Super Magnetic Neo
Score: 75% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Crave Developer: Genki Media: CD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Platformer
Graphics & Sound: Super Magnetic Neo’s graphical styling is one of the strongest points of the game. Everyone, from the bad guy (who is a little baby that is also a hulking brute... blame it on the Japanese) to the main character, with his memory-card shaped head and goofy smile, has this flat-shaded look that reminds me of the recent Space Channel 5. It’s decidedly more cartoony, however. Each level has its own unique graphical style, from being inside a jungle to racing on a wheeled camel-horse-thing through a desert. It’s all very nice looking. The voice acting in the game is also good, which is atypical of video games, with the same over-the-top (but not too over-the-top) flair as, say, Brave Fencer Musashi for the PSX. In fact, as I played, I was waiting for Princess Fillet to pop up and give me game hints, but alas, the cross platform-and-developer dream never materialized. The music is also good, alternating between light, bouncy tunes to dark, bouncy tunes.
Gameplay: This game is a bitch. Pure and simple. Don’t let the graphics fool you into thinking it’s a kid’s game, because most kids would throw the controller down in frustration after the second or third level. But more on the difficulty later. The game is based on the unique abilities of Super Magnetic Neo, the main character, as he traverses Pao Pao Park in an attempt to stop Pinki. Yeah, whatever. (The cut-scenes are hilarious, though.) Basically, you’re going to adventure through various worlds (such as the Forest or Cowboy Land), running through a few levels, and then confronting a boss. The game itself is reminiscent of the first Crash Bandicoot, both in terms of style and difficulty. You’ll find yourself walking into the screen (or, occasionally, sideways), with a path that narrows and widens. On the path, you’ll find enemies to bypass, coins to collect, and weird glowing things. This is where the ‘Super Magnetic’ bit comes in. Neo can generate a field around himself that is either positive or negative (or, in this case, red or blue). If the field touches something of the opposite color, either the enemy gets sucked in or Neo gets pulled to it. If the field touches something of the same color, they repel each other. This can be used to bounce from a field, high into the air, and then to grab onto a passing swinging dot of a different color. It may seem a little daunting at first, but after the first level or two it becomes second nature. If you pull an enemy in, you capture them in a little green box, which you can throw to either hit enemies or push down things. If you repel an enemy (you may have to do it two or three times), the enemy usually explodes. Careful manipulation of the enemies will get you past some of the more difficult parts of the game. In each level, there are Pinki Medals that you can collect to find a hidden item. You can use these to decorate Neo’s apartment. Pointless, yes, but fun for completists. There are also tickets in each level that will take Neo to a bonus level, which is often wackier than the game itself. It’s a fun little game, but Super Magnetic Neo is just too damned hard.
Difficulty: Argh. For those of you who’ve played the first Crash Bandicoot, remember Slippery Climb? Remember how it took you 20 or more lives to beat it the first time, but after that you memorized all the timings and could beat it in one or two lives? Well, Super Magnetic Neo is just like that, but on almost every level. You’ll find yourself dying, and dying regularly, because you didn’t jump far enough / jumped too far / didn’t press the right button at the right instant of time. Only by playing each level over and over will you get to a point where you can actually beat it. This is simply inexcusable. It’s okay to have one or two really difficult levels near the end of the game (hey, that’s what makes a game, right?), but making it tough practically from the get-go will make you want to throw your controller down in disgust and boot something up that’s a little more sane. This is Super Magnetic Neo’s biggest downfall, unfortunately.
Game Mechanics: For the most part, the controls are simple and tight, but you’ll find that it’s very easy to miss a jump if you have to make a running leap. Neo tends to ignore your push of the jump button at the end. The sometimes-impossible series of jumps you’ll have to make while swinging from pendulums are also major pains in the butt, as you’ve got to time them just right so that you fly past the enemies, but not past the platforms. Super Magnetic Neo has one of the coolest main characters in a long time. It’s a gorgeous game, with a great sense of style. But it’s maddeningly hard. You definitely need to try it before you buy it -- if the difficulty level doesn’t kill you, you’ll find it to be an enjoyable platformer that can keep you entertained for a while. But if not, you may just find yourself booting up something more... sane.
-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon
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