Publisher: Ubisoft (2002)
Reviewed: 2019/1/21
Rating: Everyone

Game Boy Advance titles tend to have an old-school style, and Salt Lake 2002 calls to mind fold memories of
Winter Games (Commodore 64, 1985). There are six events and the game makes it pretty easy to pick which ones you want to compete in. The first event is ski jump. It's simple to play and I love the semi-digitized graphics of evergreen trees, mountains, and spectators in the stands. The countdown seems long until you realize you can begin your descent at any time. You just take off, maintain your balance, and stick the landing. Next up is curling, which might be the best video game adaption I've played of the sport. That's saying something considering it's 2D! The sport involves sliding round stones onto a bullseye, using brooms to control the direction and speed of each stone. The controls are streamlined but there's still plenty of strategy. At four rounds this event runs a bit long, but you can always press B to skip the CPU's turn. The third event is Bobsleigh which provides a behind-the-sled view as you rumble down the chute. There's little sense of speed, but ample sense of boredom. The final three events: skiing, snowboarding, and slalom, are nearly ruined by a camera angle that's way too close. It's hard to judge the bounds of the course much less navigate the flags. And one miss means you're disqualified. The medal ceremonies look funny; the athletes are painted head-to-toe the color of their flag, as if all were all members of the Blue Man Group. Salt Lake's bright semi-digitized graphics are easy on the eyes and the musical score captures the majestic spirit of the Olympics. It's a shame this is one-player only game because a few of these events would have been fun to play head-to-head. © Copyright 2019 The Video Game Critic.
Santa Claus Saves the Earth
Grade: C-
Publisher: Telegames (2002)
Reviewed: 2018/12/26

I had my trepidations about Santa Claus Saves the Earth. It was published by a company known for releasing previously discarded titles, and that
name. Sure enough, this resembles a generic platformer retrofitted with a vaguely Christmas theme. The main character doesn't look like the
real Santa, especially with those sunglasses.
Uncle Santa is more like it. The first stage takes place in a mineshaft where you hop between platforms, collect tiddlywinks, and bash cavemen with your sack. Snowballs later prove a much more satisfying weapon, shattering enemies on contact. The jumps are floaty to the max, but I like how you can fall from any distance. You can even climb across ropes hand-over-hand, a la
Tomb Raider (PS1, 1997). You'll avoid standard dangers like flames, spikes, and plungers. Crates contain goodies, but you can only open them by throwing snowballs
downward which is really bizarre. You'll need to scour every maze-like level to obtain the necessary keys. I did gradually warm up to Santa Claus Saves the Earth. The graphics aren't bad, with characters having a somewhat claymation appearance. The scenery isn't very Christmas-y, save for a few stages with snowy mountains and icy trees. What are these clocks and pictures of clowns doing on the walls? The music is obnoxious; I had to turn down the volume completely. The game has a score, three continues, and a password feature. Santa Claus Saves the Earth may not be a genuine Christmas title but it's really not a bad little game on its own merits. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.
Our high score: 3604
1 player
Sega Arcade Gallery
Grade: A-
Publisher: THQ (2003)
Reviewed: 2014/11/11
Rating: Everyone
Recommended variation: outrun
Our high score: 6376950
1 player
Sega Rally Championship
Grade: B
Publisher: Sega (2003)
Reviewed: 2016/4/18
Rating: Everyone

