Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius
Score: 85% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: THQ Developer: Big Sky Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer
Graphics & Sound: Kiddie platform games seem to be coming along nicely, but license games tend to still be hit or miss, no matter what the category. Even within a single franchise, licenses can be very inconsistent. Where Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius failed so miserably on Game Boy Advance, he doesn't disappoint for PlayStation 2. Good graphics and an interesting game world sure do help improve playability. Jimmy and friends are a colorful bunch, and you'll find the game painted in bright primary colors. There are some nice visuals (lighting, textures, etc.) that show up and lots of fun sound effects, but the best thing eyewise is the variety. Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius is built on a 'hub' concept that has you exploring a central area with little challenges, almost mini-games, all connected but still separate. Think of Spyro, Crash, any of the great, well designed games in this genre and you have your blueprint. This allows for more creative freedoms, especially in the early half of the game with Jimmy and friends exploring an amusement park. Each 'world' has a different objective and sometimes different action, with the end goal finding little trinkets and bringing them back to show off to Jimmy's friends. There is even a very fun and retro-looking arcade game tucked away that may have as much appeal to older gamers as Jimmy's character will to the younger set.
Gameplay: Although the hub concept allows for unending levels with multiple themes, Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius follows the movie storyline quite closely and resists the temptation to go wild. The game starts innocently enough. Playing with his friends in an old amusement park, Jimmy has no idea his parents have been the victims of a kidnapping. An interstellar one, at that! So, being the genius he is, Jimmy happens to have all kinds of ideas on how to hit the aliens who took off with his parents where they live. A little place called Planet Yolkus to be exact. Jimmy's best friend, his robotic dog Goddard sticks with him through thick and thin, and Jimmy's friends are some help, too. They also need some saving from time to time. About a quarter of the game is spent in and around Planet Yolkus fighting aliens, which turns out to be a nice percentage of the time. Most of this game is about gathering power-up goodies and completing little challenges that reward Jimmy with single, special items. Also, I notice there are a lot of items in a series, complete with little outlines at the bottom of the screen to let you know what you still don't have. In any level, especially a hub level, you'll usually find Goddard hanging around. Going to him for help will sometimes reveal a transformation he is capable of, into a vehicle of some kind. These transformations are fun to ride, and can help you reach otherwise inaccessible trinkets. Weapons play a small part in the action, but they're over-the-top enough that parents shouldn't get their dander up. Shrinking and expanding rays, a comical baseball bat you can bash aliens with...no gore here, kids. And, when the gaming time is over, you can still access movie clips you've unlocked and read bios of the characters in the game by checking out Jimmy's Secret Files. There is even a 'making of' sequence on the game that ties into the movie, a trailer and some movie music available, if it wasn't enough already for kids to be playing the movie. Depending on your perspective, the bucks spent on this game will have much more playtime value than any old movie.
Difficulty: One thing I'm noticing about kiddie Platformers trending away from being quite so 'kiddie' in how they play is that difficulty is on the rise. Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius helps even things out by allowing you to access little sequences again and again without penalty. The hub-and-spoke system means little challenges can be replayed without feeling you're retracing your steps, and progress made in a level is retained when you leave the level. So, gathering the last few little neutrons doesn't have to be that hard.
Game Mechanics: Another balancing act games face when trying to appeal to the broad young audience these movies are slanted to is that for more complex gaming, more complex controls are necessary. Learning everything right away isn't critical, but a few pretty involved moves are required early on that might leave the youngest gamers (but still those who would have seen the movie and want to do well in the game) confused and a bit frustrated. In general, movement is handled with the analog stick or D-Pad, we have 2 multipurpose action buttons and a button used to drop items or cancel choices. Engaging other characters covers the last button, and although most of us don't think of navigating 4 buttons as difficult, it may take kids some time to learn controls. To the designers' credit, Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius is really very easy to grasp after a few levels, and everything flows smoothly. The engine does a great job handling everything from free-roaming hub exploration to mini-game madness to excellent cut-scene movie clips. When license games generally meant the choice between one or two consoles (maybe) and involved a single release, it was kind of a no-brainer decision. Especially with a kid involved, you went to the movie and then you bought the game. Even if the game was silly, there it was alongside the cup, the tee-shirt and the bag of fries. But now, Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius is a perfect example of how saturated the market can be at any given time. Look out for not only the previous Game Boy release, and do get a copy of this on PS2. It plays great, looks and sounds great and does the license proud. This doesn't extend to Jimmy's GBA counterpart, so it raises the question of what we'll do when 3 or 4 license games are shipping within a month of one another on 3 or 4 different consoles. Stay tuned, faithful reader, 'cause you know we'll shoot you straight. For the money and the funny, you can't go wrong with Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius for PS2.
-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock
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