|
It's kind of funny that I'd end up liking the Game Boy
Advance as much as I do, when you consider my opinion of the
previous Game Boy systems. I enjoyed the original system
at first, but around the time I bought my Genesis I started to
notice just how weak both the Game Boy's hardware and software
really were. Super Mario Land is a perfect example,
being far inferior to its much older NES counterpart and
hideously ugly thanks to the system's limitations. Even
when the games got better, I wasn't that interested in the
Game Boy... I felt that Nintendo's customers deserved
something a little more, well, advanced than what they were
getting.
Nevertheless, the Game Boy was hugely popular for many
years, and Nintendo didn't really think about a real upgrade
until 1998, when game magazines spilled the beans about
Project Atlantis. This system was supposed to be a huge
step up from the wimpy, wimpy, wimpy Game Boy... but what we
actually got in 1999 was the underwhelming Game Boy
Color. It was twice as fast as the original system, and
true to its name, it offered color output.
Unfortunately, the hardware was still very limited, and
Nintendo's most popular games didn't take full advantage of
its color display. To add to the disappointment, there
were a lot of great titles shown for the Game Boy Color at
1999's Electronics Entertainment Expo, but a few months after
its launch the console was drowned in a flood of terrible
games with equally lousy licenses.
Defying all logic, the Game Boy Color was exceptionally
popular, crushing its only competitor the Neo-Geo Pocket
without even acknowledging its existence. Fortunately,
Nintendo showed more mercy to its customers than it had SNK,
retiring the wretched Game Boy Color in a couple of years
rather than forcing players to put up with another substandard
portable for almost a decade. Its replacement was the
Game Boy Advance, exactly the system I expected the Game Boy
Color to be. People who refer to the Game Boy Advance as
a handheld Super NES are half right... it's got a similar
graphics processor, so its games are just as bright and
detailed, but it's much faster, so titles like Doom and Street
Fighter Alpha, which the Super NES couldn't quite handle, are
no problem for the Game Boy Advance.
Its only flaw, it seems, is the inflexible screen which not
only makes it tough to see in most lighting conditions, but
prevents you from resolving the problem with a reflective
coating that mirrors any lights you shine directly on
it. The best solution I've found is playing the system
in a public place with flourescent lights. That way,
everything's evenly lit and the lights are too far above you
to reflect from the screen. You can also play the games
on an emulator (Visual Boy Advance is my favorite one so far),
or buy a special adaptor for your system that lets you hook it
up to a television set.
Whatever you do, you're not going to want to miss some of
the software available for the Game Boy Advance! Here's
a list of brief reviews that should help you pick out the
games you'll enjoy most.
THE GAME
RATING SYSTEM...
|
|
Game Boy
Advance. A handheld classic that will
stand the test of time for many years to come.
There's no doubt about
it... you simply must have this! |
|
|
Neo-Geo
Pocket. Hey, this is really good!
It may cater to a specific audience, but it puts on one
heck of a show for them. Go ahead, give it a
try! |
|
|
Game
Gear. It's flawed in a number of ways,
but still pretty entertaining. You might have to
play it for a while to really appreciate it,
though. |
|
|
Wonderswan. You know they
could have done better... in fact, a lot better.
What the heck, though... as long as it's there, you
might as well play it! |
|
|
game.com. A miserable
failure with nothing to redeem it. Don't buy it,
don't rent it... don't even borrow it from any friends
dumb enough to be stuck with
it. |
(Disclaimer: Every game
reviewed on this page is for the Game Boy Advance, and only
the Game Boy Advance. These pictures are intended to
illustrate the quality of each game reviewed. The
Gameroom Blitz will not assume responsibility for damage done
to any Game Boy Advance games you try to force into your
game.com. If you were dumb enough to buy a game.com in
the first place, that's your
problem.)
|
ATARI ANNIVERSARY
ADVANCE
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
ATARI (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Who would have ever guessed twenty
five years ago that gamers of the future would have enough
room in their pockets for six arcade hits, with just enough
space left over for a flashy trivia
challenge? Well, we know now what our poor,
deprived ancestors didn't know then, thanks to Atari
Anniversary Advance. The Game Boy Advance doesn't have
the muscle to fully emulate the hardware of coin-ops like
Tempest and Centipede, but Digital Eclipse came up with a
brilliant compromise, which they've dubbed
meta-emulation. The graphics and sound are all handled
natively, taking stress off the system's sluggish processor,
but the basic routines that handle character AI and movement
are preserved, resulting in a stunningly faithful arcade
experience. Whether you're blasting flippers and
spikers in a series of tubes (not a dump truck), or
clearing the sky of missiles launched by a rival superpower,
you'll feel like there's a tiny window to the past in
your hands. Just remember to bring
along some headphones! You won't hear
the rumbling explosions in Asteroids and
Battlezone without them.
|
CRAZY FROG
RACING
RACING |
DIGITAL TAINMENT POOL
(DENARIS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I'd love to spend the entirety of this review telling
you how much I hate the
anatomically-correct-but-not-really-since-he's-a-frog star of
this game, but I can't. That's mostly because that
would leave me with less time to express my raging contempt
for all the OTHER idiotic characters in Crazy Frog
Racing! This game makes it official... they'll let just
about anyone behind the wheel of a go-kart these
days, including janga-smoking great danes (zoinks, Scoob!) and
chickens who will make you an offer you can't refuse (playing
something else, maybe?). Just because they're hopping
aboard this train wreck doesn't mean you have to, though!
Drab graphics, mechanical control, inscrutable
power-ups, and frustrating five kart pile-ups make Crazy Frog
Racing not only the worst game in a crowded field of lame
Mario Kart clones, but the worst thing you can put into your
Game Boy Advance next to a pick axe or a gallon of boiling
water.
|
FANTASTIC 4: FLAME
ON!
ACTION |
ACTIVISION
(TORUS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Flame On! is the perfect vehicle for its cocky young star
Johnny Storm. It's got absolutely no depth or
substance, but it sets the Game Boy Advance ablaze with some
of the flashiest fighting action you'll ever see on the
system. As Johnny, better known as The Human Torch,
you'll use your fiery fists and feet to blaze a
trail through an army of alien thugs. Whether
you're launching a scorching blast of flame at your
foes or snatching gems as you soar through the sky, you
can count on animation that's as smooth and striking as a
sledgehammer slathered in butter (mmm... painful!).
