Overrated

I have read many reviews of this game, nearly all of which praised it as an inventive, "viewtiful" platform game. I bought the game with my Gamecube a few weeks ago (which I have since taken back and exchanged for a load of Xbox games) and played it a good bit for the week or so I had it.

Firstly, the game itself is pretty original. The old-style 2-D scrolling screen is actually a bonus point for the game, and the premise of this kid Joe who travels into the movie world he loves is quite endearing when you begin playing.

But... unfortunately I was left feeling like I had seen it all before, not because I have, but because the style that the game represents was the height of gaming when I was growing up... How many 2D beat-em-up/ platform games have we seen? The gimmick of this is of course that, instead of pandering to the new-wave of technologically advanced 3D engines and therefore having to compete with other games' aesthetics and (3D-related) controls, the game concentrates on keeping everything at its simplest; from the graphics, the controls, and, unfortunately... the gameplay.

I was left feeling decidedly cheated. While Joe collects two major special powers throughout the early part of the game (the ability to slow down and speed up everything on screen respectively), neither are particularly impressive after the first few levels... Indeed, they begin to grate in their simplicity.

Another complaint I have about the game is that it is rated (at least in the UK) as a 12. I was expecting some quirky "adult" homour in the style of the Simpsons or at the very least some impressive violence onscreen. After a few levels I could only assume that it was rated so highly in light of the mere presence of violence. I had no qualms about letting my nephews play this game (aged 8 and below)and the needless certificate is a bad idea, especially as it is clearly misleading and unrepresentative of the game as a whole.

Reviews I had read on the game praised its graphics and gameplay, but when I came to play the game I found both decidedly weak. The Gamecube is capable of so much more than this, and the hark back to 80's arcade-style beat-em ups (to me at least) is not particularly endearing; it's frustrating. When a system such as the Xbox is breaking all types of boundaries in terms of console graphics and gameplay it is a shame that the manufacturers of this game felt the need to downplay their systems' capabilities.

I feel that, while I was not overly impressed by the game, I may be being a little harsh. I did have fun playing it much of the time, and while the graphics (I feel) have been downplayed, they are far more impressive than any old-style 2D game, being, in part at least, 3D. For example, when Joe jumps high, the screen positions itself at a lower level, so you really do get a good impression of distance, speed and scale. Indeed, the explosions you encounter as you destroy the bad guys are fairly fluid in their expression. I just feel that the enemies you face are too generic and after fending off a hundred of them, it becomes a matter of a one-against-an-army feel that is simply tedious.

The sound in the game had been criticised in some reviews I have read, but I actually found the effects and especially the music one of the stronger points for the game. The music is superbly well synchronised to pick up when the action does so and the general feel of the music is upbeat and suits the game perfectly. I definitely thought it was well chosen and added to the games' feel and mood superbly well. The general sound effects are really much of a muchness however, alternating between explosions and thuds as you contact with the enemies.

I have written a fairly harsh criticism, not because this is a terrible game, but because it has been hyped up so much by previous reviews (see Gamespot and Amazon) that I feel the proposed idea that it is a sublime representation of gaming in 2004 (or 2002 or whenever it came out!) is wholly misleading; this game will NOT appeal to all gamers, and it should in theory. It should appeal to the kids because there is no blood or realistic weaponry, and the characters are more charicature than anything else. It should appeal to teenagers because it has challenges above the average, easy platform or beat 'em up game. And indeed, it should appeal to me (a 23 yr old) because that's what it says on the tin. It's fun, no doubt, but is it as fun as the plethora of other, more varied and impressive platform or beat 'em up games out there? It seems many people think so, I for one, do not.