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Spider-Man: The Movie

Reviewed by Dogg With game after game it was not surprising that yet another Spider-Man game was in the works. After a strong resurgence to the Game Boy area with Mysterio's Menace, Spider-Man returns with a now new game: Spider-Man: the Movie. This game will of course focus on the new upcoming film of Spider-Man that is also set to make a strong appearance in the box office. Spider-Man: the Movie for the Game Boy Advance, however, loses most of the shtick that the Movie would appeal to, so basically this game is like a brand new and fresh concept. It does take a few toeholds from the movie; though. Stuff like the script are all very reminiscent of the movie, and this game also features a 3-d trailer from the movie which simply looks impressive due to what the Game Boy Advance can do. Spider-Man: the Movie has that same old original story that can be theoretically seen in any one of the web-crawler's infamous comics, or games perhaps. It goes something like this (what? I'm no storyteller!). Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, works for a newspaper group called the Daily Bugle. Here Parker is always given jobs to take photographs, and the like. Soon attacks start happening, and all signs of these attacks seem to be coming from OsCorp, Norman Osborn's facility for evil extraordinaire. Now Peter is given assignments to go to the places where the attacks are happening and then to take photographs of them, but unknown to the whole world Peter Parker is also the red-spandex wearing hero called Spider-Man. So as Spider-Man he must also put a thwart to the 'mysterious' persons plans. Or, basically you just take photographs and destroy all of the bad guys roaming in the huge animated areas. The main villain Spider-Man is after in this game is greedy man Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the evil Green Goblin (Spider-Man's most dangerous villain of all time, according to the comics. ). But Osborn is not alone on the attack he has also got a few henchmen, mainly bad guys with bad personalities trying to fork Spider-Man over to the crossroads. These henchmen of Osborn's are: the Vulture, one of the first villains to join Doctor Octopus' Sinister Six crime group, Kraven the Hunter, a now deceased but formidable fighter according to the comics, Shocker, Spider-Man's second most popular villain with electric capabilities, and Scorpion, the private investigator turned crustacean villain. If you have ever played a Spider-Man title before then you will know exactly how Spider-Man: the Movie will play out. Basically you web-sling from area to area, from building to building, from beating up enemies upon enemies, till you finally and uncivilly beat the level. As you beat the level, the story will progress and then you will be introduced to the forthcomings of the next level. Repeat with this level, and you will soon prepare to fight a boss. This is basically the conducing pattern that Spider-Man: the Movie follows. While there is more interactivity in each level, it still remains as a fact that all you do is beat up the enemies and progress through the side-scrolling area with the rest of your web-slinging skills. That is not to say, though, that Spider-Man: the Movie is not fun. This game is fun. The sometimes humorous storyline and cut-scenes are sure to put a smile into someone's endearing eyes, while the thought of just having Marvel's academic nerdy hero is yet another thing that will surely impress. Spider-Man: the Movie also has a lot of focus with the comics at specific times. The always-appearing bubbles when you hit enemies, like POW!, BAM!, and THWACK!, come straight out of the fight scenes from the comics, while all the added enemies that do not appear in the movie itself (remember only the Green Goblin appears in the movie, not the Vulture, Scorpion, Shocker, etc.) are also ripped straight out of the comics. In a level you will be given simple objectives; like tracking down Scorpion and his legion of robotic arachnids, or going across thousands of air balloons trying to find armed bombs. In a level you can also do some small tasks. These tasks, as mentioned, require you to take photographs, or irrelevantly find a hidden area throughout the area. For the photographs you will basically have to press Select when the game tells you to. If you took the picture in time you can later use it to show what happened in the area. Some levels require you to take over three to four photographs. For the hidden areas you basically have to inspect a part of the area really well. If your inspection goes out smoothly as planned you will then be awarded for finding the level's secret. Each area has about three secret areas. To guide you in your quest are your secondary webbing skills. These webbing skills include varied types of attacks. There is original webbing which simply throws a pile of web string at an enemy, dynamic webbing which throws web-bombs at enemies, sticky web which stops an enemy's interaction, arachnid strength web which powers up your beefy fighting skills for a limited period, and finally there is the shield web which makes you invulnerable for a few seconds (about 5-6 seconds overall). Spider-Man: the Movie features well over a dozen levels, each one albeit different from the last. However, what seems to put down the game's pace are that the levels do not provide much variety or activity. You basically just break through windows, avoid dangerous one-kill hazards, beat up stiff enemies, and then make it out of the level. While these levels are all huge in comparison, they are all just too easy making this game more of a weekend rental, above everything else. What many people will like or hate about this game, though, are the game's bonus stages. In these bonus stages you simply use your unlimited webbing and you go through the city trying to collect and disarm the Green Goblin's gas bombs. To guide you in your way of getting these gas bombs will be your Spider-Direction Arrow located near the bottom of the Game Boy Advance screen. This arrow will show you were to go much easier (either left or right, top to bottom, etc.), and is really helpful throughout the time it is used. However, in my opinion what brings these bonus stages down are the common types of slowdown that occur and that at times you will press the A button to web-sling, but you do not. These are, though, my only gripes about the control setup in this game. Aside from the levels, however, are the game's bosses. While yes a powerful villain cast is shown (Kraven the Hunter anyone?), however, the specific villain's presentation is very low played out and each of the villains, when you are fighting them, are just too too easy. The Vulture, for example, can be easily taken care of by simple jumping kicks and punches the same goes with Kraven the Hunter (except the lights have to be on). Shocker, at first, was a hard boss for me. I tried kicking and punching him to death, but it left me to no avail. However, one time, by mistake, I shot a piece of webbing in the ceiling. And to my surprise rocks fell down and had then martyred Shocker to an even instant death. The Green Goblin is not even that hard. Simple strafing and then punching would take him down all the time, and the Scorpion has an easy pattern, that once learned, would make him dead by the time you finish saying ÒTupperware." However, the graphics more then make up for the gameplay. The animation is crisp and fully detailed. The environments are swift and really fine-looking. Nearly every visual aspect in this game is groundbreaking and full of oomph. While the game is more of a 2-d and pseudo 3-d looking style, hell it is still impressive to what the Nintendo Game Boy Advance can do. The audio is also very refreshing and well tuned. From the tunes that play in the background, to the extraterrestrial sounding grunts that the enemies make, it is all very impressive and stands at a high land-point to what the Game Boy Advance can produce. But in the end the graphics and the sound are the only things that save the game. There are a few secrets, like movie photos, level select, and extra costume capabilities, to add some replay value to a rather abysmal game, but they still do not do anything to save this game from its degrading gameplay. Maybe there will be a next time for Marvel's masked cretin, but as of now the fact remains that this game will either impress or un-impress the many people that give it a try. Me, I say give it a try to see if you like it. If you like it, enjoy it, and if you hate it, simply blame it on yourself for playing this game. It is your choiceÉ

Gameplay: 6/10 Graphics: 9/10 Audio: 8/10 Replay: 5/10 Fun in playing the game: 5/10

Overall: 6/10

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