The only thing that threatens to put a chill on the white-hot
graphics is a lack of shading, especially in the
backgrounds. However, they're a lot more appealing
than the monotonous techno music waiting for you in
each level... it's as persistent as Dr. Doom himself, and
twice as evil! Somewhere in the middle lies the
gameplay... it won't set the world on fire, but it's
entertaining enough despite the predictable level design and
limited variety of enemies.
|
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
ADVANCE
ROLE PLAYING /
STRATEGY |
NINTENDO
(SQUARE-ENIX)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
This game's earned every last word of bad
press it's received. The judgement system is a constant
annoyance during fights... when the chocobo-riding
referee isn't getting in your way, he's blowing the whistle on
your mistakes while turning a blind eye to the computer
opponent's own violations. The laws you're expected
to abide by in each battle are supposed to add a layer of
strategy to the gameplay, but all they wind up doing is
getting on your nerves... especially when you're dropped in
prison for a crime you didn't even realize you
committed! Nevertheless, after you've spent nine
straight hours completing missions and strengthening a small
army of characters, it becomes clear that Square-Enix must have done SOMETHING right with
this game. In keeping with the Final Fantasy
tradition, the graphics are rich with color and detail, and
there are plenty of subtle but welcome twists to
the turn-based gameplay. Perhaps the best of
these features is the ability to assign jobs to your
heroes, then take the skills they've learned in that
profession and carry them over to more
exciting careers. Can't decide if you want
your favorite character to bust heads as a soldier, or
heal wounds as a cleric? Now you can have
both!
|
PAC-MAN PINBALL
ADVANCE
PINBALL / ACTION |
NAMCO (HUMAN
SOFT)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Pac-Man's never had much luck in the world of
pinball, and this half-hearted release by Human Soft (not
to be confused with the folks who first gave the world Fire
Pro Wrestling) does little to break that losing streak.
Like Mario's own pinball game on the Game Boy
Advance, Pac-Man Pinball Advance
blends rudimentary adventure elements into the
traditional flipper-flapping action, then throws in a heaping
cup of computer rendering to give the finished
product a 21st century sheen. They may have had the
same recipe Nintendo used to make Mario Pinball Land, but
it only takes one bite to realize that
Namco and Human used store brand ingredients in their own
creation. The graphics in Pac-Man Pinball are kind of
fugly, with a table that teeters back and forth as if it's
been drinking heavily, and the player never really understands
what needs to be done in order to make progress. Strike
all the targets you want, and eat all the dots and ghosts you
like, but chances are, you'll be stuck on the same table for
the remainder of the game, listening to the
same bewilderingly dramatic background music. If
you already have Pokemon Pinball, the crown standard of silver
ball sims on the Game Boy Advance, feel free to let this
one roll down the drain.
|
ACTIVISION ANTHOLOGY
CLASSIC
COLLECTION |
ASPYR (ACTIVISION, VARIOUS
OTHERS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I had my doubts about this collection at
first... developers Aspyr made the daring decision to emulate
the 2600 hardware itself, rather than merely translating the
games to the Game Boy Advance. Although emulation is the
best way to ensure that the games are accurately reproduced,
emulating the quirky 2600 hardware is asking a lot of the Game
Boy Advance. Not only have the graphics been compressed
to fit on the system's smaller screen, but the most
graphically demanding titles in the collection run more slowly
here than they did on a real 2600.
Despite this, Activision Anthology has a lot to offer the
player... namely, fifty of the best games released on Atari's
most popular system. You'll find it hard to pull
yourself away from intense classics like Megamania and Spider
Fighter, whether you're just playing them for fun or gunning
for the hidden patches, accessible by reaching predetermined
target scores.
|
ADVANCE GUARDIAN
HEROES
ACTION / FIGHTING |
UBI SOFT
(TREASURE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
As heartbroken as I am to say it, this sequel to Guardian
Heroes is missing a lot of what made the first game
great. The intuitive but surprisingly complex gameplay,
the boldly drawn artwork, the exceptional character design...
none of that's here. What you WILL find is an out of
place futuristic setting, a generic cast of fighters who
look more like they belong in Treasure's first game Gunstar
Heroes, and awkward new play mechanics. Oh, but that's not
all! You get slowdown, and a whole lot of it. You remember
slowdown, right? The result of poorly optimized programming
that made a frequent appearance in dozens of Super NES games?
Well, it's back, and it's as annoying as ever. All this plus
unresponsive control and outrageously cheap enemies who can
kill you with one blow (in the first round!) makes it pretty
clear why Treasure usually keeps a safe distance from sequels.
They sure as hell shouldn't have made this one.
ADVANCE WARS 2
STRATEGY |
NINTENDO (INTELLIGENT
SYSTEMS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
As if there was any doubt, Advance Wars 2 is that much
better than the first. The Black Hole Army's back and they're
pissed and they wanna take over everything, but it doesn't
matter because you are the Orange Star Army and warring is
your BUSINESS, foo'. Heh. Adding to Advance Wars 2's strategic
mix is that you will have to play as two officers at once in
some parts of the game and that adds a whole new level of
cerebelic (is that even a word?) pain. I mean that in a good
way. Seriously. Everything that was in the first game is
back and improved in some way, especially the way the story is
handled in the cut scenes. Graphically, the cut scenes still
make the game and the dialog between the commanding officers
is still pretty decent. Even more new units (Neo Tanks?
YAAAAAAAAAY!), a pretty good AI that doesn't always feel
cheap, and an increasingly difficult and innovative campaign
mode, along with the already impressive multiplayer and map
editor modes (for your own filthy map designs to torture your
friends with) make this one of the games you simply must own
for the Game Boy Advance.
|
ALIENATORS: EVOLUTION
CONTINUES
ACTION, SHOOTER |
DIGITAL
ECLIPSE
1
PLAYER
|
|
You're not going to hate this as much as the film (judging
from the reviews I've read, I don't think that's possible...),
but this side-scrolling shooter just isn't that
interesting. Digital Eclipse proves that they're the
best Game Boy Advance design firm this side of Japan by giving
this release crisp, bright graphics, solid gameplay, and a
soundtrack that's straight out of a movie (a good movie, not
Evolution). However, they forgot the one thing that made
similar games like Contra and Gunstar Heroes much more
exciting... intensity. In those games, it was a struggle
to survive, because each round was packed with relentless
enemies. The only thing you'll struggle to do here is
stay awake, because the mutants in Alienators aren't very
aggressive, and they're not exactly in abundant supply
either.
|
ALADDIN
ACTION |
CAPCOM
1
PLAYER
|
|
If you've played any of Capcom's other
Disney-licensed games, you know what to expect from this
one. In addition to the gorgeously colorful graphics
(faithful to the film right down to your simian sidekick Abu
trailing your every move), lively music, and solid but
unremarkable gameplay, Aladdin features an emphasis on the
title character's athletic prowess. Aladdin swings from
poles and surprises his foes with a leaping handstand attack,
making the game more stylish than your average side-scrolling
platformer... but also more awkward. It's more difficult
than necessary to guide Al safely to the ground after he's
bounced off the shoulders of an enemy. Fans of the film
will still be satisfied with the game despite this quirk...
but most everyone will agree that Capcom's original efforts
are better.
