| Introduction
Spiderman follows the trend in Hollywood these days
to hype a movie years before its release date. Unsurprisingly,
the movie raked in over $100 million on its
opening weekend but whether this was due to the quality
of the movie or the hype is an area of great debate.
Here though is the GBA version and with two other Spiderman
titles already available on this platform, let's hope
the developers have managed to pull something original
out of their digital bag of tricks.
GamePlay
Firstly it must be pointed out that the game is only
'loosely' based on the movie so although you do get
to battle it out with the Green Goblin you'll also encounter
a handful of other arch enemies too. All the various
levels are mission based and nearly all have a time
limit. They could involve defusing bombs, rescuing hostages
or simply infiltrating OsCorp without being seen or
killed. You'll notice very quickly that everything has
a well thought out learning curve so where in the earlier
levels you may find henchmen easy to beat, in later
levels you have to not only battle far stronger foes
but must also tread with greater care in order to avoid
fire, mines or electricity.
The bonus levels are of great interest as unlike
the platform sections they employ the all-new Z-Axis
technology. This produces a kind a 3D effect allowing
Spiderman to swing high above the streets of New York
and in-between the skyscrapers. Your mission here is
to find 10 Green gas balloons within the time limit
and even with your handy compass it's still very tough
as well as a punishment for your fingers. Success will
reward you with points and sometimes even an extra life
and to be honest it's just great fun swinging around
that high up.
In addition to the main gameplay there's also a sub-mission
although as Peter Parker has always been a photographer
it's a mystery why this hasn't been included in a previous
title. During each level you'll have to snap Spidey
in action, then you can then sell the picture to the
Daily Bugle to raise cash and earn valuable points.
This can't just be done anywhere and a flashing camera
icon will appear at the base of the screen indicating
where the picture should be taken. The problem is that
it usually only appears when a lot of action is going
on around you and you only have a 5 second window to
get the shot. If you are successful and manage to take
the allotted amount of photos per level (usually 3 or
4) then you'll also be rewarded with a still from the
movie.
In a highly unusual move all of this can be saved
not by a password but amazingly - a battery backup.
This is a unique, but very welcome move by Activision
and as a result, makes the title truly portable. It
also allows you to instantly view all your unlocked
bonus items as soon as you start without having to input
a 12-digit password, which doesn't always work as you've
written it down incorrectly. Other developers please
take note.
Controls
Controlling Spiderman is a complicated affair and
this in itself could have destroyed a promising title.
The good news is that the good people at Digital Eclipse
have addressed this potential problem and inserted a
very helpful tutorial. This all takes place on the first
level and at various points the screen will freeze and
text will indicate how to overcome an obstacle and exactly
what combination of buttons to press. All this is detailed
in the manual but you'll learn far more from this type
of on screen instruction.
Graphics
Visually this title is a huge improvement on the
previous titles and the GBA's exceptional graphical
power has been utilised to great effect. The general
animation and special effects have been updated and
the environments that Spidey swings around are amazing.
In addition to all this there's the FMV intro which
although only a cut down trailer does an excellent job
of setting the game's atmosphere.
Sound & Music
Right from the start you'll notice that both sound
effects and music have played an important role in the
games development so headphones are essential in order
to fully enjoy the game. The soundtrack, which plays
throughout the game, is suitably super hero themed and
complements the gameplay wonderfully whilst the spot
sound effects such as explosions and body punches are
some of the best we've ever heard on any GBA title.
Quite simply, one of the highlights of an already highly
polished title.
Final Comments
With the amount of Spiderman titles already available
on the handheld market there really wasn't any room
for another mediocre movie tie-in platformer but the
good news is that Spiderman the Movie improves significantly
on its predecessors. Expert platformers will, however,
fly through this game in no time at all and some levels
can be completed on the first attempt. Fortunately,
there are lots of extras to unlock which does give some
replay value. Overall Spiderman - The Movie is a well
rounded platformer and if you enjoyed the movie you'll
no doubt get a great deal of pleasure from this game
too.
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