Men in Black: The Series
Score: 50% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Crave Developer: David A. Palmer Productions Media: Cart/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: What to say about the graphics of Men in Black: The Series? The best way to sum them, up - the good, the bad, and the stupid. The aliens are very well animated and it was nice to see they all had their own unique way of 'dying', instead of all just blinking and disappearing. It's apparent that a lot of work went into death animations (which also makes me question why - but that's between the animators and their shrinks). Unfortunately, the same can't be said about agents J and K. One of the things that makes the MiB license work, besides the cool guns and aliens, is the conflicting personalities of the two main agents, and it would have been nice if this could have been conveyed in the game. I would have liked to see the cocky swagger of J or the strict cadence of K; instead, I was given two pallet-swapped corpses. I may be asking for too much, but after seeing how great the aliens looked or the little detail animations (such as your agent being knocked back after shooting the Noisy Cricket), I just felt let down. Like the graphics, the sound is okay, but nothing to make you regret playing with the sound turned off. The level music and effects are standard fare for an action game, but they're done well enough that they never get annoying.
Gameplay: The Men in Black are the Earth's first, last, and only line of defense against alien threats. Just think of them as the intergalactic INS. As MiB agents J and K, it's your duty to keep the planet safe from any and all alien threats. To aid you in this task you will have access to an arsenal of gadgets that would make even James Bond jealous, such as the memory erasing Neuralyzer and my personal favorite, the Noisy Cricket (itty-bitty gun, big fire power). As far as I can tell, Crave must have been aiming for a Flashback or Out of This World type game, unfortunately it's an idea that never seems to come together. MiB has some of the most confusing levels I have ever seen in a game, and it's easy to get lost. It would have been nice to have a few landmark areas so I could get an idea of where I was going, but instead I was forced to wander aimlessly around halls that all looked the same. As you can probably guess, this is not fun and at times I turned off the game simply because I didn't want to have to deal with having to find my way around levels. The mission goals are, for the most part, standard fare - you have your typical collect the items (or in this case, aliens) but there are a few brief times where the game shows a flash of brilliance. The best example of this would be the city mission where you have to ID all of the aliens in the streets of Manhattan. Sounds easy, huh...Well did I forget to mention it's Halloween night? It's a shame that I had to endure five poorly laid out levels to enjoy this gem. Good thing there's a password feature.
Difficulty: MiB is easy, once you can get a handle on the questionable control scheme and learn the patience necessary to navigate the long, confusing levels. The levels are designed to have a puzzle-like 'catch' to them. In most cases, you have to find a switch or gun to get past certain doors; the problem is that once you find what you are looking for, it's usually very hard to find the door. Some sort of map feature would have been a great asset. The control is always very limited, and it seems like it was intended to be this way. One area this stands out is jumping. MiB involves a lot of jumping; the only problem is that you cannot jump from left to right, only up. What this means is that in order to get to the other side of a ledge you have you work your way through the level and find a way to fall on to the other ledge. This gets old - fast.
Game Mechanics: I really have to question why the controls are set up the way they are, especially considering the intended audience for this game. Nothing seems to flow at all. Shooting requires pushing two buttons, R to aim and A to shoot. The weird thing is, there is never any logical reason for having to do this. As awkward as they are, the controls are nice and responsive, but this is too little, too late. MiB isn't that bad of a game, but it's not that good either. Somewhere beneath the awkward control and bad level design is a good game; the problem is that most gamers, especially those in the game's target audience, probably won't stick with it long enough to discover it.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
Mega Man Battle Network 2 Monster Force