The original
Sega Rally Championship (Saturn, 1996) found a sweet spot between early 3D racers like
Virtua Racing Deluxe (Sega 32X, 1994) and modern, realistic racers like
Gran Turismo (PS1, 1998). I have mixed feelings about this scaled-down Game Boy Advance (GBA) edition. The gameplay is faithful to the original but not sure if polygon graphics were the best choice. If you ever wondered what Sega Rally would look like on the Atari 2600, this might give you a good idea! I like to review GBA games on my TV (via GameCube GBA player) but Sega Rally looks like
pixel soup! I feel like I'm plowing through a sea of little boxes! On a smaller screen (like a DS) the game looks a lot better. Details like signs and spectators are indistinct but you still get a sense of them. The driving action is very forgiving and I'm not sure it's even possible to crash into anything. It's fun to shave seconds off your best times though, and always satisfying to pass another car just before you cross the finish line. The races are short and sweet with best times recorded to cartridge. The tracks incorporate all sorts of environments, weather conditions, and different times of day. I found the desert tracks a little hard to follow, but the snowy village and tropical isle locations look absolutely beautiful. Completing events awards you with coins used to unlock cars, galleries, and even mini-games. The graphics may come across a little rough, but if you stick with it this miniature Sega Rally is sure to satisfy your craving for off-road racing. © Copyright 2016 The Video Game Critic.
Save mechanism: battery
1 player
Publisher: Sega (2001)
Reviewed: 2005/9/9
Rating: Everyone 1 or 2 players

I can't tell you how
good it feels to play a brand new
2D Sonic the Hedgehog game. Just like old times, you can dash, jump, spin, and bounce around like a sock in a dryer. The four playable characters include Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Each has new "moves" to keep the metallic goons at bay, but these are not an integral part of the game. The graphics in Sonic Advance are roughly equivalent to the original Genesis titles. Predictably, the first zone is a tropical paradise, conjuring up memories of the Green Hill Zone. Most zones are new, but longtime Sonic fans will find their designs derivative at best. I love whizzing over the snowy peaks of the Ice Mountain zone, but wading thru the water in its lower reaches is a drag. Apparently somebody at Sega really has a thing for those annoying pinball stages, because the Casino Paradise Zone is as irritating as it gets. Other zones are hampered by tedious platform jumping or dangerous blind jumps that cause you to fall off the bottom of the screen. The 3D bonus stages are fun but surprisingly elusive. I'm not crazy about the fact that there are two enormous stages per zone - the second ending with a boss. Not only is it easy to get lost, but the whole "exploration" aspect is compromised. I do like the stage select feature that lets you bypass those you've completed. The well-orchestrated background tunes range from the mysterious, grinding jams of the Secret Base stage, to the tranquil, peaceful melodies of the Ice Mountain Zone. Extra modes include a two-player race mode and a time trial mode. Although the time trial saves the best times, it inexplicably does
not save your initials. Sonic Advance has its share of issues, but it still feels good to see the hedgehog back in 2D. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.
Rating: Everyone 1 or 2 players
Publisher: Sega (2002)
Reviewed: 2005/9/9

Now
this is more like it! The first Sonic Advance felt a little too familiar for my taste, but this fresh sequel breaths new life into the series. In terms of speed, Sonic Advance 2 is
way over the top - there were times when I thought I'd
lose my lunch just trying to keep up! Except for some minor new moves and an additional female character (Cream), the gameplay hasn't changed much. Thankfully, the new zones exhibit a great deal of imagination. The first, Leaf Forest, is an unconventional world of angular green shapes, and its soundtrack is equally edgy. In the Music Factory zone, your character bounces off piano keys and gets sucked through organ pipes, and the music is fantastic. The scenic Ice Paradise features a welcome holiday theme, although falling off the bottom of the screen is a constant hazard. New gizmos include rails you can "grind" (Tony Hawk style) and loops that are
twice as big as those in previous games. My main gripe with Sonic Advance 2 is the same as the last game. The zones are so huge that it's easy to get lost in them. Sonic 2's difficulty is just right however, and most Sonic fans will appreciate the added emphasis on speed. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.
Publisher: Sega (2004)
Reviewed: 2005/9/9