ALTERED BEAST
BEAT 'EM UP |
T*HQ (SEGA, 3D6
GAMES)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
The game you might have gotten with your Genesis
is the one game you won't want to get for
your Game Boy Advance. The new Altered Beast is closely
patterned after the first one, which means that the gameplay
is extremely basic and straightforward... undead creatures pop
out of the ground and you put them back where they belong with
well-timed punches and kicks. The process repeats for
what seems like a lifetime until you transform into one of the
game's many anthropomorphic creatures and battle a large,
powerful boss. While you'll definitely notice
improvements over the original Altered Beast, they don't
alleviate the monotonous gameplay, and in fact make it even
worse thanks to the increased number of rounds.
Furthermore, the computer rendered graphics are painfully ugly
and lack the personality of the hand drawn artwork in the
original game... the clever and varied death animations were
one of the few reasons to play the Genesis version
of Altered Beast. Sega should have just let this
one "Stay... in its grave."
ARMY
MEN: OPERATION GREEN
ACTION,
SHOOTER |
3DO (POCKET STUDIOS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
This is my first taste of Army Men, and believe it or not,
I actually came away from the experience without any permanent
psychological damage. In fact, I was impressed with this
hybrid of Desert Strike and Commando... it's got a convincing
military atmosphere despite the cast of toy soldiers, with
large, nicely detailed playfields and explosions that shake
both the screen and your eardrums. The only thing that's
missing is the smell of napalm in the morning!
Unfortunately, the silly control scheme hurts- not ruins, but
hurts- the gameplay. I guess Pocket Studios wanted to go
for a Doom like feel with the strafing and turning, but it
just doesn't make sense in an overhead view shooter. If
Operation Green had borrowed Commando's style of control in
addition to most of its other ideas, it would have been
great... maybe even outstanding. As it is, though, Green
won't change many peoples' perceptions about the Army Men
series.
ASTERIX AND OBELIX: PAF! THEM ALL
ACTION
PLATFORM/FIGHTING |
INFOGRAMES
1
PLAYER
|
|
Infogrames takes you to a time in history where, believe it
or not, the French are mighty warriors who take a stand
against a seemingly unstoppable force bent on taking over the
world. Yes, once upon a time, the Viking-like Gauls
faught to defend their land from the Romans. In Asterix,
the cartoon based on these battles, Asterix led the Gauls in
their struggle against Julius Ceasar, along with his bloated
buddy Obelix and their tiny pet Dogmatix. The cartoon
was popular enough to inspire several video games, and this is
the latest. Actually, Paf! Them All gives you a
selection between a new title exclusive to the Game Boy
Advance called Asterix and Cleopatra, and a side-scrolling
platformer called Asterix and Obelix that was previously
available on the Sega Genesis. Despite crisp, cartoony
graphics, the new game is pretty weak... it's a Golden Axe
clone that's even more simplistic and repetitive.
Fortunately, the platformer is more fun, although it can be
frustrating and the graphics are a little washed out.
The draw to both games is the French artwork that's charmingly
silly... it's a little like what you'd see on the Smurfs, but
with better detail and more exaggerated poses.
|
ASTERIX AND OBELIX: XXL
3D
PLATFORMER |
ATARI (VELEZ/DUBAIL)
1 PLAYER
|
|
When you see a game that's based on an obscure
French cartoon like Asterix, you'd expect it to be just
another generic side-scrolling platformer. Not this
time, though... surprisingly, Asterix and Obelix: XXL is a
generic three-dimensional platformer, thanks to the always
impressive efforts of Fernando Velez and Guillaume
Dubail. You may recognize these guys from their previous
Game Boy Advance titles V-Rally III and Stuntman, and they're
once again shifting the system into overdrive with a polygonal
graphics engine so advanced, you half expect the system to
blow a fuse after fifteen minutes. The graphics may
impress you, but the gameplay probably won't... your time is
evenly split between mindlessly punching out Roman guards and
picking up their helmets to use later as currency for the
shopkeepers hidden in some stages. The ability to switch
between spritely Asterix and his chubby buddy Obelix does keep
the game from getting too dull, but for the most part, it's
just another 3D tech demo by Velez and Dubail, which dazzles
more than it entertains.
|
ASTRO
BOY
ACTION/PLATFORM |
SEGA (TREASURE,
HITMAKER)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Get ready for a double dose of nostalgia!
Whether you loved the cartoon from animation legend Osamu
Tezuka or are just a fan of Treasure games like Silhouette
Mirage and Gunstar Heroes, you'll have a blast with Astro
Boy. If you enjoyed them both, there's absolutely no
doubt that you should buy this. It's a straightforward
action game with heavy emphasis on the
action... Astro Boy is constantly surrounded by
enemies, and to survive, he'll have to beat the
crowd (literally!) with punches, kicks, and powerful
super moves. Along the way, you'll find dozens of
characters from the Astro Boy cartoon series... each one
gives you a point which can be used to boost the titanium
tyke's abilities, making him faster and stronger. The
graphics and sound are vintage Treasure, with bright, colorful
artwork and fittingly high-tech music, but the
game eventually becomes repetitive thanks
to its linear levels and limited selection of
enemies. Still, it's the best thing to come from
Treasure in a long time, and the Astro Boy license gives the
game a refreshingly different look.
|
ATARI ANNIVERSARY
ADVANCE
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
ATARI (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Who would have ever guessed twenty
five years ago that gamers of the future would have enough
room in their pockets for six arcade hits, with just enough
space left over for a flashy trivia
challenge? Well, we know now what our poor,
deprived ancestors didn't know then, thanks to Atari
Anniversary Advance. The Game Boy Advance doesn't have
the muscle to fully emulate the hardware of coin-ops like
Tempest and Centipede, but Digital Eclipse came up with a
brilliant compromise, which they've dubbed
meta-emulation. The graphics and sound are all handled
natively, taking stress off the system's sluggish processor,
but the basic routines that handle character AI and movement
are preserved, resulting in a stunningly faithful arcade
experience. Whether you're blasting flippers and
spikers in a series of tubes (not a dump truck), or
clearing the sky of missiles launched by a rival superpower,
you'll feel like there's a tiny window to the past in
your hands. Just remember to bring
along some headphones! You won't hear
the rumbling explosions in Asteroids and
Battlezone without them.
|
BANJO-KAZOOIE: GRUNTY'S
REVENGE
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
T*HQ
(RARE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Rednecks rejoice... your hero has
returned! After Microsoft purchased Rare, nobody was
sure if Banjo-Kazooie would be released for the Game Boy
Advance. However, thanks to a licensing deal with T*HQ,
it's finally arrived. You're probably wondering if the
game was worth the long wait. If you were a big fan of
the N64 versions of Banjo-Kazooie, then the answer is yes...
although the polygonal playfields have been replaced with
unattractive computer rendered backgrounds, the Game Boy
Advance extension of the series offers the same silly fun you
remember from the first two Banjo games. The rest of you
may not be as enthused with the tedious item collecting
and the main character, a bear so brain dead he speaks in
gape-jawed "duhs" and must be taught simple skills like
climbing to proceed through the game. Come to think of
it, the game as a whole just isn't as clever as Spyro the
Dragon or its sequels... you're better off playing those
first.
