Regardless of your age,
it’s almost guaranteed that you’ve heard of Jimmy Neutron. As you know he is a
boy genius. His inventions are created using typical household equipment (such
as a toaster), and the results – although a little crazy sometimes – give reason
for his classmates to be envious.
What happens when one of
his inventions screws up? You get another story! In The Adventures of Jimmy
Neutron Boy Genius: Jet Fusion, you play as none other than
Jimmy
himself. His robotic dog sidekick, Goddard, is there to help you in the same
way that Ratchet’s robotic sidekick helped him in Ratchet & Clank.
What players will embark
on is a side-scrolling adventure. There aren’t any recent action/adventure
titles that the game can be compared to, but if you remember Bubsy, Jet Fusion’s
controls will feel very similar. If you’ve never heard of Bubsy, then imagine
Super Mario Bros. with a control scheme that isn’t jump-heavy. It’s about as
fast, but doesn’t have a run button, and your attacks consist of utilities and
projectiles, not head-hopping. That’s Jimmy Neutron. His utilities come in the
form of four weapon types: Sonic Resonator, H20 Inhibitor, Gum Ball Blaster, and
Micro Discharger.
The first weapon handed
to Jimmy is the Sonic Resonator. Contrary to popular belief, this weapon is not
a recurring sound of a certain blue hedgehog. In actuality, it is an
enemy-stunning weapon that makes them disappear. It doesn’t kill them – there
is no killing in this game. But it does eliminate the threat. The Sonic
Resonator can be fired repeatedly just by holding down the weapon fire button
(B). You cab run while firing, and you can aim straight up or diagonally to get
those hard-to-reach enemies. It’s a small, but noteworthy ability.
Jet Fusion is not an
open-book game. You can’t just run through, defeat the enemies and call
yourself a winner. There’s more backtracking than you’d expect for a 2D side-scroller.
You’ll encounter several restricted areas, including some that are covered in
lava. I’m sure Jimmy knows that people have walked on ho coals before, but
there’s no way you’re getting him to cross that lava path! Unless you have the
H20 Inhibitor. With this utility you can cool the lava and cross the blocked
area. You can also defeat certain kinds of enemies with this utility.
Gum Ball Blaster. This
one just begs to be taken away by the teacher. Yep, if Jimmy isn’t careful,
that would definitely happen. Of course, he’s trapped in some mysterious book
world, so he doesn’t really have to worry about that right now.
What the Gum Ball Blaster
does is enable Jimmy
to create a gummy surface to climb on. Now there’s a twist you didn’t see
coming! It can also be used as a weapon against enemies, and it also includes a
handy auto-fire feature that is activated whenever the B button is pressed and
held.
The last of the weapons
listed, the Micro Discharger, is the only true projectile weapon. It’s not a
gun-like contraption, just a small discharger that
Jimmy
can throw at enemies. Because of the versatility one has when throwing
something, Micro Dischargers can reach areas that
Jimmy’s
other weapons cannot. For example, you can throw it over walls. The reason for
doing this? You’ll just have to wait and see.
The utility replenish
items are labeled as projectiles, so don’t be misled into thinking that there is
some other kind of weapon in this game. There are water containers to refill
the H20 Inhibitor and gum balls for your Gum Ball Blaster, but that’s it.
Goddard, the famous
robotic dog, could serve as an inspiration for Sony to create something that
goes above and beyond Aibo. Once a specific item has been acquired, Goddard
will turn into a handy helicopter that allows Jimmy to jump over wide gaps and
glide for a short period of time. After that Goddard can transform into an aqua
mobile, giving the boy genius additional help. It makes sense. He is the one
who created him, after all.
The levels were
constructed in a basic, but functional manner. There’s stairs, platforms, and
thus the game involves a lot of going up and down in each area. You can’t play
that Pachinko mini-game yet, so go back down and explore the area you skipped.
You’ve already explored that area, so look around until you find an area to
explore that hasn’t already been covered. That’s what this game is like. It’s
not that difficult to find your way around, so parents shouldn’t be worried that
the game is going to be too difficult for the kids. Considering the target
audience, Jet Fusion is moderately challenging, which is good because no gamer
likes to have a free ride. If you want things easy, that’s what cheat codes are
for!
Gameplay: 7
A shooter
action/adventure for kids? Who would have thought? I know I wouldn’t have.
But the developers of The Adventures of
Jimmy
Neutron Boy Genius: Jet Fusion have apparently paid close attention to the
high-quality games us "big kids" (tens and adults) like.
At
first the game seems really simple, but the hard-to-predict-at-first enemy
patterns make death a much more likely occurrence than you would have ever
expected. You’ve got to learn to aim the weapon according to each enemy
situation. That’s why the game allows you to shoot diagonally.
Some
enemies run head on, others jump in a zigzag pattern, and become more involved
as the game goes on. Normally this would be a piece of cake, but I was pleased
to find that it was not. I found myself getting trampled by while running up or
down a hill. The reason? I was running. You have to have a little patience.
Not a lot, so don’t be afraid kids! It’s still a video game! 🙂
This
somewhat surprising challenge kept me on my toes and is ultimately what made the
game fun for me. Overall it’s simplistic fun, but there are a few twists in
there that should surprise you, especially if you’re a kid with a limited amount
of gaming experience.
Graphics: 6
Simple but
colorful. These aren’t the most detailed characters in the world, but
Jimmy
Neutron isn’t exactly the most detailed movie either. The movie has some
impressive CG, but it’s very cartoony in comparison to Monsters, Inc. The game
reflects that cartoony image but it still could have looked better.
Sound: 5
Semi-annoying
music and typical GBA sound effects. What can you do? That’s what most GBA
games have. I can only hope that the sound aspect receives more attention when
the PSP is released.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
I wouldn’t
compare the game’s difficulty to the toughest world in Mario 3 or anything like
that, but for a kid’s game Jet Fusion is fairly challenging.
Concept: 6
What this game
does it does well. However, it doesn’t really do anything that hasn’t been done
before. It would be a shame to not have any similar games just because everyone
wanted to create innovation, but it would have been nice to see at least one new
gameplay mechanic explored here.
Overall: 6.9
This is the game
that Jimmy Neutron fans should get. It may not be in the third dimension, but
it’s so much more entertaining than its PlayStation 2 counterpart. Even
non-fans should enjoy it. That alone should tell you how good this game is.
Now it would be crazy for every adult gamer to run out and buy this game. But
if you’re a kid or a kid at heart, you can’t go wrong with Jet Fusion.
