Astro Boy Movie Tie-In Game - My DS Review
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:27 pm
Hey all, So I picked up (and just finished) the Astro Boy movie-tie in game for the Nintendo DS. I should note up front that the the game is available for four systems at present, but the DS game is *COMPLETELY DIFFERENT* than the version for the Wii, PSP, and PS2, so this is *not* a review of those games (and I hope to play that version as well at some point). I didn't initially realize this even though I wondered how they could do 3D well on the DS. This is just a 2D sidescroller (which would have been awesome had it been a really good one).
I'll break it down and give a brief overview:
Graphics - Not bad; not spectacular. They're sharp and crisp but somewhat boring and lack imagination. Still, I've seen worse. One thing that bothered me a bit is Astro is always wearing his clothes from the movie (blue shirt, etc.). That just feels wrong somehow, like it's not Astro. It didn't bother me in the movie because he's not wearing them all the time and there's a mix of his classic costume and his clothes, but here it just didn't feel right.
Music - Quite disappointing. It's just generic video game music that's unmemorable; as far as I can tell, not based on the soundtrack at all (which to me is spectacular, and I wish it was in the game in some form).
Story - All it is is a few images and literal direct lines from the movie. Nothing to see here unless you want memories of what you watched in the theater. In fact, it doesn't even make a lot of sense the way it's put together if you haven't seen the movie. Not a single new thing either.
Length/Replayability - Very short; I completed all (17 I think) levels it in 5-6 hours (which might be generous actually). There are no alternate paths and no reasons to replay it whatsoever.
Gameplay:
Here's the crux of the review. There are three difficulties starting out with Normal. I ended up playing on this easiest setting because there are mechanics issues that made the others (I started on the middle difficulty [hard I think], which is where I ususally start) just too frustrating. At any rate, on land Astro can punch, kick, charge up punches and kicks (which I figured out late in the game), and use his special powers. Special powers include: increase speed (permanent for the level; up to 2X per level), increase punch/kick power (permanent for the level, up to 5X per level), fire beam weapon, shoot butt guns, use a shield to make you invulnerable for 3 hits, or regenerate health. Every enemy you destroy releases an orb of blue energy for you to collect, and your powers use this energy. Each subsequent power listed above (in that order from least to most) uses more energy to do, with health regeneration using the max energy you can possibly collect (after that it's simply wasted).
Astro can also fly straight up or left/right using his jets, and he can do a move that makes him slide to the other side of enemies (making him invulnerable very briefly). There are also flying levels that are extremely easy but fun. Same powers apply, but you can shoot your finger laser instead of punch (still needs upgraded 5X per level the same way). This combat system leads to a major problem.
Besides blue core energy, there are no other powerups besides a single hidden Trashcan in a few (5 I think) of the levels (full health regeneration). Because of this, the only way to regenerate health is to use all your blue energy (once it's full) for the powerup. The issue this presents is, you end up worrying about your health most of the time so much that instead of using something fun, like your beam weapon or butt guns, you end up saving up for the health regeneration (or sometimes shields depending on the situation) because it's absolutely necessary for you to survive, and once you use it you're completely out of energy again. The other necessary upgrades are the 2 speed and 5 punch power upgrades in every single level, which need to be upgraded ASAP as you won't make it far without most or all of these - I would have much preferred permanent upgrades as you go throughout the game. Because of this system, most of the energy you collect goes towards health and self preservation - I think throughout the whole game I may have only ended up using the beam and butt guns 15 times or so each (for the entire playthrough, minus restarting levels of course). Which isn't cool.
Making matters worse is the extremely strange design decision of making health *NOT* regenerate at the start of each level or after each death. Yup, that's right. If you just finished a boss battle in the previous level with 1 bar of life left, you start the next level with *drumroll* 1 bar of life, and it saves your checkpoint like that. Even stranger, while when you go to the next level, if you are full of blue core energy, you get to keep it, IF you die after progressing to that next level and using up your energy, you restart the level still with the 1 bar of life you had at the checkpoint, but without your blue core energy. This can lead to scenarios that are next to impossible to get out of if your first enemies are aggressive. There's no way to go back a level, no way to get health, and your only option is to fight your way through enough energies to hopefully get enough for a regeneration, which in some levels is crazy difficult. I actually ended up restarting the game because of it, and in the end I found myself (even on Normal) worrying about making sure I had as close to full health as possible at the end of each level, even after boss battles. Which is extraordinarily silly. And the reason you don't get to use your powers very much.