BOMBERMAN TOURNAMENT
ACTION,
STRATEGY |
ACTIVISION (HUDSON)
1-4
PLAYERS TO ONE CART
|
|
It's nice to have a portable version of Bomberman handy,
but it's tough to settle for this after you've played the
Saturn version. Bomberman Tournament's battle mode is
much more bland, featuring fewer options and characters.
It seems that Hudson Soft spent more time with the single
player game, which was a big mistake, because it's
relentlessly boring, basically a role-playing game with a
sprinkling of traditional Bomberman elements. It's a
light sprinkling indeed, because you've got to let cute,
abstract characters called Karabon fight for you in three
round battles. Shameless? Yes, very.
Nevertheless, the Karabon could have been fun to collect if
you could ride on them or better yet, use them in the versus
mode. Perhaps this will be a feature in the
sequel...
|
BOOKWORM
PUZZLE |
MAJESCO
(POPCAP)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
If you've become hopelessly addicted to Popcap's
selection of quirky Internet games, but aren't quite ready to
drop a thousand bucks on a cumbersome laptop so you can play
them anywhere, there's good news. Now, there's a version
of Bookworm on the Game Boy Advance that'll keep your
withdrawl symptoms under control while you're out of the house
and away from your computer. Oddly, Bookworm on the Game
Boy Advance lacks the polish of the Flash game that inspired
it... the tiles are blandly drawn, and it'll take some time to
adjust to the control, as the cursor jumps from one tile to
the next instead of smoothly gliding over them. However,
you'll still find yourself drawn in by Bookworm's gameplay,
which borrows heavily from the board games Scrabble and Boggle
but throws in just a touch of the frantic danger you've come
to expect from puzzlers like Tetris and Bust-A-Move.
Finally, the hilarious drawings at the end of each level are
worth a mention... they illustrate your current rank with
everything from a teenaged clerk peppered with zits to a
pointy-headed German soldier burning books (and his own
hand!).
|
BREAKOUT / CENTIPEDE /
WARLORDS
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
DSI
(ECi)
1-4
PLAYERS
|
|
Here's one more reason to kick yourself if you missed out
on the Game Boy Advance port of Activision Anthology.
Breakout / Centipede / Warlords tries to bring back those fond
memories of the Atari 2600, but instead of leaving you with a
warm sense of nostalgia, all you'll get from this cartridge is
a sense that something's missing. None of the games in
this collection are emulated... instead, they're imperfect
collections of three Atari coin-ops, with prettier graphics
but obnoxious flaws that make the games a lot less fun to
play. Centipede, for instance, coats the screen with
mushrooms, making the serpentine bug an easy target as
it's forced downward by the thick patches of
fungus. Predictably, Breakout suffers from the Game Boy
Advance's lack of analog control, but the programmers made no
effort to compensate for this with a speed button that would
have let your paddle zip across the screen to catch stray
balls. Finally, there's Warlords, the best game on the
collection. This is a competitive four player game of
Breakout with enhanced graphics and more complex
gameplay. It doesn't suffer from the lack of a dial the
way that Breakout does, thanks to the fact that your shield
has less ground to cover, but the inclusion of the arcade
game's screen overlay obscures the action, making it more
difficult to see the fireballs as they come dangerously close
to your castle. Despite this flaw, Warlords is a pretty
entertaining game, and the only good reason to purchase this
collection.
|
BROTHER
BEAR
ACTION/PLATFORM |
UBI SOFT (VICARIOUS
VISIONS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Brother Bear wasn't as memorable as Disney's
previous animated films, so it's fitting that the video game
doesn't compare favorably to those based on other
Disney movies like Aladdin and The Jungle
Book. Brother Bear starts out as a generic
side-scrolling action game, best described as a more rustic
Super Mario Bros. Instead of finding coins
hidden inside blocks, the title character Kenai gathers
raspberries from rotting tree stumps. This
continues until you stumble upon your sidekick Koda, who adds
a little more depth to the gameplay. In some stages,
you'll play as both Kenai and Koda, solving puzzles using each
character's special skills. In others, Koda clings
tightly to Kenai's back and the game once again becomes a
straightforward platformer. No matter how you play
Brother Bear, you'll probably agree that you've had
better... the computer rendered graphics are grainy and lack
definition, and the gameplay is largely devoid of challenge
and depth. It's fine for the kids, but those with more
mature tastes will want to stick with the Super Mario Advance
games.
BRUCE
LEE
ACTION |
UNIVERSAL (VICARIOUS
VISIONS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Vicarious Visions might be spreading itself a
little thin lately, but their Game Boy Advance
titles (all three dozen of 'em) have still been
consistently good. Bruce Lee, a side-scrolling
platformer with a heavy emphasis on fighting, is no
different. You may remember that Bruce Lee was one of
the worst games on the XBox, but the legendary dragon's claws
are much sharper here. Bruce gets the chance to test
both his fighting skills and his agility here... when he's not
smacking around foes with his trademark backhand and
split kick, he's leaping off walls, hanging from platforms,
and sliding down poles. The overall experience is solid,
but not exceptional... the somewhat plain rendered graphics
take some of the excitement out of the game, and the fighting
can become monotonous and frustrating. However, it does
do the martial arts master justice, and if that's all that
matters to you, you'll be satisfied with this game.
BUST-A-MOVE
PUZZLE |
RUSS PRINCE (OF
BEL-AIRE?)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
It's nice to know that someone can do this game
justice on the Game Boy Advance, even if it isn't the company
that created it. Russ Prince's conversion of the
original Bust-A-Move is just amazing. Homebrews
have a tendency to look and feel sloppy, but that's not the
case here... Russ has faithfully reproduced nearly
every detail from the coin-op. The arrow spins
the way it should, the bright, colorful bubbles richochet
off the sides of the playfield the way they should, and
there's even a tremor when the wall is about to
drop, although it only seems to affect the bubble you're
about to fire rather than the entire screen. The
only thing that's really missing is Bub and Bob sweating
bullets when the bubbles get too close. Aside from that,
Russ' conversion of Bust-A-Move is perfect, and a whole
lot more impressive than what Altron had done to- er, WITH-
Super Bust-A-Move. If we're really lucky, perhaps Taito
will buy the rights to Russ' work and make this game available
on the upcoming GBA card reader.
|
CARTOON NETWORK
SPEEDWAY
RACING |
MAJESCO
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
Yep, it's another kart racer featuring
popular licensed characters. You have to wonder if
there's anyone left on television who HASN'T starred in one of
these games. Anyway, compared to the dozen or so
competitive racing titles on the Game Boy Advance, Cartoon
Network Speedway is dead average. It's far better than
Shrek Speedway, yet not as fun or as charismatic as the king
of the genre, Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Part of the
problem with Cartoon Network Speedway is that it doesn't do
much to impress either video gamers or fans of the popular
cable channel. It's underwhelming as a kart racer
because it isn't professionally designed... the weapons are
tough to use and the graphics could be more polished.
