With the exception of maybe Batman, no superhero boasts the wide array of recognizable wack-jobs in their rogue's gallery like Spiderman, and finally there is a video game that allows the player to experience these villains in a way never before allowed.

Possibly the best feature of the new Spiderman: Friend or Foe is that once Spiderman defeats a villain -- and there are many to choose from like Doctor Octopus, Scorpion, Rhino, Green Goblin, and (of course, after the third movie) Venom, to name a few -- the villain decides to tag along for the ride, in name and effect becoming Spidey's "sidekick."  And the sidekick role is not only reserved for the temporarily-reformed, either.  Other miscellaneous Marvel characters make cameos in the game and join our hero in his quest: Prowler (who?), Black Cat, the completely random Iron Fist, and Blade.

Shortly after -- and loosely tied to -- the events of the third movie, the story follows Spiderman and friends as they team with Nick Fury and SHIELD's computer to track and eliminate a global onslaught of holographic symbiote creatures.  Apparently, the same meteor that crashed into earth bearing the Venom symbiote was not alone. A second meteor, broken apart into five shards in the atmosphere, crashed to five separate locations and began to spout "Phantoms," as the game refers to them.  Even stranger, somehow the Phantoms are being led and controlled by third-string Spidey foe Mysterio.  The jury's still out on how he came to be the final boss.  Presumably because nobody wanted to play as him.

Spiderman's world tour begins, taking him to very random, very un-Spiderman-related locales from Tokyo to Egypt to Nepal.  Since when does OsCorp have a Tokyo branch?  Gone is the familiar New York City with tall buildings.  Which isn't really missed because also gone are the iconic wall-crawling and web-swinging.

Understandably, the story needed to be big enough to unite heroes and villains against a common foe, but the game makers did not need to emulate the Kingdom Hearts games to do so.  The Phantoms come in all shapes and sizes, dark colors and crazy eyes, mimicking the various backgrounds they're fought in, very reminiscent of the "Heartless."  Also like in Kingdom Hearts, most of the fun of the game comes in discovering the next character to join.

The game's a "button-masher."  This means simply laying on the attack button 90% of the time will get the heroes through the levels.  This works for the part-time gamer, little sibling and girlfriend who want to spend time bonding but not worry about how to actually play the game.  There is no skill to slaying the symbiote creatures, no advanced moves or substantial combos, and the game play becomes very redundant after about the fourth level, of which there are 20.

Speaking of redundant, many of the boss battles leave the player in the same monotonous routine with only one way to hurt/kill the big baddie.  Naturally, this means standing back and avoiding blows until the boss tires or runs in to the wrong thing, leaving him dazed enough to be vulnerable.

Those things aside, the game plays out like a watered-down X-men Legends or Ultimate Alliance.  With the mostly-from-the-top camera angles and certain special moves, it was easy to forget which game was being played, at times.  However, the small range of abilities and limited upgrade options for everyone but Spiderman (not to mention no costume changes) quickly reminds that this is not a Legends game.  Yet it is fun to throw enemies at each other.

The fixed camera angles also make screen transitions awkward and jumps difficult as it changes direction of movement mid-stride and mucks up depth perception.

It doesn't feel like a Spiderman game, though, either.  It's not until the last half of the game where you can even web up an enemy.  And what's with the boxes?  Almost as important as killing the Phantoms, boxes, vases, urns, rocks are all scattered around the maps, begging to be smashed open to loot the contents to exchange them for goods and abilities between missions.  Never in the history of the world have more power-ups been found inside of a rock.  For a game about heroes trying to save the world, Spiderman and his friends seem to come off as merely destructive.

The game is designed as a 1-2 player game.  Two players can challenge each other in the versus arenas or team-up in a co-op mode that actually proves to be fun.  In fact, the co-op mode would be the preferable way to play.

Despite the game's film ties, the look comes off much more Saturday-morning cartoon than Friday-night cinema, but this is not a bad thing.  The animated action, almost-anime style art in the character design, and bright colors in most of the locations really make the game come alive and feel vibrant.

Although the gameplay begins to feel redundant after a while, the look and feel of the game and the often-witty, sometimes laugh-out-loud, voice-over interactions between the characters can keep you playing a little longer, albeit mindlessly.  The voice acting is phenomenal, really spot-on with nearly all of the characters.  Venom sounds a lot more believable in this game than he ever did in costume voiced by Topher Grace.  (Nothing against you Topher, you were the man as Eddie Brock, but even Julian McMahon sounded like a punk behind the Doom mask.)

To recap…

Strengths: Play as Spiderman's enemies (Never seen Doc Ock look so good).  Brilliant art and inspired casting in the voice-acting departments.

Weaknesses: Repetitive game play.  Random locations having nothing to do with the Spiderman world. Boxes. Repetition.  Lack of abilities.  Fixed camera angles.  Repetition.  Oh yeah, someone always has to be Spiderman.

In short, the game's great for a weekend rental with a buddy, but don't buy it.  The game is not long and easily beaten in less than a week's time.  Also, there is no replay value as nothing is unlocked once the game is beaten.  Initially, Spiderman Friend or Foe is quite enjoyable, best played in small doses, and fun to look at.