There are a few jumping puzzles, and some slight lack of precision with the jumping control make it a little harder than it should be. Fortunately there aren't *too* many of these and they are quite possible. (Though I'll never understand why Astro would lose health if he falls - lol). At least you only lose health and don't have to restart the level when you fall... Each level has only a checkpoint at the beginning, so if you actually die, you do have to restart the whole level (which is a bit annoying levels with boss battles).
Combat itself can be quite fun in both land and flying modes even though the enemies are quite boring/repetitive. Bosses are the more interesting enemies. The game gets more fun towards the end as you start getting enough energy to actually be able to upgrade your speed to max, punches to max, health, and still have enough energy to do some special attacks. But the game ends soon after getting to that point.
Bottom Line - I could only rate this **1/2 out of *****. If you have an original DS or DS Lite (apparently DSi's can't do GBA games) or still have a Game Boy Advance, from all the feedback I've read, you'd be much, much happier with the 2004 Astro Boy: Omega Factor, which is apparently legendary and one of the very best games of all time for the GBA (and a window to Tezuka's universe). My copy's on its way now, but it's getting a bit trickier to find (though still quite available). I've only seen it emulated so far, but I can tell you it kicks this game's butt all over the place hands down. I hope to review it once I finish (though it's a much longer game and requires multiple playthroughs to see everything). I also hear that the Wii (and presumedly PSP and PS2) versions of the movie tie-in Astro Boy game are quite a bit better than this one, though still not up to Omega Factor. They do look quite fun and I'd be willing to try one of those tho. As it stands, it was an alright playthrough, but I can't really recommend the DS game. It's clearly just a rush job that's a bad value for the money with nothing interesting, and you can barely tell its Astro Boy. Go for one of the other versions if you have the system or better yet Omega Factor if you haven't played it.
I'll break it down and give a brief overview:
Graphics - Not bad; not spectacular. They're sharp and crisp but somewhat boring and lack imagination. Still, I've seen worse. One thing that bothered me a bit is Astro is always wearing his clothes from the movie (blue shirt, etc.). That just feels wrong somehow, like it's not Astro. It didn't bother me in the movie because he's not wearing them all the time and there's a mix of his classic costume and his clothes, but here it just didn't feel right.
Music - Quite disappointing. It's just generic video game music that's unmemorable; as far as I can tell, not based on the soundtrack at all (which to me is spectacular, and I wish it was in the game in some form).
Story - All it is is a few images and literal direct lines from the movie. Nothing to see here unless you want memories of what you watched in the theater. In fact, it doesn't even make a lot of sense the way it's put together if you haven't seen the movie. Not a single new thing either.
Length/Replayability - Very short; I completed all (17 I think) levels it in 5-6 hours (which might be generous actually). There are no alternate paths and no reasons to replay it whatsoever.
Gameplay:
Here's the crux of the review. There are three difficulties starting out with Normal. I ended up playing on this easiest setting because there are mechanics issues that made the others (I started on the middle difficulty [hard I think], which is where I ususally start) just too frustrating. At any rate, on land Astro can punch, kick, charge up punches and kicks (which I figured out late in the game), and use his special powers. Special powers include: increase speed (permanent for the level; up to 2X per level), increase punch/kick power (permanent for the level, up to 5X per level), fire beam weapon, shoot butt guns, use a shield to make you invulnerable for 3 hits, or regenerate health. Every enemy you destroy releases an orb of blue energy for you to collect, and your powers use this energy. Each subsequent power listed above (in that order from least to most) uses more energy to do, with health regeneration using the max energy you can possibly collect (after that it's simply wasted).
Astro can also fly straight up or left/right using his jets, and he can do a move that makes him slide to the other side of enemies (making him invulnerable very briefly). There are also flying levels that are extremely easy but fun. Same powers apply, but you can shoot your finger laser instead of punch (still needs upgraded 5X per level the same way). This combat system leads to a major problem.
