Danny
Phantom is a fairly new show on Nickelodeon, created by the same people
responsible for The Fairly Oddparents. The same humor and whimsy of The Fairly
Oddparents TV show is also present in the Danny Phantom show, but does it
translate over to the GBA in this new game? While the game looks pretty much
like the show, that’s about all that can be said for any similarity between
the two.
The game’s
premise is that Danny and his classmates are all set to take the CAT (some
type of high school standardized test), when trouble intervenes. The usual
super-villain taking over the world is present, but the twist is that this
time it’s the hero himself who is the villain. Clockwork, a ghost who can
manipulate time, is trying to turn Danny into a future evildoer, by causing
havoc with his friends. Other evil ghosts aren’t happy with the idea of the
competition, so they battle Danny throughout the game to prevent him from
gaining increased powers.
This story
is actually a somewhat innovative one, and sets up the game’s future action in
a logical, interesting manner. The opening movie describes the problems facing
Danny and his friends in a well-crafted cartoon that is very reminiscent of
the TV show. Too bad the game falls down on actually implementing this plot
with any type of usable information or direction during the following levels.
After the
initial animated movie setting up the background information, players will
play as Danny Phantom, Dan Fenton and a strange, ghostly super-villain. Danny
Phantom seems to have much more agility and power than Dan Fenton, so why
players would choose Dan is a mystery in itself. The only reason I ever
switched between the two was to gain power in Danny Phantom’s special powers
meter, as for some reason I could never figure out how to fill up this meter
while playing in Danny’s mode, but when the characters were swapped and Dan
Fenton was present, the meter would fill up and stay that way when swapped
back over to Danny.
Danny has
two power meters, one for general health and one for special powers. These
special powers are a combination of weapons and increased power for the Plasma
attack ability. As Danny successfully completes the levels in the different
worlds, his weapons and plasma power increases. There are brief descriptions
of these abilities in the manual, but it is still confusing as to when and
where players would need to use these items. For instance, early on in the
game Danny is stopped by a wall through which he evidently must pass to
continue the game after the ghosts in that area have been cleared. It’s pretty
obvious that he has to go through the wall, but just how to do so is left
unexplained. The manual states that the R button is used to toggle through the
weapons and special powers, but as the special power meter also has to be
filled in order to actually use these powers (which isn’t explained in the
manual, all it says is that the more Ghost power he has, the more powerful he
becomes. It also states that accumulating this power will “unleash” the plasma
attacks, but there are no descriptions on what these plasma attacks can do.
And, the biggest question is how exactly to fill this meter?).
So, I spent
a long time jumping Danny Phantom at this impenetrable wall, when quite by
accident I figured it out by randomly mashing all the buttons on the GBA.
Hitting the Select button toggled back over to Dan Fenton (which again isn’t
mentioned in the book’s button control section), which filled the special
power meter. When hitting the Select button again brought up Danny Phantom,
the special meter was still filled, and Danny was then able to use a special
power that enabled him to pass through walls. Of course, which special power I
had selected at this time was unclear, as I was still just mashing buttons. On
restarting the level, I figured it out. Yeah, this was fun and made me want to
play further.
Ok. Now that
I knew what I was doing (sorta, anyway), I forged on.
The game is
evidently split up into worlds, which have a certain number of levels. There
isn’t any description of these in the manual, so it’s left up to the player to
discover the levels during play. Most of the levels involve playing as Danny
Phantom, who has to beat up various ghosts in order to clear the area and move
on to the next area. As he fights, he can pick up gadgets, but these are
temporary and specific to the area, it seems. Experience points are awarded to
his speed, defense and offense abilities. Once a level is completed, a
scoreboard detailing how many points were awarded for experience and enemies
defeated, plus other stats like the time to complete the level, are listed.
Then, it’s on to the next level. While most of the levels just involve
clearing the areas of bad guys, some levels are an arcade type of racing past
obstacles.
Mini-games
are also supposedly available, but again, there is minimal description of how
to access these in the manual. Evidently, a password is used, but how to earn
this password is unclear, as in how many levels have to be beat, or if a
certain number of points have to be earned in the levels to open them. I still
haven’t gotten a password yet, so dunno.
Danny’s
basic abilities include running, jumping, punching and a punch-kick. All of
these work fairly well, except for the jumping, which is abysmal. Danny just
can’t jump very well, and spends a LOT of time falling off high ledges as a
result. This wouldn’t be so bad, but for the fact that the game makes players
restart the level at the beginning each time this happens. This didn’t become
annoying until the third world on the second level, when Danny had to jump
from building to building as he fought the ghosts. It became extremely
frustrating to finally get almost to the end of a level, only to fall off the
building and have to restart at the very beginning of the level. Our resident
action game guru of the house didn’t have any better success, either, and
declared “no more.”
The end
result of this bad jumping effectively stopped us at the third world, so what
lies beyond is anyone’s guess.
It’s too bad
about the bad control design, as this game has the appearance of maybe being a
decent game, although the levels have a sameness about them, as most of them
just involve beating the bad guys up to clear the levels. The various weapons
don’t really add much to the game-play, and are hard to figure out, to boot.
It’s unclear
who the target audience is for this game, as it would appear to be a kid’s
game from the subject material and choice of difficulty levels, but there are
some things missing that are usually included in a kid’s game, like health
power-ups or generous save points during the levels. At the same time, this
game is really too easy for most adults. The only reason we didn’t advance in
the game any further was because of the bad jumping, not because the game
itself was particularly difficult.
Parents of
fans of Danny Phantom should probably avoid this game, as it may be
frustrating to younger players. Older players will find it uninteresting.
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Gameplay: 5.0
The game-play
isn’t any fun, mostly because of having to play the same area again and again,
because Danny can’t jump. He dies and the level has to be re-played. Not fun.
Also, the levels have a sameness about them, with most consisting of just
beating all the ghosts up until they disappear and Danny can then move on. The
mini-games probably break up this somewhat, but who knows….
Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are
well done, and evoke the TV show nicely.
Sound: 6.0
The sound is
average, and matches the show’s theme.
Difficulty: Medium
The game isn’t
meant to be difficult, but is in reality because of the bad button controls
and lack of information.
Concept: 6.0
The design team
appeared to be trying to have fun with this game, with the ghostly comments in
the credits, but the presentation was dismal.
Overall: 5.5
This is yet
another game tied to a popular kids’ show, and unfortunately it belongs to the
vast majority of so-so products based on a famous license. Pass this one by.