It's lacking as a Cartoon Network product because many of the
channel's best shows aren't represented... instead
of Robot Jones or Samurai Jack, you're given washed up
characters like Johnny Bravo, who haven't appeared on the
network's prime time schedule in years. The only thing
that'll keep you behind the wheel of this run-of-the-mill
racing game is a challenge mode that lets you unlock new
characters by beating the high scores set for each stage.
CASTLEVANIA: ARIA OF
SORROW
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
The question on every Game Boy Advance player's
mind seems to be this: "Which of the system's Castlevania
games are the best?" Personally, I don't think the
question is all that important, because no matter what game
you choose, you'll be taking home a fantastic
experience. In fact, you could argue that your
collection just isn't complete without all three Castlevania
titles, as they're among the best games released on the
Game Boy Advance. Aria of Sorrow holds its own against
the other games in the series, but its appeal has nothing to
do with the futuristic setting. Frankly, there's very
little indication that it happens thirty years from now rather
than centuries ago, which is disappointing when you consider
all the opportunities Konami missed to really make this game
stand out. Fortunately, Aria of Sorrow has all the
qualities that made Symphony of the Night a classic, plus a
fantastic new weapon system that lets you claim an ability
from nearly every enemy in the game. This gives the game
as much variety as Circle of the Moon, but also some of the
frustration. You'll have to defeat some monsters
repeatedly before they'll relinquish their powers, and not all
of them are worth keeping.
CASTLEVANIA: CIRCLE OF THE MOON
ACTION,
ADVENTURE |
KONAMI (KCEK)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I'm still not sure if this was the best or the worst thing
that ever happened to the Game Boy Advance. On one hand,
it takes the best ideas from the Castlevania series
(especially Symphony of the Night) and adds a card combination
system which gives you a huge variety of attacks and useful
abilities. On the other hand, Circle of the Moon
singlehandedly sparked peoples' complaints about the Game Boy
Advance's dark, reflective screen. It doesn't really
matter WHERE you play the game... you won't be able to see it
because of the tiny characters and backgrounds filled with
purples, blacks, and the deepest of browns. It's
frustrating, but Circle of the Moon is worth the hours of
squinting thanks to its depth, variety, and addictive
gameplay.
CASTLEVANIA: HARMONY OF
DISSONANCE
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
I guess I'm the only one who wasn't disappointed
with this sequel to Circle of the Moon. Yes, the music
is surprisingly primitive, and yes, the weapon system is
more limiting than those in Circle of the Moon and the
recently released Aria of Sorrow. However, it's worth
noting that Harmony of Dissonance has better graphics than the
previous game... everything's brighter now, and both the death
animations and weapon effects are greatly improved. It's
also got a feel that's evenly balanced between the Castlevania
games of the past and today's longer, more complex
adventures. Juste Belmont's whip is a more effective
weapon than any of the dozens offered in Aria of Sorrow, and
the music (although admittedly simplistic) is wonderfully
reminscent of the soundtracks in the NES Castlevania
games. Even with its flaws, Harmony of Dissonance is a
highly addictive and impressive game that's strongly
recommended to any and all Game Boy Advance owners.
CHU
CHU ROCKET!
ACTION, PUZZLE |
SEGA (SONIC TEAM)
1-4
PLAYERS
|
|
How many rockets could a Chu Chu chew if a Chu Chu could
chew... aw, forget it. Anyway, this is the Game Boy
Advance version of the overlooked puzzle game that was
released on the Dreamcast a few years ago. I actually
prefer the handheld game, not only because there are new
random events and a customization mode that lets you create
your own cats and mice, but because it's just better suited to
a portable system. The only thing that's missing from
the original on the Dreamcast is the spinning polygon that
announces random events... everything else is here, though,
and it's a lot more impressive on the Game Boy Advance.
COLUMNS CROWN
PUZZLE |
SEGA (WOW)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I wouldn't be surprised if they released this in the United
States as "Columns... For Girls!" or "Mary Kate and Ashley's
Totally Radical Gem Hunt". Each of the game's modes is
centered around a plot involving a princess who needs to find
all 24 gems to complete a crown which will allow her to take
her mother's place on the throne of the kingdom. Of
course, being a princess, she doesn't actually hunt for most
of the jewels herself... she leaves that job up to her two
friends Ruby and Jade. All of the game's modes are
integrated into the plot... you've got to play everything to
shake Columns Crown for every last stone. It's a great
idea, because players can choose their favorite play styles
but are given some incentive to try the others. But are
any of them worth playing? I'd say yes, even though I'm
not a fan of Columns... the game plays smoothly, the graphics
are nice (I like how the girls pop into the air every time
they make a match in Flash Columns), and there's a lot of
variety... you can even use power-ups against your opponent in
the versus mode.
COMIX
ZONE
ACTION, FIGHTER |
SEGA
(VIRTUCRAFT)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
People have complained in the past that the Game
Boy Advance gets far too many Super NES translations. I
not only disagree, but feel that the system should be
getting just as many ports of great Genesis games.
Finally, that's starting to happen... Sega's treated us to a
portable translation of its inventive yet overlooked
side-scrolling fighter Comix Zone. Best of all, it
improves upon the original with smaller, less detailed
characters, a clumsy control scheme, frustrating collision
detection, and... wait just a cotton pickin' minute!
Those aren't improvements! Well, uh, anyway, this was
SUPPOSED to be an improvement over the Genesis game, but the
ugly dithering that should have been cleaned up on this more
advanced system was actually made worse. True to form,
Virtucraft screwed up a lot of other things, but even they
couldn't flush this once awesome but now merely decent game
down the toilet.
CONTRA: THE ALIEN WARS EX
STUPIDLY FRUSTRATING
SHOOTER |
KONAMI
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
Tired of waiting for a Game Boy Advance version
of Gunstar Heroes? Willing to settle for anything else
as long as it doesn't star cute space aliens or dinosaur
hunters? Don't mind if the vein in your head grows to
the point of nearly exploding? Then have we got the game
for you! It's Contra: The Alien Wars EX, a lackluster
conversion of the Super NES launch title with everything you
loved (dual weapon handling, super bombs) taken out and crappy
"new" rounds from the Genesis dud Contra: Hard Corps thrown
in! Never mind that the lack of color in these rounds is
plainly obvious when you compare them to the original
stages! Never mind that the music is even WORSE
than it was on the Genesis, or the NES, for that matter!
Never mind that the game is simplistic and primitive when
compared to any of the shooters it inspired! Just sweep
all those colossal mistakes, shortcomings, and
omissions under the rug, because this game's got
everything you really want... jumping, frustration,
shooting, frustration, frustration, aggravation (for a little
variety), and even more frustration! We guarantee that
this is the most painful thing you can do with your Game Boy
Advance that doesn't involve Midway or a proctologist.
