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Rocket Power: Dream Scheme
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Graphics & Sound:
Nickelodeon isn't leaving anybody out in their bid to bring kid's content videogaming to the masses. The more popular series are being ported to each and every platform, and Rocket Power has the distinction of showing up on both Game Boy platforms within months of one another. And we're talking about 2 distinct games here, people. Gettin' Air for GBC may share similar packaging and the same characters, but it's quite a ways away from this GBA release, Dream Scheme. These GBA graphics jump out. Characters aren't exactly cel-shaded, but they do have strong definition and very clean lines. The backgrounds and environment along with enemy characters round out a very good looking presentation. Little cut-scenes are well done, but it's a pain that they can't be skipped for those times when you may be restarting from the beginning. Also, the continue animation can't be skipped, which should always be an option. In levels, you'll find a wide range of locales, according to places picked off a central map. Little hidden items make exploration fun, especially when each area has so much attention to detail. Where Gettin' Air lacked variety, Dream Scheme splurges visually, and why not? There's much more power in GBA to take advantage of, and THQ (to its credit) did so and made a better game. |
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Gameplay:
Right away, we see the similarity between Rocket Power's GBC and GBA ends with the characters. After a long cut-scene that focuses on Otto's indigestion and nightmare about Dr. Stimpleton attempting world domination through the Polka, it's off to save the other members of Team Rocket from Stimpleton's evil clutches. Through some strange Polka device, most of the city is under Stimpleton's control, so don't expect to find too many allies in the fight against evil. And, if you mess up, you'll wake up and have to try all over again. Team Rocket is all about movin' around quickly, so you can be sure there are plenty of cool ways to roll through this game. At first, and all through the game, 3 basic tools are at your disposal. Skateboard, inline skates and plain old tennis shoes can be used at any time, even switched mid-air if needed. Each has its place and the riding equipment can even be upgraded for new capabilities. What you do is move through each level to try and free one of the team members. Once free, that team member becomes available for play on the next level. Each has his or her own strength that may come in handy in certain areas, but only Otto is playable at first. Also in this way, you'll find that most of Ocean Shores is closed off at first, but clearing a level opens up another and so on. It's straightforward, but well done side-scrolling action. Item collecting is important, not only in the quest for power-ups like the Rocket Board and the Magnetic Inline Skates, but also for health and solving puzzles. Since this is all just a dream, mixing it up in the wrong way with enemies robs your character of sleep power, expressed as Z's on the screen. Regaining small or large amounts of this sleep power is important, since there isn't much of a checkpoint system, and no way to save until you return triumphant to the map screen. Power-ups don't come that frequently, but special items like keys and stars or power-ups for special equipment can be found all over. The fun of Dream Scheme is that just seeing the items doesn't mean they will be easy to obtain You'll have to be creative and sometimes plain crazy to get all the items in a level, grinding rooftops, handrails, tree branches, dog houses... At certain points in a level you'll be able to trade in stars for points and extra health, but mostly they serve as a goal for moving past checkpoint areas. Finding more stars is always a good thing, and exploration pays off when it's time to find little things like keys. Switches and locked doors add to the complexity of levels, and enemies come on strong. They're really just ordinary folks hypnotized by Dr. Stimpleton's Polka devices, so once you knock those things off, the threat is neutralized. And, once you rescue all the Rocket Power team members, you can defeat Dr. Stimpleton and rest easy. Unless those hot-wings start acting up again... |
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Difficulty:
The trickiest part of Dream Scheme is in knowing how to find some of the more well hidden keys, and learning how to get to them. Usually, exploring your surroundings pays off, and even if you didn't know you needed a key, you'll often find one in some secluded spot. The additional bonus items can only help you, so try to get everywhere and anywhere. Since this is a side-scroller, there's rarely confusion about where to go, but dealing with enemies and moving at a quick pace means that areas may zip by and go unnoticed unless you're careful. A bit confusing at times, knowing when and how to backtrack, but nothing that snoopy Rocket Power hopefuls won't be able to gather. A password save system is almost hidden in the map screen options, but it's there, it works and it'll let you take advantage of that hard-earned progress at a later time.
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Game Mechanics:
The simple things work best, really. No terribly confusing control schemes here, for sure, just a jump button and a grind button that doubles as an action button. The shoulder buttons affect equipment, allowing you to change on the fly. If the equipment has a special use, pressing the right shoulder button activates it, but most of your time will be spent on the left shoulder button swapping out shoes for skates for whatever. The grinding mechanism could have used a little tweaking, since it doesn't seem to respond unless a particular approach is used. Jumping straight up onto a grindable surface doesn't always work, so jumping at an angle is key. This makes a certain amount of sense because inertia on a grind is what keeps you on the rail or edge and lets you move forward. Without forward motion, a grind fails and you drop off to whatever is below. It's actually a fairly correct way of doing things, but it can take some getting used to. Many of the higher powered pieces of equipment don't require much fine control, but there's always more than one way to ride an edge with your board or inline skates. Though the game is a bit on the short side, we at least have characters who ride and control differently, and levels that don't look exactly the same. In fact, there's enough happening on screen to justify a little slower play, but Dream Scheme keeps on truckin'! Everything moves quickly and controls smoothly, to the point that you'll find skates or your board too slippery for small ledges, but adapt with sneakers just fine. Then, when you're on softer ground, sneaks are the only way to go since you can't get any traction on your wheels. There's more to life (and this game) than wheels, but I won't spoil the fun by telling. Suffice it to say that variety really is the spice of life, and I love seeing different ideas thrown into the gaming stew in a complementary way. Dream Scheme has a fairly thin story, but doesn't fail to deliver adequate gameplay and showcase these characters strongly. In fact, if half the eXtreme sports games for Game Boy played this well, we'd all be a lot happier. Some extra modes or special features beyond just playing level after level would have increased the playability of Dream Scheme after you actually beat Dr. Stimpleton, but gathering more hearts and finding elusive power-up goodies make it worth a second or third look for anyone. The big winners here are fans of the Nickelodeon show, since we now have 2 decent games for the portable platform and at least one more on the way for PlayStation. Any loyal watcher of Rocket Power will be glad to take Otto, Reggie, Twister and Sam along for the ride. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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