Review: Spider-Man: The Movie (GBA)

Spider-man is everywhere at the moment and deservedly so, a reasonable summer blockbuster and merchandising blitz is now in full swing. After the average, if disappointing console versions of the film, Spider-man now swings his way onto the portable Game Boy Advance but can we expect an improvement?

The main problem with the Xbox, Gamecube and Playstation 2 versions of Spider-man was the developers difficulty in coming to terms with creating the superhero in a three dimensional environment. While initially impressive with a wide range of abilities, the problems with the camera soon restricted any enjoyment. The Game Boy Advance version immediately removes this restriction and deals firmly in a two dimensional world.

As Spider-man you are fighting against a tidal wave of petty criminals, but your spider sense tells you that a more sinister force is at work. It is up to you punch, kick and web any criminal or boss on the way to the ultimate super villain, in a journey that takes you across the city of New York. Back in the good old 16-bit days, movie licenses were treated in exactly the same way by every developer; staple 2D generic platform games. Playing Spider-man brought back immediate memories of this era, because the game could have been lifted straight from it. Today such an approach in uncommon and playing on the handheld Game Boy Advance marvel, it is totally refreshing; something I thought I'd never say!

One of the enjoyable aspects is that the developers have taken the cartoon approach and apart from the introduction, the game is more reminiscent of the cartoon series rather than the Hollywood blockbuster. The game has a huge selection of infamous bosses for you to face including Vulture, Shocker, Scorpion, M.E.C.H., Kraven and ultimately the Green Goblin. The levels offer a variety of tasks and challenges, with the design although being familiar, retaining a degree of freshness. Too often in the past the standard 2D platform game was exactly the same, level after level, boss after boss, however an attempt has been made to prevent this here. Some levels may have you swinging downtown, exploring buildings, beating up the bad guys and freeing hostages but there are other things you can do as well.

It is well worth exploring each level as this will lead to numerous power-ups and bonus stages, also included are gold spiders, which lead to special rewards. Other levels may have a time factor where you have to escape from a building before it collapses or the robotic enemies in Chinatown that keep on coming. In total there are eleven levels and although some are easily completed, finding all the spiders and camera spots are reason enough to go back again. The difficulty is well pitched, several levels will be easily completed but others will require a few attempts and demand excellent web slinging abilities. There was no way that the pocket version could rival its more accomplished brothers but what we have here is a reasonable looking Game Boy Advance release.

The cartoon violence touches were a particular favourite and if you've ever seen the original Batman television series you'll know what to expect. Many of the Spider-man superhero abilities, surprisingly, have made it into this version; unfortunately this means every button on the handheld is needed. At times the control system can be a tad frustrating, this is no fault of the developer but perhaps the machine designer, talk about the Xbox controller! Overall Spider-man is an enjoyable superhero romp that offers a challenge in places and for the younger generation should prove a satisfying purchase.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Jason Julier