Mario Vs Donkey Kong Review (GBA)

In 1981 Donkey Kong made his video game debut and then promptly ran off with Mario's (then Jump man's) girlfriend. To rescue the girl players had to negotiate four levels, climbing up Donkey Kong's tower before finally knocking his platform away. Ever since then the Mario vs Donkey Kong franchise has been rarely used, with both characters taking on many other roles. Indeed only the NES version of the arcade game (and an excellent title designed for the Super Gameboy in 1984) have seen the two Nintendo properties clashing head on.

Now on GBA the two giants of the Nintendo world clash again in a platform come puzzle game, which is a slight departure from the previous iterations in the highly enjoyable series. Anyone who has played the Super Gameboy version will be on familiar ground, though the impetus has now been placed heavily on the puzzle element of the title rather than the platforming fun of old. The manoeuvres that the mighty plumber can pull off are much the same as before. For the uninitiated Mario can jump, pick up enemies/other objects and do a hand stand-to-hand spring jump which gets him to high places. In a round about way what we have is Mario 64 moves plus a touch of Super Mario 2.

A new system brings with it a new graphical overhaul; everything is given the muddy, mock three-dimensional style that is beginning to creep into GBA games at an alarming rate. We have yet to see this technique pulled of completely successfully and again here it proves to be more of a hindrance than a help to the gameplay. The extra animations needed to pull off moves - mean that at times - Mario can seem to be slightly off the pace. It doesn't happen that often, but enough to make you consider throwing the cartridge at something.

The goal for the initial six worlds is to get Mario to a locked door with a key found somewhere on the screen. On the way you can pick up little present boxes, which if you collect them all give you a bonus. Luckily, (though the graphics can hinder the play some of the time) on the whole Mario is more than equipped to make it around the levels without the controls causing a problem which is good as players need to use all of Mario's abilities in order to do achieve the simplest of tasks. The game really does have some hidden depth in this respect.

In order to make it through safely you must be thinking right from the off, as solutions are rarely as straightforward as they first appear. Mario vs Donkey Kong is more about planning an effective route than the fast paced Mario action we have seen previously. However, though the levels are clever and the controls hold up the majority of the time, there is a distinct lack of an addictive quality in the title. Furthermore the game really is not that much fun to play, meaning what you are left with is a taxing puzzle game which you are not really driven to solve.

The title is not a bad game, it just lacks the little touch of Nintendo magic that make Mario titles such a compelling affair, something that the previous version of the Mario vs Donkey Kong franchise had in abundance. True there is some joy to be had during the boss battles, and when you solve a particularly tough puzzle the feeling of relief is a rare joy, but more often than not you will end up frustrated and worn down.

Mario vs Donkey Kong is not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, and the franchise deserved to be revived and contains a lot of promise. But this title simply is not enough to launch the plumber and the big ape's feud into the Nintendo hall of fame. It tries to be Mario platforming crossed with all the goodness of lemmings but really it ends up showing only glimpses of the brilliance of each.

6/10

Jet Set Radio Review (GBA)

When Jet Set Radio appeared on the Dreamcast, it was a breath of fresh air in a market stagnating from lack of imagination and choking on the fumes of its own seriousness. Its distinctive mixture of cel-shaded rendering (one of the pioneering titles for the soon-to-be-overused technique) and Japanese cyberpunk-styling perfectly complimented the level design - and brought a unique touch to what could easily have been just another skating game.

 For the uninitiated, Jet Set Radio takes place in the fictional city of Tokyo-To. The local law enforcement have been struggling with a number of skate gangs, adopting an 'anything goes' policy to stop them. Playing as Beat, a young skater in the scene, you must recruit new members to stake out your turf from rivals while evading the cops.  These gangs don't fight, instead they 'tag' Tokyo-To with graffiti in a contest to see who can spray the most. Success not only raises the profile of Beat's gang, forcing other skate factions to move elsewhere, it also really annoys the police chief.

Turning a graphically-stunning Dreamcast title into something credible on the Game Boy Advance would seem an impossible feat. The effort put into giving the handheld version some of the same style and atmosphere found in its more powerful Dreamcast brother clearly shows in terms of graphics and sound; adopting an isometric view, levels are filled with enough colour to mimic the trademark cel-shaded feel. Helping to complete the sensory package, a wide range of music tracks from the original have made the transition to cartridge (impressively, even including all their lyrics).

Unfortunately, a number of problems arise once the game begins. The first sign of trouble comes from the incredibly-difficult-to-master control system. Pressing up on the D-pad moves characters forward, with left and right rotating them. It sounds simple enough, but when grinding around the screen at all sorts of strange angles, it becomes nearly impossible to work out which direction to press for an accurate landing. More often than not the results are a nasty faceplant, made all the more frustrating by the fact that each level is timed. Given enough patience, the problems caused by the controls begin to fade as you get used to them - but they never become instinctive.

Cel-shading attempts to infuse a three-dimensional graphical style, but instead gives everything an almost two-dimensional feel. In the polygonal world of a truly 3D game (like the original Jet Set Radio) this works fine, but applied to an isometric landscape it does something very stupid: effectively, it makes everything look flat. In other words, the three-storey building on the corner appears to stand as tall as the traffic cone in the street beside it. This makes judging vertical height impossible - whereby you frequently hit walls, fall off ledges or cannot determine how high you should jump to reach something (which adds to the mounting frustration).

Though there are obvious flaws, there is also a lot of fun to be found. Just enough of that Jet Set Radio charm persists to help you shrug off each frustration and have another go. The difficulty will not pose too much of a problem for gamers familiar with skating games. Nor was Jet Set Radio ever considered a long-lasting title - a tradition this version continues, perhaps even taking a step backward by the significant drop in difficulty. Short and sweet? Maybe. Fun while it lasts? Definitely.

Jet Set Radio on the Gameboy Advance creates a strange quandary as a game. Someone who has never played the original might never come to grips with this miniature sibling. For fans of the series though, the chance to grind around Tokyo-To on the move far outweighs the frustration and general 'flatness' of the appearance. Likewise, the lack of difficulty will not matter to those who already know their way around the console version; making a race to the end come second place in terms of pure Jet Set appreciation. A title for the fans to be sure, but anyone else seeking that graffiti buzz should look to the Dreamcast, Xbox or the HD remakes to really understand, understand the concept of (Jet Set Radio) love.

6/10