Spider-Man: Mysterio’s Menace is a great game that is over far too soon for my taste. The first level wowed and entertained me. I was impressed with the tight controls, and I really appreciated the skill required to take down even the underlings. Even the cut-scenes are fun in a hokey way. When I was finished with the first level, I couldn’t wait to see who else I would come up against and what I would have to do. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really that much left to accomplish.

There are plenty of familiar faces that pop up throughout the game. You get plenty of bouts with Rhino, Scorpion and, of course, Mysterio. These are the villians of my childhood, and I enjoyed the opportunity to take them down. Each boss took a slightly different strategy to overcome which kept the game from getting too repetitive.

This is a great demo game for the Game Boy Advance. There’s a surprising amount of options at your disposal for controlling Spidey. You can run, jump, climb walls and ceiling, and do a variety of things with your web shooters. Being able to climb walls and ceilings adds a vertical degree of game play that helps distinguish it from the majority of side scrolling platformers out there. There are a lot of power ups hidden throughout the levels that add a degree of replayability. You also have the option to choose difficulty settings to make things a little more interesting a second or third time through. My only other complaint with the game is the lack of a battery back up. I really hate having to keep a pad of paper next to me when I play this little guy.

The controls are what really set this game apart. They are tighter than taut spider-line. It’s one of the few games I’ve played where I felt like I was in absolute control of the little character on the screen. The graphics are also top notch. There was a great amount of care put into animating both the characters and the backgrounds.