Disney has long been in the business of making the most out of their children’s movie releases, by releasing tie-in merchandise, including software and video games. For the most part, these games have been a mixed bag, with some outstanding titles, along with some real stinkers. The worst titles have all been GBA games; Disney has never been able to find a company that can successfully take a popular movie character and design a competent game around it. Until now, that is.
Vicarious Visions is the designer behind Brother Bear and The Lion King 1/2, both for the GBA. Each of these is a quality product, with The Lion King being just a little better in terms of all-around gaming fun. Vicarious Visions has been around a long time, and has many, many games under their belt. They’ve done a superb job of translating the charm of the movie Brother Bear to a handheld system.
The game is divided into four worlds with twenty levels, based on the locations in the movie: Snow Forest, Ice Caves, Valley of Fire and the Mountain. Each of the levels has slightly different items and location-based puzzles based on the world, but they are more alike than dissimilar.
In the movie, Koda and Kenai depend on each other to make it across many dangerous areas, and this game reflects that. Sometimes Koda and Kenai are played separately and sometimes as a team, but they always have to look out for each other. When they’re separate, players will have to figure out how to first get one bear across the level, then the other, before the level is completed. Their paths often are divergent from each other, as Koda can crawl into low passages and climb trees, and Kenai can jump higher and body slam certain rock piles apart. They have different moves, as well. Many times one or the other bear will have to perform an action that enables the other to get across an obstacle, like a snare or a high jump.
When they’re a team, Koda will ride on the back of Kenai, which for practical purposes mainly means that it’s just Kenai. The only real difference in this mode is that Koda can reach down off Kenai’s back and snag things that are hanging off ledges.
There is excellent collision control, the quality of which is what usually sinks these types of children’s games. Koda and Kenai almost never die from getting too close to hazards, they really have to be
on top of it to get hurt. However, on the harder levels, the difficulty is mainly a matter of increased “blind jumps”, where the characters have to blindly leap off into the unknown, which usually means death in these later levels. Many times the only way to scout out an area’s hazards are by dying in this method. But, there are
numerous lives in each level, so this isn’t as much of a hassle as it could be.
The characters are charmingly animated, with cute little movements when either in motion or standing still. We especially enjoyed the expression of trepidation on Kenai’s face each time he crossed a log across a chasm, wobbling too and fro! The locations are well-drawn, but pretty much resemble each other in design and hazards, except for the Ice Caves location, which is really cool (excuse the pun). Here, Koda and Kenai have to maneuver around on ice, which is very slippery. Getting through these levels means taking this sliding into account, as players judge the distance between leaps from platforms. Graphically, this is the best location, too, and the smoothness of the animation of the bears sliding around is very nice.
The music is pretty good, but nothing memorable. Since we haven’t seen the movie yet, we don’t know if it matches the movie’s songs or not. It’s not annoying, anyway.
This is a kids’ game, and is easy to play. There are few enemies, and no bosses. There is a chase scene between each level, involving the hunter, Denahi, but the bears just have to run faster than he to get away. There are mini-games that can be unlocked for each world by finding all the totems for each level, but they are the same ones for each world: a sliding puzzle, a matching game, and an arcade swimming game. It does become difficult in spots, but this is due to hazards like fire and water that can be avoided with practice, not by enemies attacking.
This is a very good children’s GBA game. Unlike many such that depend on the movie tie-in to sell the game without worrying overly much about quality, this game offers kids easy gameplay with sufficient challenge to keep their interest high. The characters are well-animated, and the level design offers interesting puzzles that can be discovered with care. While the bears will often die at the beginning of a level due to blind jumping, numerous lives take the sting out of it. Really, the only quibbles I have with the game is the amount of blind jumping and the sameness of the puzzles and obstacles in most of the worlds. But the kids won’t care about the similarities in gameplay from level to level, they’ll be too busy enjoying playing as Kenai and Koda.
Gameplay: 8.5
An excellent example of a fun kids’ game, that won’t frustrate. Plenty of challenge without being too difficult to finish.
Graphics: 8
The animation is very nice, and the bears look great! The backgrounds are not quite as good-looking, but still well-done.
Sound: 6
Wholly average music.
Difficulty: Easy
This is a kids’ game that is easy to play, nothing too difficult here except for the amount of blind jumping in later levels.
Concept: 7
The basic platform format is pretty much the same as many games before, but the presentation and design is excellent. The designers kept the kids in mind.
Overall: 8
A good children’s game that is sure to be a hit this holiday! The gameplay is engaging, while being fairly easy. Older kids will probably find it too easy and short, but younger or inexperienced gamers will thoroughly enjoy it.