Whenever the Sonic team starts running low on ideas, they always fall back on the old "team up two characters" gimmick. It's been effective in some cases (Sonic Heroes, Gamecube), and disastrous in others (Knuckles Chaotix, Sega 32X). You can play Sonic Advance 3 like any other Sonic game, but an ever-present "partner" provides you with additional moves and attacks. Instead of whole-heartedly embracing this tag-team concept, I chose to largely ignore my partner. Does that make me a bad person? Another feature I didn't care for is the new "zone within a zone" concept. I'd rather just select my zone instead of having to locate it within a maze! Otherwise Sonic 3 is similar to its predecessor, with fascinating new zones and a higher degree of difficulty. The first zone, Route 99, is set in front of a bright city skyline. I love it, because it's so reminiscent of the graphics in those old Double Dragon games. The second zone, Sunset Hill, features a gorgeous orange sunset over scenic tropical scenery. I freaked out when I realized its theme music is actually a
remix of the Green Zone music from the
original Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis, 1991)! Sonic 3's gameplay is more challenging that previous Sonic Advance games. Each zone features three expansive stages, and the boss stages even feature sub-bosses. New gadgets include button switches, teeter-totters, and bungee cords. You really need to watch yourself because it's very easy to get squished by moving blocks. In the end, Sonic 3's "teaming up" aspect fails to excite, but you can't deny Sonic Advance 3's classic gameplay. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.
Sonic Pinball Party
Grade: D+
Publisher: Sega (2003)
Reviewed: 2006/8/18
Rating: Everyone

As a huge fan of Sonic
and pinball, I had been trying to track down this game for a long time. Was this even
released in the USA? Only recently did I find Sonic Pinball Party as part of a "combo" cartridge, paired with Sonic Advance. If Sega didn't think this game could stand on its own, they were probably right. Sonic Party Pinball feels more like an unlockable bonus game than a full-scale cartridge. It offers two tables, one based on Sonic and the other on Nights (although I'm told there's also a secret Samba De Amigo table). Fans of Nights will probably appreciate this cartridge a lot, considering the lack of attention that series has received over the years. Pinball Party's flipper controls are responsive enough, but why aren't they assigned to the shoulder buttons? The main problem with the game is its dull, uninspired tables. The targets are hard to make out, and there are far too many "modes" and words to spell out. Most of the time the ball just rolls around the lanes without even hitting anything. There are multiple "stages" for each table, but these do little more than alter the color scheme. You get three balls per game, but if you count all the times your ball is "saved", it's more like 20! When you see a ball get saved
three times in a row, something's wrong. The scoring is uneven as well. You can execute all sorts of crazy combos to earn a few thousand points, and then effortlessly rack up
millions during some easy ring-collecting mode. You'll need at least 50 million to break into the high score table, but in my experience netting even 20 million is nearly impossible. Sonic Pinball's playful soundtrack has that Sonic charm, but like the game, it wears thin in a hurry. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.
Spiderman The Movie
Grade: A-
Publisher: Activision (2002)
Reviewed: 2003/8/31

Similar to the old Genesis Spiderman games, this 2D side-scroller delivers plenty of excitement as you swing around a city, beat up thugs, and locate items. The kick-ass intro features some grainy movie footage and a rocking soundtrack. The game offers a nice variety of objectives, from saving hostages, to escaping a crumbling building, to destroying barrels within a certain time period. The levels are brief but hidden secrets add to the replay value. The characters are well-defined using black outlines, and the background scenery looks pretty realistic. Spidey's hits are punctuated with "Thwack!" and "Bam!" graphics, just like the old Batman TV shows. The action is fairly conventional until you reach the amazing 3D bonus stages, which let you swing through the city via a
first-person point of view! That's pretty impressive for the Game Boy Advance! Control is often a sticking-point in Spiderman games, and this one is no exception. In the outdoor levels, it's easy to swing around from building to building, but in close quarters you tend to stick to
everything, which gets annoying! Even so, Spiderman The Movie is a quality title, delivering old-school charm with a new-school flair. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.
Our high score: 8150
1 player
Publisher: Midway (2001)
Reviewed: 2003/9/28

