Santa Claus Junior
Game Boy Color
Before playing:
This is a somewhat odd choice for me to play through and review. Truth be told, I had never so much as heard of this game until just a few days ago. I saw a screenshot of the game, and it crossed my mind that maybe I could play it for the holidays. I don't play too many Christmas themed games so I thought why not?
So I set aside some time and I played through it. How would I feel about the game? That's what we are here to find out.
Story:
This game does not do a good job of telling you what's going on. You turn on the game. There's no text. There's just some random images floating across the screen. Looks like Santa Claus is shot down by a witch and then stuffed into a bottle. Your character, an unassuming kid playing a handheld video game, puts on a red suit vaguely resembling a Santa suit. And then bam, you are 2D platforming.
It's your job to right through the levels until you get to the end of the game, where you defeat the witch and save Santa.
Gameplay:
This is an extraordinarily basic 2D platformer. You must make it through a series of stages, collecting items and jumping on your enemies' heads until you reach the level exit. There is no attack button, just a jump button. So all you do is move and jump. Most of the game revolves around precision platforming and not falling into bottomless pits. Combat is a small part of the formula. There are enemies to fight, yes, but they can almost all be defeated by simply jumping on their heads. You will take a lot of damage because some of them act erratically. Luckily, the game is pretty forgiving with both the health items and the extra lives.
Once you make it through about 25 or so platforming stages, you fight your only boss battle of the game against the witch - the game's final foe. She moves around the screen quickly and fires projectiles at you as she goes. You have to jump on her head a certain number of times until she is defeated. In a game that is not too overly challenging, she was one of the most difficult things about the game.
I'm going to struggle to post too much about this game. Because truth be told, it really is not that interesting. I've seen and played through dozens of platformers better than this in my lifetime. It brings almost nothing to the table. It's not a bad game, it is just so incredibly basic. The Christmas theme could not even keep me interested, because the game is barely Christmasy at all. The password screens and the fact that you collect candy canes are really the only Christmasy things about the game.
I suppose there are some things to like here, such as the abundance of hidden areas and many opportunities to collect items and bonuses. I just find it really hard to get excited about anything this game does.
Graphics:
This game does nothing special visually. It's all very basic looking. Your character and many of the enemies are very generic. I suppose it is nice watching the Christmas theme get darker and darker the closer you get to the end of the game. The levels leading up to the witch get magical, dark, and a little trippy. That said, the highlight of the game visually is probably the cutscenes. They look decent.
Sound:
For a Christmas themed game, I expected more Christmas music. You hear a little bit at the end, but almost nothing as you are playing. The stage music is okay, I guess, but just as generic as the game's visual presentation. The music that plays during the intro is "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star." Would it hurt them to get some Christmas music in the game?
Overall:
I don't hate this game, but I will never play it again. It does nothing I haven't seen or experienced a hundred times before. And it doesn't do anything special. Maybe if they had pushed the Christmas theme harder with more Christmas music and Christmas themed stages and characters, it would have made the experience a bit more memorable.
If you have never played this game, I can't give it a recommend. It takes about an hour and a half of your time that you can spend elsewhere. Not to say the game is bad, it just brings NOTHING to the table. It's almost admirable how dedicated to mediocrity it is.
As much as I wanted to like it, Santa Claus Junior comes in at below average for me. Not terrible and not completely failing, but undoubtedly below average.
THE GRADE:
D+
For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click
>HERE<
No comments:
Post a Comment