Astro Boy: The Video Game
Score: 52% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: D3 Developer: Art Co Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer/ Flight
Graphics & Sound: I will say, I am flat out disappointed in Astro Boy: The Video Game. I got a brief glimpse of these games at E3 and what I saw was promising, but the end result ended up being annoying, difficult and too repetitive to be worth the trouble. There is one area that Astro Boy does right, and that's the graphics. The game's 2D, side-scrolling presentation is reminiscent of Mega Man and other platformers. Astro himself is small on the screen, but still full of enough detail to make him distinctly Astro. Even Astro's strange weapons like his Arm Cannon and Butt Guns are definitely visible when activated. Unfortunately, where the game's visuals succeed, its audio fails. The background music is little more than bland techno that is better left unheard, which can also be said for the game's weapons fire. While this aspect is disappointing, it isn't bad when compared to the many bad design decisions that not only makes the game more difficult than necessary, but generally just as bland as its music.
Gameplay: Astro Boy: The Video Game uses cut-scenes between the levels to push through the recent film's storyline, and while it's interesting, it becomes little more than an excuse to throw your character into either a platforming level or a flight-based one. As mentioned above, there are two styles of levels. The first is your basic side-scrolling platformer where you make your way through the level jumping (and occasionally rocketing) your way to the end. You will frequently be stopped and locked into a screen where enemies will pour in from both sides of the screen in order to try and take out Astro. Astro has several powerful moves that can be used against his enemies, but they require destroying enemies and building up your reserves, and using the powers often completely drains your energies so much that, except for the most low-level attacks, you need to basically start from scratch. The other style of level has you zooming in the air at a constant rate as enemies fly at you. During these levels, you have Astro's powerful Arm Cannon to destroy pretty much anything in your past (too bad that power isn't easily available while running and jumping). Quite frankly, I have no problem with either gameplay style, and the fact that you flip between them regularly doesn't bother me either (in fact, it makes sense in the Astro Boy context). What bothers me are some of the design decisions made that add a lot of unnecessary trouble to this game. That bit of my rant can be seen in the Difficulty section though. As it is, the flipping between the two gamestyles adds a bit of variety to Astro Boy: The Video Game, but it still doesn't take long before it becomes repetitive and tiresome.
Difficulty: Here is where another of Astro Boy: The Video Game's faults comes through loud and clear. There are several design decisions that I alluded to before that add to this game's badly slanted difficulty curve. For one, your health meter doesn't get reset between levels, so damage taken in a previous level carries over to the next one. This wouldn't be nearly as bad if dying in the game reset your health bar. Instead, you get sent back to the last checkpoint (which seems like the level's start more times than not) with whatever paltry health you had when reaching that point. On top of that, there aren't any health pickups. In fact, I think the only way to actually refill your health is to use one of your powerful attacks to take down multiple robots at once. The problem is that if you find yourself low on health, you can't necessarily take down enough enemies to get enough energy to use one of those attacks and refill your health. Consequently, you die and go back to the checkpoint with whatever amount of health you had last time that obviously wasn't enough to do the trick. If this was a game designed for hard-core gamers or even something whose sole purpose is to be difficult (like Contra or R-Type), then I wouldn't have a problem with these issues. In fact, I might just praise the game for it. But instead, we have a game that is designed for kids. It's just ridiculous and can quickly become aggravating and frustrating to the game's target audience.
Game Mechanics: Astro Boy: The Video Game stays simple in its design, making it easy to pick up and get started in the game, even if its difficulty makes it too hard to want to continue the game after that initial play time. While running around on foot, Astro uses his selected special power with the (A) button, while kicks and punches are used with the (X) and (Y) buttons respectively. The only other skill you will need is jumping with (B). Since Astro Boy has rockets on his feet, instead of a standard double-jump, when you tap the (B) the second time and hold it, his rockets go off and he will either fly up or in the direction you press with the D-pad. While in a flying level, you simply use the D-pad to move around the screen and fire your weapon with the (Y) button. In both cases, the controls are both intuitive and are by no means the source of trouble for this game. When it comes down to it, Astro Boy: The Video Game has an overall bland execution, and while parts of the game can be fun, the repetitive nature of the product combined with the issues that make it more difficult than necessary means that the game is least suited for its target audience, young gamers who have recently become Astro Boy fans.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: Game Vortex's Review of Astro Boy: Volume 1 on DVD Game Vortex's Review of Astro Boy: Volume 2 on DVD Game Vortex's Review of Astro Boy: Volume 3 on DVD Game Vortex's Review of Astro Boy: Volume 4 on DVD Game Vortex's Review of Astro Boy: Volume 5 on DVD
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