the Lost Code” based on the popular Kids WB cartoon series “Mucha Lucha”,
features the series’ three main masked wrestling kiddies Rikochet, Buena Girl,
and last, but certainly not least, The Flea, as they battle numerous baddies
and other masked wrestlers from the show. The story behind the game is that
someone has stolen the “Code of Masked Wrestling” from the kids’ school; The
School of Lucha, and the kids are threatened with expulsion if the book is not
retrieved because they were the last ones seen with it.
The game plays like the
side-scrolling beat’em-ups of yore, with one huge, major problem, there is no
gameplay to speak of. There are supposed to be fifteen different moves
available for the young masked wrestlers or “mascaritas” to pull off, and that
very well may be the truth, although I didn’t find, nor need them. The game
quickly deteriorates into mashing on the punch or kick, there’s really no
difference other than preference, to beat the enemies into submission. This
proves to be the easiest, quickest way to fight your way through the levels.
However, “quick” might not have been the best choice of words to use. The
average, ordinary, “garden variety” foes on each level take a minimum, of a
very boss like, twenty blows to do away with. This does not mean that the
enemies are hard, because they’re not, they’ll stand there and take all that
you want to dish out, it’s that they are very time consuming. Being that the
game is on the very short side (it took me a little under two hours with one
life to beat the game using only the punch button), one almost has to wonder
if the developer used this as a means of artificially extending the life of
the game. The actual boss battles differ only in the fact that they take up
more of the screen than the other enemies, and they’ll take at least double
the punches as their henchmen.
While the gameplay is
very weak, the graphics are the exact opposite. The graphics have a cell
shaded look that does an impressive job of capturing the look and feel of the
show. The main characters, while on the small side, are carbon copies of
their Saturday morning counterparts. They look and move precisely as the
characters do on the show, which I’m sure, was no small feat of programming on
the handheld. Another impressive aspect of the graphics is that there is no
visible slow down even when there are five enemies on screen at once. I’ve
played games on my beloved little, gray, box from Sony with lesser graphics
and truckloads more slowdown with fewer enemies. A lot of this is probably
due to the fact that the environments are very bare and lifeless, but it’s
still admirable nonetheless. The sound on the other hand, is more comparable
to the gameplay. The music is very “tinny” sounding as it loops the same song
over and over and over. The sound effects are virtually non-existent most of
the time. Every once in a while you might hear one of your punches or kicks
land, but usually there is no aural report to let you know if blows are being
landed or not. Rest assured however, if the enemy is before you and you’re
hitting a button, your enemy will eventually fall.
In the end, not even the
great, almighty Flea is enough to save this cart. I love the show as does the
little Bearer, but the characters are just not enough to overcome the
repetitive, flawed gameplay. If you love the show, spend your time watching
the episodes and hoping that the developer will take the graphics engine and
craft an actual wrestling game with the license, which would be much more
fitting.
Gameplay: 4
Repetitive,
repetitive, repetitive. Each and every enemy is defeated in the same way as
the last, from beginning to end.
Graphics: 7.5
The characters,
both good and bad, look and move just like they do on the show. This should
be the graphical goal with any licensed game, and they have mostly succeeded
except for the plain, drab environments.
Sound: 4
See gameplay
explanation. There is absolutely no variety to be had.
Difficulty: Easy
One button will
see you through the entire game, although you’ll feel like you’ve played
considerably longer.
Concept: 5
I’m all for games
based on great licenses, but wouldn’t you think that a show based on masked
children wrestlers would be all about the wrestling?
Overall: 4.5
There’s just not
a whole lot here, even for fans of the show.
