Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Potion Commotion
Score: 55% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment Developer: Ubisoft Entertainment Media: cart/1 Players: 1 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: What do you get when you mix an aging sitcom, witchcraft, and the Gameboy Advance? You get Ubisoft's Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Potion Commotion. A harmless little game that may provide you with some classic, if brief, side-scrolling gameplay, provided you can look past the girly sitcom gloss (if that sort of thing bothers you). The graphics are definitely high quality and one of the game's strong points. If any type of game needs plenty of sparkling visuals, it's one with magic at the center. Fortunately, Sabrina definitely delivers in this department with enough sparkles and explosions to keep any magic lover pleased. The game's stages and characters are just as attractive. The beanstalk levels will definitely leave any old school gamer nostalgic for the good old days. The only aspect that was really lacking was the quality of the cut scenes which leave the show's characters looking very odd. While the audio is just as nice as the visuals, there just isn't enough variety. You get the same pleasant tones and hums for just about every spell, and the same two - three songs are recycled for every stage. Many people may cringe at the thought of music that might be found in a Sabrina game. While Ubisoft definitely put some pop music overtones into the game's tunes, they seemed to have been careful to keep it generic enough so as not to offend the ears of your average gamer. I found them rather...catchy.
Gameplay: Potion Commotion is pretty much your average side scroller. You have to go through each stage finding various magical objects. Once you have them all, you work your way towards the stage's exit. You can even play a few small mini-games on the way to increase your magical powers. After every four stages or so you have a potion mixing stage that plays like Dance Dance Revolution. Sadly, the mini-games only delay the inevitable return to repetitive side-scroller game play. The game turns into an easily recognizable cycle of stages. The only thing there to give the game a twist is your magic spells. Unfortunately their use is kept rather bland and one-sided and don't really change the gameplay, except for maybe five or six seconds a stage. While the game is very pretty, the gameplay is a tad old.
Difficulty: As it's going to be targeted towards a younger audience, Sabrina is obviously not a very hard game. Your spells keep you pretty safe from just about anything and any enemy can easily be removed with a quick tap of the R button. The stages do get more complex, requiring more spells and time to get through. The potion mixing stages do get faster, but they never get any further than something that would still be considered beginner in Dance Dance Revolution.
Game Mechanics: Sabrina is divided into 4 worlds, with each consisting of 4 normal stages and a potion mixing stage. The controls are kept very simple. B and A are, of course, run and jump respectively, while the digital pad moves Sabrina around. The L button is used to switch between spells and the R button is used to cast them. Spells use up magic points which can be replenished by finding magic crystals. Health is lost by running into enemies and regained by finding hearts. The game uses a password system, which is a major bummer. The game is very much geared towards being able to pick up and play. With very unoriginal gameplay and a cast that many people won't find very appealing, Sabrina: Potion Commotion will only be loved by a few, very few.
-Alucard, GameVortex Communications AKA Stephen Triche
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