After playing through the Playstation 2 edition of Spy Hunter, it's hard to appreciate this portable version. It tries to convey 3D racing using scaling sprites and ground-scrolling effects, but it's a water-downed experience. Controlling a well-armed sports car, you embark on a series of missions with multiple objectives, but your primary goal is always to destroy one or more special targets. The controls are fairly responsive, and gunning down enemy cars and motorcycles is a pleasure. Spy Hunter's graphics are reasonably good, but its flat scenery makes the stages feel repetitive. You sometimes drive a boat, but it feels more like a car sliding around on an oily surface. Spy Hunter is playable but not particularly satisfying. There is one major incentive to play however, and that is to unlock the original Spy Hunter arcade game, which is far better that this one by the way. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.
Our high score: 21675
1 player
Spy Hunter / Super Sprint
Grade: F
Publisher: Destination Software (2005)
Reviewed: 2018/9/21

What. The. Hell. Porting arcade hits from 1983 to the Game Boy Advance shouldn't be a challenge, so how do you explain this dumpster fire? The original
Spy Hunter (Colecovision, 1984) was a James Bond-style overhead racer that let you machine-gun cars ahead and dump oil on those behind. The first thing you may notice is a lack of the Peter Gun theme - a longtime trademark of the series and a glaring omission. The graphics look perfectly fine with slick sports cars and lush green scenery along the side of the road. But the controls...
oy! I don't know if they were trying to emulate some kind of analog control or what, but the steering is
atrocious! Holding the directional pad to either side for more than a split second sends your car veering out of control. And if you try to recover you're magnetically sucked into the trees on each side. You'll barely scrape against a motorcycle and your entire car is instantly engulfed in flames. To be fair, those flame effects are the visual highlight of the game. The pacing is horrible, with long stretches of road with nothing to do. The game over screen displays a message like "your score ranking is 3" which might make sense if there were a high score screen! The second game, Super Sprint, doesn't fare much better. The miniscule cars look more like little roaches scurrying around a track. The steering is far too sensitive, causing you to curl into walls. The ensuing mushroom cloud is followed by a helicopter flying in with a replacement vehicle. Explosions notwithstanding, both Spy Hunter and Super Sprint are a pair of turkeys, and even a two-for-one deal can't hide that fact. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.
Our high score: 21,675
1 player
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Grade: F
Publisher: THQ (2002)
Reviewed: 2005/6/30

It blows my mind how completely
inept this game is! With Episode 2, it's as if all the lessons learned in 25 years of platform-game design had been tossed out the window. The graphics are nice - I'll give it that much. You'll see high quality stills from the film, and the large 2D character models look practically digitized. There are even 3D flight sequences that nicely convey the illusion of movement. The controls however are unresponsive, stiff, and poorly conceived. As a result, playing Attack of the Clones is about as satisfying as eating soup with chopsticks. Your Jedi (Anakin Skywalker) walks so slowly that completing each stage feels like an extended ordeal. You'll frantically search the manual for a dash move, but your efforts will have been in vain. Episode II's mechanics are downright bizarre. You actually need to be moving
forward to swing with your lightsaber! Turning around is chore, and it can be frustratingly difficult to strike an object
directly in front of you. Droids tend to hover just between your slashes and low-kicks, prompting some players to use profanity. Losing a life sends you
all the way back to the beginning of each lengthy stage. The 3D stages prove just as frustrating, with heat-seeking missiles that are practically impossible to avoid. The best part of the game is how you can deflect laser bolts back to their source with your light saber. I enjoyed the movie, but this is awful. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Grade: B-
Publisher: Ubisoft (2005)
Reviewed: 2005/6/30
Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force
Grade: D
Publisher: Ubisoft (2004)
Reviewed: 2005/5/18