If we're wrong, you get your money back... that is, if you
haven't already smashed the cartridge to bits with a
hammer!
|
CRAZY FROG
RACING
RACING |
DIGITAL TAINMENT POOL
(DENARIS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I'd love to spend the entirety of this review telling
you how much I hate the
anatomically-correct-but-not-really-since-he's-a-frog star of
this game, but I can't. That's mostly because that
would leave me with less time to express my raging contempt
for all the OTHER idiotic characters in Crazy Frog
Racing! This game makes it official... they'll let just
about anyone behind the wheel of a go-kart these
days, including janga-smoking great danes (zoinks, Scoob!) and
chickens who will make you an offer you can't refuse (playing
something else, maybe?). Just because they're hopping
aboard this train wreck doesn't mean you have to, though!
Drab graphics, mechanical control, inscrutable
power-ups, and frustrating five kart pile-ups make Crazy Frog
Racing not only the worst game in a crowded field of lame
Mario Kart clones, but the worst thing you can put into your
Game Boy Advance next to a pick axe or a gallon of boiling
water.
DARIUS R
SHOOTER |
PCCW (TAITO)
1 PLAYER
|
|
There was only one Darius game I enjoyed,
and this sure ain't it. The Game Boy Advance version of
Darius is based on the very first, very flawed game in
the series, a horizontal shooter with a playfield so large it
stretched across three screens. Darius R is
groundbreaking in the respect that it's the first Game Boy
Advance translation that actually benefits from the
system's limited resolution. Thanks to the single screen
format, Darius players can now see the action all at
once, rather than catching bullets and bad guys out of the
corner of their eyes a split second before they collide with
them. Darius R offers other improvements as well, like a
less demanding power up system and more forgiving gameplay,
but this still isn't enough to give it an edge over the
ultimate Darius game, Sagaia. The graphics in Darius R
are badly dated, the power up system is still frustrating
(grabbing four consecutive items just to power up one
weapon? Gee, that's not asking too much...), and
the soundtrack is tainted with the fruity opera themes
from Darius Gaiden. Who needs all that hassle when
you can find shooters you'll actually like to play on this
system?
DISNEY'S LILO AND
STITCH
ACTION/SHOOTER |
UBI SOFT (DISNEY
INTERACTIVE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Sometimes, the best surprises come in the strangest ways.
Lilo and Stitch is not one or two, but three seperate games.
For most of the game, you play as Stitch, shooting up alien
law enforcement (Yeah! Take that, MIB fuzz!) and bombing the
hell out of anything that move with exploding pineapples in a
distinctly Metal Slug-esque shooter. You even get a bad
ass walker-mech you can use to blow stuff! Then the action
will switch to Lilo sneaking around a spaceship hiding from
guards in a Oddworld-like manner, which is really fun because
she hides behind plants and such and the animation is
pretty good. THEN it switches back to Stitch in his
spaceship trying to save Lilo in a shooter that's
like Gyruss. Wow. That's a lot of game. Thankfully all
three are pretty good, with the Gyruss shooter being the
weakest... that's all right, though, because you only play it
a couple of times. The graphics (including the obligatory low
res movie clips- not stills!) are all of really good quality,
which what you'd expect from a Disney product, and the sound
includes a nice Hawaiian beat and lots of alien pummeling. If
you're a fan of the movie, or of variety for that matter, you
can't do much better than this.
DOUBLE DRAGON ADVANCE
SIDE-SCROLLING BEAT 'EM
UP |
ATLUS
(MILLION)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Reviewers have complained that this game doesn't
have enough variety and that it will only appeal to fans of
the popular beat 'em up from the 1980's. What they DON'T
tell you is that while Double Dragon Advance is based on the
first game in the series, it's also greatly improved.
There's a much larger selection of moves this time... now, the
Dragon brothers can duck, run, and block incoming attacks, as
well as fight back with stylish new weapons and
attacks. There are also new stages and enemies which
keep the game entertaining long after its arcade counterpart
became boring. The fighting does eventually get
repetitive- after all, there are only so many green Abobos you
can fight before you start to lose your patience- but
nevertheless, Double Dragon Advance is a great update to a
classic fighting game, and it deserves more respect for the
improvements it's brought to the original formula.
|
DRAGONBALL Z: SUPERSONIC
WARRIORS
FIGHTING |
ATARI (BANPRESTO, ARC
SYSTEMS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Hey, whoa! This is actually...
good?! You'd better believe it. Most of the other
Dragonball Z fighting games have had critical flaws.
However, Supersonic Warriors manages to rise above all of them
thanks to the efforts of Arc Systems, the creators of the
Guilty Gear series. The arial combat
that distinguishes Dragonball Z from other versus
fighting games didn't always work very well in the past, but
in Supersonic Warriors, it's brilliantly executed. The
gameplay is briskly paced, and you're never too far from
your opponent to battle them effectively, a serious issue with
previous Dragonball Z games. The artwork makes the game
even more exciting... the characters were hand-drawn
rather than awkwardly rendered, so they're every bit as
sleek and colorful as they were in the television
show. Even if you feel you've outgrown the cartoon,
Supersonic Warriors will have no trouble holding your
attention with its fast, frantic gameplay and flashy
audiovisuals.
DUAL
BLADES
FIGHTING |
METRO 3D (VIVID
IMAGE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Still waiting for a Game Boy Advance version of
Samurai Shodown? Well, this is about as close as you'll
get right now. It's clear that Dual Blades wants to be
Samurai Shodown... it's got everything from the subtle,
atmospheric music to the death blows at the end of each
match. Unfortunately, it's missing a lot of what made
Samurai Shodown a classic... the memorable characters in SNK's
game are generic or even downright unlikable here, and the
graphics in Dual Blades don't even meet the standard set by
the first Samurai Shodown... frankly, the game looks more like
Time Killers thanks to its ugly, washed out backgrounds and
awkwardly drawn fighters. However, the reasonably fun,
surprisingly complex gameplay (with ideas from both
the Samurai Shodown series and Street Fighter
III) keeps Dual Blades a step ahead of mediocre Game Boy
Advance fighters like King of Fighters EX.
EARTHWORM JIM
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
MAJESCO
1
PLAYER
|
|
Granted, I didn't care for the original Earthworm Jim...
the sequel had better level design, more weapons, and much
funnier jokes. However, I was willing to cut this game a
break if the conversion was faithful to the Genesis and Super
NES versions. It's not. Earthworm Jim on the Game
Boy Advance looks and feels very cheap... some of the
animation is missing, and the physics aren't even remotely
realistic. There's no arc to Jim's jump, and when you
blast enemies, the bits fly off in a straight path rather than
being properly affected by gravity. It's pretty obvious
that neither David Perry or Doug TenNapel had any direct
influence on this translation, aside from the work they'd done
on the original seven years ago.