Besides blue core energy, there are no other powerups besides a single hidden Trashcan in a few (5 I think) of the levels (full health regeneration). Because of this, the only way to regenerate health is to use all your blue energy (once it's full) for the powerup. The issue this presents is, you end up worrying about your health most of the time so much that instead of using something fun, like your beam weapon or butt guns, you end up saving up for the health regeneration (or sometimes shields depending on the situation) because it's absolutely necessary for you to survive, and once you use it you're completely out of energy again. The other necessary upgrades are the 2 speed and 5 punch power upgrades in every single level, which need to be upgraded ASAP as you won't make it far without most or all of these - I would have much preferred permanent upgrades as you go throughout the game. Because of this system, most of the energy you collect goes towards health and self preservation - I think throughout the whole game I may have only ended up using the beam and butt guns 15 times or so each (for the entire playthrough, minus restarting levels of course). Which isn't cool.
Making matters worse is the extremely strange design decision of making health *NOT* regenerate at the start of each level or after each death. Yup, that's right. If you just finished a boss battle in the previous level with 1 bar of life left, you start the next level with *drumroll* 1 bar of life, and it saves your checkpoint like that. Even stranger, while when you go to the next level, if you are full of blue core energy, you get to keep it, IF you die after progressing to that next level and using up your energy, you restart the level still with the 1 bar of life you had at the checkpoint, but without your blue core energy. This can lead to scenarios that are next to impossible to get out of if your first enemies are aggressive. There's no way to go back a level, no way to get health, and your only option is to fight your way through enough energies to hopefully get enough for a regeneration, which in some levels is crazy difficult. I actually ended up restarting the game because of it, and in the end I found myself (even on Normal) worrying about making sure I had as close to full health as possible at the end of each level, even after boss battles. Which is extraordinarily silly. And the reason you don't get to use your powers very much.
There are a few jumping puzzles, and some slight lack of precision with the jumping control make it a little harder than it should be. Fortunately there aren't *too* many of these and they are quite possible. (Though I'll never understand why Astro would lose health if he falls - lol). At least you only lose health and don't have to restart the level when you fall... Each level has only a checkpoint at the beginning, so if you actually die, you do have to restart the whole level (which is a bit annoying levels with boss battles).
Combat itself can be quite fun in both land and flying modes even though the enemies are quite boring/repetitive. Bosses are the more interesting enemies. The game gets more fun towards the end as you start getting enough energy to actually be able to upgrade your speed to max, punches to max, health, and still have enough energy to do some special attacks. But the game ends soon after getting to that point.
Bottom Line - I could only rate this **1/2 out of *****. If you have an original DS or DS Lite (apparently DSi's can't do GBA games) or still have a Game Boy Advance, from all the feedback I've read, you'd be much, much happier with the 2004 Astro Boy: Omega Factor, which is apparently legendary and one of the very best games of all time for the GBA (and a window to Tezuka's universe). My copy's on its way now, but it's getting a bit trickier to find (though still quite available). I've only seen it emulated so far, but I can tell you it kicks this game's butt all over the place hands down. I hope to review it once I finish (though it's a much longer game and requires multiple playthroughs to see everything). I also hear that the Wii (and presumedly PSP and PS2) versions of the movie tie-in Astro Boy game are quite a bit better than this one, though still not up to Omega Factor. They do look quite fun and I'd be willing to try one of those tho. As it stands, it was an alright playthrough, but I can't really recommend the DS game. It's clearly just a rush job that's a bad value for the money with nothing interesting, and you can barely tell its Astro Boy. Go for one of the other versions if you have the system or better yet Omega Factor if you haven't played it.
Funnily enough, now that I think about it, I think there *was* a cutscene in one of the early games where he did just this, but I'd forgotten. So I suppose Astro having so much (anime) source material is a big part of why I connect. I tend to relate or get attached to characters easier in an anime first and video game second than the other way around. The Mega Man stories itself are fantastic and the games always very engaging - it would lend themselves well to anime; I've just never really thought of him as much in an anime sense I suppose. Just been looking up some NT clips and that actually looks like it might've been quite good - animation looks cute and even the voices in the English Dub sound pretty nice. Is it a series worth watching in your opinion?