Don the mysterious Black Suit, beat up thugs and super-villans, and rescue helpless civilians in Spider-Man 3.
That fact alone distinguishes it from a lot of other games. You get to put on a spiffy outfit and go around fighting crime and rescuing people who are too impish to attempt to escape the danger themselves. Typical day for our webslinging wonder, and it's also the basic theme of this game.
Now, if you've owned Ultimate Spider-Man or Spider-Man Battle for New York on this system (both of which I've seen or played once or twice), you are probably going to notice that those two games and SM3 look strangely familiar. That's because they are. In fact, the only differences are slightly altered graphics, different enemies, and the Symbiote. Which, if you don't know, is an alien host that attaches to the user and makes them...uh...eviler.
So, I guess we'll tackle the basic stuff first. The game is a movie tie-in. And it's not bad either, like most movie tie-ins are. Obviously, it's a sidescroller beat-em-up. You go around punching the living daylights out of thugs, villans, and crates and boxes. You also rescue civilians, disable bombs, and solve puzzles. All with the use of your trusty webbing and attacks.
The graphics are pretty good on the GBA. I'm pretty sure that Ultimate Spider-Man had cel-shaded graphics, and they did that on the GBA version too, which looked fantastic when I played it once. The cel-shading is dropped in SM3, but the sprites are still very smooth. Oh, and the enemies don't have faces. Awkward. Anyway...moving on. Spider-Man is pretty cool looking, whether you're swinging from a web line or just randomly running around. The enemy sprites can be ok...except Venom, who looks really wierd. But, the graphics elsewhere are good.
Now, I'll cover sound. Almost all the people have voices. Spidey has like two when he gets hit or faints. It's basically just random shouts like you would hear in any other game on GBA. I've never heard full audio on GBA before. And for other things, like when you bust open a crate, it has an obvious sound...of, well busting open a wooden crate. The music is catchy and cool, but they re-use it on some levels. Go figure.
So here's some of the features of the game. The first, and probably the most prominent, is that of the Black Suit. You get it about a third of the way through the game. But there's a specific way to use it. As expected, your attacks are more powerful in the black duds, and there are also some suit-specific moves. There are also some walls that can only be broken in the Black Suit. To get the Black Suit, you have to destroy enough objects or beat up enough enemies until your Rage Meter gets full. After that, you get the Black Suit. You need to use it with caution, though, because one hit from anything, be it enemy or natural objects (such as fire or stong-flowing water) and you lose the suit. You have to fill up the meter again to get it back, although in certain areas, power-ups can be found that automatically give you the Suit.
Which brings me to a brief section on power-ups. You've got Health, Damage, and Webbing items. Health...uh...gives you health (also, you get more health after you defeat a boss), webbing increases the time that enemies are wrapped in your webbing, and damage increases the power that your uppercuts or kicks can do.
So, it's pretty much a straightforward beat-em-up, Spidey style. I couldn't find a ton of things wrong with the game, besides the slowdown that rarely occurs. And the Black Suit system can get annoying. But, in the end, it's good. So if you want a good game for GBA, try this one.