EARTHWORM JIM 2
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
MAJESCO (SUPEREMPIRE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Dammit, Majesco! I was really looking forward to this
game, but you just HAD to hire an incompetant programming
team to port it to the Game Boy Advance. I'm ashamed to
have my name hiding in the middle of yours. Anyway...
this is Majesco's second attempt at an Earthworm Jim
translation, and just like the last one, it's lousy.
Yeah, yeah, Jim's larger this time, and the graphics are more
colorful, but the physics are so rotten you'll think about
popping the original black and white Game Boy version of
Earthworm Jim into your system instead. Y'know,
Majesco, if you're going to
hire cut-rate programming teams to make these ports,
could you at least spring for one that's taken a few
college math classes? In fact, here's a better idea...
just stop making games entirely. We have more than
enough fly-by-night, license hungry publishers making crappy
Game Boy Advance titles as it is.
|
FANTASTIC 4: FLAME
ON!
ACTION |
ACTIVISION
(TORUS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Flame On! is the perfect vehicle for its cocky young star
Johnny Storm. It's got absolutely no depth or
substance, but it sets the Game Boy Advance ablaze with some
of the flashiest fighting action you'll ever see on the
system. As Johnny, better known as The Human Torch,
you'll use your fiery fists and feet to blaze a
trail through an army of alien thugs. Whether
you're launching a scorching blast of flame at your
foes or snatching gems as you soar through the sky, you
can count on animation that's as smooth and striking as a
sledgehammer slathered in butter (mmm... painful!).
The only thing that threatens to put a chill on the white-hot
graphics is a lack of shading, especially in the
backgrounds. However, they're a lot more appealing
than the monotonous techno music waiting for you in
each level... it's as persistent as Dr. Doom himself, and
twice as evil! Somewhere in the middle lies the
gameplay... it won't set the world on fire, but it's
entertaining enough despite the predictable level design and
limited variety of enemies.
|
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
ADVANCE
ROLE PLAYING /
STRATEGY |
NINTENDO
(SQUARE-ENIX)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
This game's earned every last word of bad
press it's received. The judgement system is a constant
annoyance during fights... when the chocobo-riding
referee isn't getting in your way, he's blowing the whistle on
your mistakes while turning a blind eye to the computer
opponent's own violations. The laws you're expected
to abide by in each battle are supposed to add a layer of
strategy to the gameplay, but all they wind up doing is
getting on your nerves... especially when you're dropped in
prison for a crime you didn't even realize you
committed! Nevertheless, after you've spent nine
straight hours completing missions and strengthening a small
army of characters, it becomes clear that Square-Enix must have done SOMETHING right with
this game. In keeping with the Final Fantasy
tradition, the graphics are rich with color and detail, and
there are plenty of subtle but welcome twists to
the turn-based gameplay. Perhaps the best of
these features is the ability to assign jobs to your
heroes, then take the skills they've learned in that
profession and carry them over to more
exciting careers. Can't decide if you want
your favorite character to bust heads as a soldier, or
heal wounds as a cleric? Now you can have
both!
FINAL
FIGHT ONE
ACTION, FIGHTING |
CAPCOM
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
It's a pretty good translation of the popular arcade game,
with well sampled voices and perhaps the most brightly colored
artwork of any of the Final Fight games. However, the
music really puts the Game Boy in Game Boy Advance, the
screens are rather cramped, and it's Final Fight. If
you've outgrown the simplistic gameplay, you'll be a lot
happier with Super Street Fighter II Revival, and even if you
do still like the Final Fight games, there's no guarantee
you'll want this one... it's missing a lot of breakables, and
the dominatrix Poison isn't here either (really, Poison... you
can come back out now. Nobody remembers Final Fight
Revenge, honest!). Finally, as the editor of Toastyfrog
mentioned, there's no two player mode available if you've only
got one cart. Even if there were memory concerns, it
sure seems like Capcom could have added a three screen versus
mode like the one in the Sega CD game...
FIRE
PRO WRESTLING
WRESTLING |
BAY AREA MARKETING
(SPIKE)
1-4 PLAYERS
|
|
If you're a fan of wrestling, and I mean the kind of fan
who knows the sport is fake but loves to watch it anyways,
you've got to have this. Fire Pro Wrestling features a
lot of options the other wrestling video games always seem to
miss, and when you play a few matches you'll realize that
they're a whole lot more important than huge digitized
characters or a popular license. The freedom Fire Pro
Wrestling offers is refreshing... you can throw opponents out
of the ring, wrap their arms around a turnbuckle for a free
hit, drag them away from the ropes, and even dive out of the
ring for an attack that's risky but oh so satisfying if it
connects. The game literally has more moves than you'll
ever see, and nearly a hundred suspiciously familiar
characters. If "suspiciously familiar" doesn't cut it
for you, just add real wrestlers with the edit mode!
Even with all these options, Fire Pro is surprisingly
user-friendly. In fact, its only real flaws are the
aforementioned lack of a wrestling license and tinny (but
still pretty entertaining) music.
FLAMES OF RECCA
FIGHTING |
KONAMI
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Gee, this came out of nowhere. You'd think Konami had
something to hide, but there's no reason to be ashamed of a
game like this. Recca plays like the fast and loose
fighters based on other anime series like Dragonball Z and
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, making it ideal for novice players
who want an exciting martial arts experience without all the
work. They'll like the straightforward but intense
gameplay, set against enormous playfields that offer more
freedom of movement than most of Recca's competitors.
Fighting game experts may not be as appreciative of the simple
controls and lack of technique, but even they'll enjoy the
superb graphics, featuring well detailed backgrounds, cleanly
drawn characters, and even a slick win sequence where a
collage of rough comic book sketches, all of the soundly
thrashed opponent, is dropped behind the victor.
FLINTSTONES: Big Trouble in Bedrock
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
CONSPIRACY
1
PLAYER
|
|
Look out, Fred Flintstone™! The evil Dr. Sinister™
has kidnapped your best friend Barney Rubble™ and, even worse,
trapped you in a Game Boy Color quality game where you run
around like an idiot collecting shells, stomping on
pterodactyls, and absolutely nothing else! Never fear,
though, because friends like Wilma™, Dino™, and that
outrageous alien Kazoo™ are here to give you a hand!
See, they're waving at you! That's lending you a hand,
right? Past that, it's up to you and you alone to save
your buddy Rick Moranis, er, Stephen Baldwin... uh, I mean
Barney Rubble™. Can you find him and put a stop to Dr.