I figured Ubisoft had an easy job in creating a new 2D Star Wars game. After all, the Super Star Wars titles (SNES) perfected that style of gameplay over
ten years ago. How could they possibly screw this up? The answer: In just about every way
possible! First, we have the repetitive stage layouts and frequent shoot-out sequences that artificially lengthen the game. You can fire diagonally (using the shoulder buttons), but
not straight up or down, and you
can't shoot while climbing. When navigating platforms, you can grab onto them and pull yourself up, but sometimes your grabs don't register and you just fall right through. Of course, when you're trying to jump
down, your character inadvertently grabs onto
everything, which is annoying. There are lightsaber and space battle stages further into the game, but these are only a marginal improvement. The graphics are plain, and the characters are rendered with thick black outlines. Despite its shortcomings, Trilogy
does cover a lot of ground, and it
is Star Wars for Pete's sake. I kind of enjoyed the Time Pilot-inspired shooting sequences. But all in all, you have to admit this is pretty uninspired stuff. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.
Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon
Grade: F
Publisher: THQ (2003)
Reviewed: 2003/12/28

About ten years ago, the Star Wars name meant quality when it came to video games, but apparently those days are long gone. In fact, I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a game
less than Flight of the Falcon. I was hoping this game would mark the return of those glorious 16-bit Star Wars days, but Falcon is poorly conceived and completely devoid of fun. First you have to sit through one of those slow, obligatory text crawls. Are these things really necessary for
every Star Wars game? Each level involves either flying or driving, and you view the action from just behind your vehicle. Fortunately, the Falcon's shape is thin enough that it doesn't usually obstruct your vision. The 3D graphics aren't bad, and the mission locations are enough make any Star Wars fan salivate, including the Death Star Trench, the forest of Endor, the streets of Tatooine, and the cloud city of Bespin. Unfortunately, aiming is done using a tiny crosshair, and you have to be dead-on to hit
anything. In the driving stages, the scenery blends together, making it hard to tell where you can and can't go. Making matters worse, the stages drag on for
far too long. In the first stage you have to shoot about
100 tiny Tie fighters! And once you lose a ship, you'll have to start all over again! At least the audio is reasonable, with digitized music and trademark sound effects. But that's the only bright spot in a game I generally regard as a waste of time. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.
Star Wars: The New Droid Army
Grade: F
Publisher: LucasArts (2002)
Reviewed: 2006/8/18
Rating: Everyone

This Star Wars game boasts sharp-looking scenery, motion-captured animation, digitized sound effects, fine-tuned controls, and an epic musical score. I say "you can keep all of it," because The New Droid Army is simply no fun to play. This is what happens when video games go "corporate". I'm sure every aspect of this game was planned out in meticulous detail and a competent team of developers programmed it exactly as specified. If only someone would have had the courage to ask, "Is this thing any
fun?" Then again, they probably wouldn't have liked the answer. Despite its lofty production values, New Droid Army is an absolute
chore to play. In a storyline that immediately follows Episode 2 (Attack of the Clones), you guide Anakin Skywalker around expansive areas on the planets Tatooine, Coruscant, and Metalorn. As you move from one area to the next, characters send you off on various errands to search for people and objects. Along the way you'll fend off endless Womp rats, Sand People, and Imperial Droids. It's button-mashing hell, although I do like how you can deflect laser bolts. The game might have been respectable had the locations not been so damn
huge. Stumbling across the Tatooine desert takes an eternity, especially when you have to stop every few feet to slice up a gang of attacking Womp rats. Every stage plays exactly the same, and the repetition will dull your senses. You'd think the "speed" force power might remedy the situation, but it's only available in five-second spurts! It's easy to cycle through your force powers, but they are almost totally defensive in nature. You'd have to be a very loyal Star Wars fan (perhaps stranded on a desert island) to derive any enjoyment from this by-the-numbers time-waster. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.
Super Puzzle Fighter II
Grade: B+
Publisher: Capcom (2002)
Reviewed: 2011/1/15
Rating: Everyone