set the level of difficulty, which is unfortunate, as the game is very easy. It’s not actually possible to die in the game. You just respawn seconds later near the spot where you died. All you lose when your health bar goes empty is a few tech tokens, which are used to upgrade your characters and buy items. Of course, due to the fact that you can't actually die, upgrading your characters isn’t such a big deal, as you know they're going to come right back anyhow. The only time when it does make a difference is during boss battles. If you die, you start at the beginning of the boss battle. Really though, all you need to do is use a health power-up if you do get low on health during a boss fight.

All of the bosses in the game are fought pretty much the same way. If there are items to be thrown, throw them, while avoiding their attacks. If there is nothing to throw, wait for a scripted set of attacks and then go hit them before they start those same attacks again. Regular bad guys follow a similar guideline. There are three basic types, small medium and large. Spider-Man's attacks are different in response to the different types. Through the different levels the three types stay the same, with minor upgrades to attacks. After 20 or so levels of fighting the same three guys, it can get a bit old. Each level is pretty much the same too. It's broken up into sections; basically, you see a small cutscene, beat up a mass of bad guys, then a door or bridge opens up. Move to the next area, rinse and repeat.

On the bright side, the combat, though repetitive is actually pretty fun. Older gamers might get tired of it after a few levels, but it’s a great system for younger fans. It's very easy to pick up and the controls on the Wii aren't much different than the other consoles. You're actually only required to flip the controller around to change characters, most moves can be done by just hitting the buttons. There are a few that require small flicks of the wrist, but they're very easy to pick up.

Though this isn't actually a movie game, the voice acting talent in the game is pretty good. The voices of Spider-Man and Green Goblin are on pretty close to the movies. Unlike the movies though, the game doesn't give the burdened by power emo kid that Toby McGuire portrayed. Instead we get the laid back, wise-cracking Spider-Man that really makes him a unique character in the Marvel universe.