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Power Rangers: Ninja Storm (GBA)
by Dentolux
Power Rangers: Ninja Storm is a Gameboy Advance video game based on the long running kids show of the same name. The series was known for mixing story segments featuring American actors with action sequences lifted from the Japanese Super Sentai shows. The combination was a big hit and no one seemed to notice the most politically ... incorrect casting ever. The girl naturally had to be the Pink Ranger, an African American was selected for the role of Black Ranger and the Yellow Ranger was an Asian chick. Speaking of the Yellow Ranger, did you know that they picked a girl for the part even though the fight scenes featuring the character were recorded using a costumed Japanese man? Is it a lady or a boy? Sounds like a Thai holiday nightmare come true.
STORY
I have very little to say with regards to the game's plot as I haven't got the foggiest what it is. The in game cut scenes merely show bad guys up to no good prior to a level starting. There's no text describing what is going on so I can only presume that they wrote the story in the game's manual, which I no longer have access to. I cannot even hazard a guess based on the TV show as I never watched it. When it originally aired I was too old to be interested and besides I was already tired of ninja stuff having watched reruns of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles a million times over. I must however say that the show's cheesy theme song was rather catchy. Go, go Power Rangers... you mighty morphing power rangers!
PRESENTATION
The game's audio and visuals aren't terrible, but they won't be winning any gaming awards either. The graphics are nice and colourful, but the character designs don't seem to mesh. The Rangers are drawn realistically, almost as if they digitised the actors in question, but some of they enemies they fight look cartoony (such as a giant plant with a face which you encounter in level one.) It's almost as if two different artists worked on the title and didn't communicate with each other. That flaw coupled with bland repetitive backgrounds really lowers the quality of what you see on screen. The soundtrack isn't much better either. It's another example of a game with mediocre tunes that loop over and over to the point that they start to get annoying.
GAMEPLAY
Simple is the best word I could use to describe this game. You pick the Ranger of your choice and then control him through a number of side scrolling levels beating up the enemies that get in your way. Pressing the attack button slashes your sword which can be switched for a ranged weapon by picking up the relevant power-up. There are no combos to perform and frankly they are not needed as most of the bad guys you come across will go down in one hit. Using the L button performs a special move, but I barely used it as the regular attack seemed to get the job done. The only other significant move in your arsenal is a weak throw that can knock down oncoming enemies and break down obstacles that get in your way (such us fences or cars.)
Pressing one button to down weak enemies gets real old real fast and the tedium isn't alleviated by varied enemy types. All the bad guys you come across in the levels look the same aside from a slight tweak to the colour scheme of their outfit. The colour of your foe determines what is special about them (e.g the yellow ones perform a baseball slide attack, the red ones can take more damage before dying etc) but it is rare to see them do their thing as most of the time you knock them down before they can unleash any offence. The only variation comes in the form of end of level bosses who aren't particularly tough. They all have easy to memorize attack patterns so it is easy to fend them of with hit and run tactics. Some of the easier bosses didn't even require dodging as you could trade blows with them and win as your energy bar would outlast theirs.
Beating a boss isn't enough to complete the stage though. Before you clear the level and earn a password to save your progress you must battle a giant guardian by piloting your Ranger's transformable mecha. I was expecting the action to switch to a fighting game at this point, but what we get instead resembles a dance game. You press the prompt that appears on screen (for example A and up) to land a hit before the monster you are battling strikes. After dealing enough damage the bar at the bottom of the screen fills up allowing you to perform a death move that blows up the bad guy. One thing of note is that these duels always take part at a forest outside of the city. It doesn't matter whether the level you are on is underground, in a warehouse or alien lair you always end up in the forest. You know the developers were lazy when they cannot be arsed to draw enough backgrounds to cover every stage.
OVERALL
There's very little to recommend here. Power Rangers: Ninja Storm is a run of the mill side scroller that gets boring after a few minutes due to its overly simplistic fighting engine. I can only imagine that hardcore fans of the show with an age that doesn't reach double digits would enjoy this. They will be content with playing as their heroes and won't get frustrated as the title is lacking in difficulty. The parents who cough up cash to purchase it may however be less than amused when said child is pestering them again for a new game seeing as how Ninja Storm can be completed in one sitting. Do yourself a favour and give this a wide berth. If this game was a character from the show it would be the Turd Brown Ranger.
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Dragon Ball Advance Adventure (GBA)
by Dentolux
Dragonball Advanced Adventure is a GBA title that combines elements of a beat-em-up with those of a platformer. The game is based on the anime/manga created by Akira Toriyama (whose work includes designing the characters that feature in the cult classic Chrono Trigger and the wildly popular RPG series Dragon Quest.) Prospective buyers ... should be aware that the game is based on the original Dragonball series and not the follow-up Dragonball Z that is more well known on these shores. I was attracted to the title as it looked different from the usual DBZ fare which focuses more on one versus one fighting. Let us see if the departure from street fighter style combat results in anything worthwhile.
STORY
The game stars a young Goku, a boy with a monkey tail, who possesses incredible strength and agility. Viewers of the show will know that Goku's superhuman abilities come from the fact that he is a member of an alien race of powerful warriors called Saiyans. He crashed down to Earth and was adopted by a wise old man named Gohan who taught him martial arts. Think Superman with less red underwear and more gravity defying spiky hair. When the game begins Goku leaves his adoptive parent's home to join Bulma, a genius girl, who is on a quest to locate the seven legendary dragonballs.
