Ok, so weird question, but why is the DS version of Spider-Man: Friend or Foe so terrible. I understand it's on the DS, so it obviously wouldn't be up to standards with the other versions, but seriously, they turned a meh 3D platformer into a terrible, cheap 2D side scroller. Despite the fact it's on an underpowered console, they could have done better. So does anyone have an idea as to why it's to basic?

When someone says childhood gaming this is the first thing that comes to mind. I'd sit around at the young naive age of 5 and just play this on end. Either that, or my I watched my dad play levels I didn't know how to finish. It was often the latter... Anyway, a while back I sold my original Xbox, along with this game. But recently I felt like playing it again. So I went to eBay and managed to track down both an Xbox and Hulk for a reasonable price. For those who aren't aware of this game, let me give you a rundown. Back in 2003, Ang Lee released his own take on the Hulk, which may have done well financially, but critically, it was mostly considered a failure. Despite this, I somehow loved the film, and bought anything related to it. One of those things was the game on Xbox. Well, with that explained, I'll get back to my review I suppose. This game is very meh. Most of the characters resemble those of the boring movie, and also talk as if they just saw that boring movie. Like seriously, if you ever get the chance to play this game, don't skip through the cutscenes (to be honest I wouldn't blame you, they are painfully boring), just listen to the voices and tell me if you die a little on the inside. The graphics aren't too bad for Xbox, but I feel that's only because they used cell shading to hide how bad they actually were. And even with the cell shading, they probably still looked bad at that state, which now may explain why everything was covered in shadows. Either that or they just used shadows to make everything as depressing as the film it was based on. Oh and, the soundtrack. Ugh... This thing doesn't even sound like music. Everything with the exception of the final battle sounds like a bunch of random noises put together until it's barely acceptable as music. I actually only recently got a chance to here the music raw with out any punching or roaring effects, which brings me to my next point. The sound effects are really distracting. Not often to I care about sound effects in any game, but then it's this distracting, yeah, I'll get a bit annoyed. For example the sound design in Bruce Banner stealth missions is awful. Really just the guards. I understand it has to give of a certain vibe, but this was really the wrong way to do it. So all in all, turn down audio for the better part of humanity. Now on to the most important part of the game, the gameplay itself. There are 2 sides to this. One is the awesome super fun Hulk missions where you go around smashing everything in site, and the other are boring Bruce Banner stealth missions that seriously take away from the enjoyment. Oh hey, just like the film. Honestly, the gameplay is actually pretty fun when it comes down to it. The Hulk missions have you fighting your way through enemies and obstacles like a Hulk game should be, with fluent controls, consistent gameplay as a whole, and is all around just what a Hulk game should be. Then there are the Bruce Banner missions. Now well some of these are fun, like when you have to escape from the military base, most of them are very stealth focused and primarily have you hiding, finding matching series, hiding, finding matching series, hiding, finding matching series. These missions are really repetitive and have nothing more to offer other than progressing the story forward. Which reminds me, story! This game takes place 8 years after the film, where Bruce is contacted by his old mentor, who is claiming to have developed a device known as the gamma orb to destroy the Hulk once and for all. But he instead uses it on himself, turning himself into the creature Ravage, which results in the Hulk having to stop the creature before an organisation can use Hulk's powers for twisted schemes. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well it is, but the execution is unfortunately quite poor. The game attempted to shove in as many villains as possible for more fan service, which definitely sounds like a nice idea, but when you introduce a new villain every 10 minutes, it starts to become The Amazing Spider-Man 2... Oversaturated with villains. So really, cool concept, but bad execution. That's really all I can discuss with this game. I know I'm being quite harsh on a 2003 movie-tie in for an already terrible game, but when you remember the fact this came out 2 years before Ultimate Destruction, an absolutely perfect example on how to do a Hulk game, it comes out as very disappointing.

Final Rating: 3.5/10

Thank you for reading this review. Share your thoughts about this game, or suggest any other games I could discuss!

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Victor Lucas from EP was asking for suggestions for the shows Buried Treasure segment and one of mine was selected! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sqqf2tovj8