Spider-Man 3 for the Game Boy Advance is actually pretty decent. Dare I say... good? Like, I don't actually have a lot of issues with it. The controls may be a little clunky at first, and there are so many actions you can do that it feels too much, but I'm sure once you master the controls it feels great to play, maybe even speedrun. One thing I can appreciate is that the game feels fast-paced, Spider-Man can move fast with his swinging abilities, and there's a variety of objectives, some are timed so you have to act fast. The combat is also decent, though you don't have to fight every single enemy which is good, because I can imagine it getting pretty repetitive. The boss fights are pretty good. The graphics use the same style as some other Vicarious Visions games for GBA, with pre-rendered sprites and some background elements looking hand-drawn, overall looks decent. The music is good, which is unsurprising, because Shin'en. Though this is the first time I noticed a blatant music track reuse. You can't fool me with slightly different instrumentation, that main theme song is boss fight theme from Monster House GBA! I'm sure I can find other track similarities, like how one track in Drake & Josh has similar beginning to one track from The Sims 2: Pets GBA, though it still goes into its own direction, but this is straight up the same song. While it may feel a little lazy, it's not a bad track, and the rest of the soundtrack is probably original. Regardless, the soundtrack still sounds pretty good. Overall, this game was a pleasant surprise, the level design is solid and there's a decent variety, and the webslinging feels pretty good. It's one of the better licensed games for the GBA. Kinda impressive for such a late release.

Reviewed on Aug 13, 2022


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