Whoever has all the dragonballs will have the power to summon a dragon (oddly enough) who can grant you any wish you desire... sort of like a blue skinned Robin Williams minus the annoying voice. The game chronicles most of the Dragonball series which has our heroes search the land for the mythical balls. Along the way Goku will have to contend with the evil Red Ribbon Army (whose leader wants the balls to grow taller), take part in a number of martial art contests and thwart an invasion by a powerful green skinned demon named King Piccolo. If you haven't seen the anime you may be a little lost in this world of Japanese zaniness, but don't worry as brief cut scenes at the start of each level will explain what is going on.
PRESENTATION
Graphically the game captures the visuals of the show. The colourful character designs match the look of the anime and the fluid animation brings to life the fighting styles of the cast. Detailed backgrounds setup the location of each level which include caves, military bases, fighting arenas and jungles. Sonics are alright if nothing outstanding. The music is decent and the sound effects are what you would expect comprising of smacking noises when you hit someone and whooshes when you perform a high jump. There isn't much in the way of voice acting, but from time to time you'll hear Goku's Japanese victory cry when he downs a boss.
GAMEPLAY
The bulk of the game plays like a platformer. Goku moves from the starting location and heads towards the exit jumping across platforms, avoiding pitfalls and keeping away from traps such as rolling boulders. Most of the levels are fairly linear, with a few hidden areas which conceal power-ups that boost Goku's health and the range of his staff attack. To keep things interesting there are however a couple of maze like levels were you have to navigate through doorways to locate the correct path which leads to your destination. Patrolling the levels are a wide range of bad guys which include Red Ribbon's anamorphic soldiers, exploding robots, pterodactyls who drop bombs on you and demons.
In many platformers you are encouraged to avoid nasties, but not so in Dragonball Advanced. Goku can dispatch his foes with a combo of punches performed by bashing the attack button. By holding the d-pad in different directions you can unleash different moves such as flying kicks, staff tosses and a spinning baton shield that reflects projectiles back at the shooter. Holding down the right shoulder button also allows you to fire a Kamehameha (fireball style move) to hit opponents from range. The combat could potentially get repetitive as pounding one button normally gets the job done, but thanks to the fast paced action I never found the gameplay getting stale.
During the martial art tournament knockout rounds and certain boss fights the action switches from a platform/fighter hybrid to a more traditional 1v1 beat-em-up akin to something like Mortal Kombat. To triumph in these duels you have to reduce your opponent's health to zero before he does the same to you. Hitting your opponent enough times breaks his guard meter which will allow you to harm him and inflict some flashy aerial combos. To prevent spamming of Kamehamehas the projectile move is powered by a chi bar at the bottom of the screen. Firing a blast depletes the bar, but fear not as you can replenish it by landing hits on your adversary.
SUMMARY
I have to say that Dragonball Advanced Adventure is one of the most fun if not the most fun Dragonball video game I have ever played. It's a shame that the story mode can be finished in around two hours, but thankfully there is some extra content to keep you occupied once the end credits roll. For a start you can replay the game as Goku's rival turned friend Krillin. The hairless Krillin doesn't come equipped with a staff, but he is far better at jumping which makes controlling him feel different to the title's Saiyan lead. By playing the extra mode, which allows you to revisit completed levels, you can also find other characters hidden in areas which are not accessible the first time you play through the story.
Completing the story mode also allows you to play mini games which include a side scroller were Goku flies atop a nimbus cloud and a training segment were you have to break rocks which fall down from the sky. Of the unlockables on offer I suspect that fighting game fans will flock to the tournament mode that allows you battle in the martial art contest as Goku or one of the other fighters you faced in the main game. The package on offer should encourage you to plop the cartridge into your handheld for multiple playthroughs which compensates for the story's length. Overall you get a varied selection of game types for your money which stands out from other Dragonball games that feel like shallow cash ins. Whether you are a fan of the show or not the game is a platform fans' wish (no summoned dragon required) come true.
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James Pond: Codename Robocod (GBA)
by Grave-Joy
Super James Pond takes place straight after it's predecessor, James Pond. The game is a typical 90's platform romp, in which you play a fish that is a parody of James Bond. The villain from the first game Dr. Maybe, survives and not content on spoiling water any more, travels to Santa's Grotto and holds all of his workers hostage. ...
Many of Santa's helpers have fallen prey to Dr. Maybe's wicked experimentation and are now his evil minions. It is up to James Pond to free all of the hostages, get the toys back and most importantly save Santa.
Due to the greater risks involved with this case, James Pond has been given a robotic suit as well as the title of, "RoboCod" (As if the first pun was not bad enough) This suit then allows James Pond to stretch his midsection to reach new heights. This ability allows James Pond to move around the map in all directions, much like Ladd Spencer's Bionic arm in Bionic Commando.
The game was originally released in 1991 on the Amiga, DOS and Sega Megadrive in 1991, but then was later released on numerous platforms, most recently the DS and PS3 network. All of these ports retained the orginal game play and graphics.
Unlike most games of today, James Pond 2 hosted a large sum of fifty levels. Each section of the game boated new art for the backgrounds, enemies and a unique boss. There are items to collect and secrets to uncover along the way making the games experience very long indeed.
The most charming part about James Pond 2 and the biggest draw had to be the artwork. The graphics within the game were not only cute but very well detailed and animated, each little creature having its own personality and some of the giant bosses looking brilliant.
James Pond offers very little to the platforming gaming genre apart from his gimmicky ability to stretch upwards and grab things above him. Much like the classic Mario games, each level is about stomping on heads, amassing points and getting to the exit in one piece. Each level is fairly vast an expansive allowing often for some exploration and some fairly annoying puzzles from time to time.
Overall James Pond 2 is an visually athletic and vast platformer that does prove to be a challenge. The game is well designed but does, like all standard platformers get very tired and boring after a time.
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