Sinister™'s evil scheme before the owner of the Game Boy
Advance angrily rips the cartridge out of his system and
replaces it with Prehistorik Man? Find out in The
Flintstones™: Big Trouble in Bedrock™! Fred Flintstone™,
Dr. Sinister™, Wilma™, boring gameplay™, and Ted Turner™ are
all registered trademarks of Hanna-Barbera, Ltd. All
rights to grab the Flintstones cartoon by its ankles and shake
it for every last penny reserved.
|
FRANKLIN THE TURTLE
GAME
COLLECTION |
THE GAME FACTORY
(ARTEX)
1
PLAYER
|
|
If the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are at the
peak of the evolution of shelled reptiles, Franklin is still
crawling along at the bottom of the hill. He's a
slow-witted, dull-eyed child with a couple of androgynous
parents and a handful of animal friends who are best described
as "weenies". Franklin was once satisfied to remain in
the children's book section and Nick Jr.'s early morning
television line-up, but now he's packed up his shell and moved
to the Game Boy Advance, setting the civil rights movement for
video game turtles back twenty years. The real bitch is
that it'll at least fifty years for them to recover
all that lost ground... Er, anyway. What we
have here is a collection of games that, like Franklin,
aren't very deep or fast-paced. There are bike
races, hockey shootouts, and coloring contests (where the
computer seems to do all of the work for you), ultimately
leading up to a simplified puzzle game that bears a striking
resemblence to Sega Swirl on the Dreamcast. The graphics
are bright and colorful, but the gameplay is slow, dull, and
predictable. After slogging through a few of
the game's mercilessly boring challenges, you'll
agree that it's best left to Franklin's
biggest, dumbest fans.
FROGGER: TEMPLE OF THE
FROG
ACTION |
KONAMI (KCEA, SOUND BY FACTOR
FIVE)
1 PLAYER
|
|
I don't like the new Frogger character designs, and I
didn't like the idea that Konami's American branch would be
making this game... but regardless of all this, I have to
admit that this is pretty good. It's not up to the
standards of the unreleased Game Gear version of Frogger, but
it does seem inspired by it in some respects. For
instance, the playfields are much more expansive than they
were in the arcade original, and you've got to collect items
(coins this time, not other frogs) scattered throughout each
of them. Like Frogger on the Game Gear, the backgrounds
and playfield objects have more depth and color than they did
in the arcade game. In fact, I'd go so far as to say
that this is the best looking version of Frogger ever released
thanks to its detailed and very bright pastel graphics.
On the down side, some of the enemies seem out of place (hell,
so does the anthropomorphic main character...) and the game
isn't quite as fun as it was on the Game Gear, playing like an
overhead version of platformers like Super Mario Bros. rather
than a legitimate sequel to the arcade game. Nevertheless,
Frogger on the Game Boy Advance is much better than I expected
it to be.
F-ZERO: MAXIMUM VELOCITY
(MINIMUM
ENTERTAINMENT) |
NINTENDO
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I've always resented this game... when it was released for
the Super NES, people would constantly brag about how great
the 3D effects were, how you'd never see this on the Genesis,
and blah blah freaking blah. Now, I just hate it because
the gameplay is rigid and miserably frustrating.
Apparently, someone forgot to rope off all of those beautiful
Mode 7 enhanced tracks, because you'll sometimes hit ramps
sending you flying over the edge of the courses, instantly
destroying your vehicle and forcing you to restart the
race. Hey, Nintendo, if you wanted to translate a
gimmicky, overhyped Super NES launch title, it should have
been Pilotwings... at least you're SUPPOSED to be in mid-air
while playing that one.
|
GEGEGE NO
KITARO
ACTION/PLATFORM |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
It's ooky, spooky, and much better than any
Addam's Family game... it's Gegege no Kitaro, an
action/adventure title based on a long-running Japanese
cartoon. This isn't the first game starring the creepy,
bug-eyed Kitaro, but it's likely the best thanks
to complex level designs and a variety of weird weapons,
ranging from flaming wooden sandals to Kitaro's own
hair. Despite the Japanese text, the game is easy to
pick up and play thanks to signs scattered throughout the
first two stages, which illustrate how to use Kitaro's
abilities to defeat enemies and overcome other
obstacles. The audiovisuals are nearly as satisfying as
the gameplay, with crisply drawn, imaginative characters and a
playful soundtrack that blends nicely with the constant light
clacking of Kitaro's shoes. If you've looking for a
lighthearted journey into the spirit world, but the immense
difficulty in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts makes your blood boil,
you'll be a whole lot happier with Gegege no Kitaro.
GRADIUS GALAXIES
SHOOTER |
KONAMI (MOBILE 21)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Devoted Konami fans will appreciate this one most... it's a
sequel to a series of terrific shooters which, unfortunately,
aren't given the attention they deserve. While this
particular Gradius game isn't as amazing as Gradius Gaiden for
the Playstation or even Gradius '90 on the X68000 computer, I
doubt many fans will care... neither of those games were
released in the United States, so they'll happily take what
they can get. Besides, Gradius Galaxies is one of the
better (if not the best) games in the series, with crisp
graphics, great level design, and even a Mars Matrix-style
hint mode. It's also the best shooter on the Game Boy
Advance, and that's not going to change until either Konami
releases a sequel or Treasure ups the ante with a portable
version of Radiant Silvergun (please please please!).
GUILTY GEAR X
FIGHTER |
SAMMY (ARC SYSTEMS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
You're getting warmer, guys, but this still isn't
perfect. Guilty Gear X has all the action of its hard
rockin' Dreamcast counterpart, but the impact just isn't there
thanks to compromised... well, compromised everything,
really. Remember how I described the backgrounds in the
Dreamcast game as "living paintings"? Well, they're
quite dead here... not only did the designers limit themselves
to a handful of colors, they picked the very worst colors they
could find, then threw them together in the hope that they'd
vaguely resemble the artwork from the Dreamcast game.
The characters are tiny and undetailed in comparison to the
fighters in Super Street Fighter II Revival... frankly, they
don't even look as attractive as their super deformed
counterparts in the Wonderswan version, Guilty Gear
Petit. Finally, the music is frustratingly inconsistent,
wavering between pulse-pounding rock and Game Boy Color
quality schlock. Yes, it plays well and there are plenty
of modes to choose from, but Guilty Gear X on the Dreamcast
was largely dependant upon making a good first impression, and
this translation just doesn't do that.
|
GUNSTAR SUPER HEROES
ACTION /
SHOOTER |
SEGA
(TREASURE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Twelve years ago, independent game developer Treasure
built a strong foundation for itself with the release of
Gunstar Heroes, a spectacular shooter that restored gamers'
faith in the Sega Genesis after suffering through a year of
miserable movie and television-licensed bombs. Now,
Gunstar Heroes is back to do the same for the Game Boy
Advance, in a sequel that's packed with the sensational
special effects and heartpounding action that's been
largely absent from the handheld's library for nearly a
year. There's some give and take in this eagerly awaited
follow-up to the fantastic Genesis game... on one
hand, the lock button lets you anchor your character
in place while firing, and the graphics are vastly
improved. If you thought it couldn't get any
better than the original Gunstar Heroes, the sequel's
more detailed characters and extensive use
of scaling and rotation will be a pleasant
surprise! On the downside, you can no longer throw your
adversaries (you'll have to settle for a wimpy laser knife
instead), and the stages don't flow together as well as
they had in the first game. There are even a few scenes
|
