Nicktoons characters do when they’re not starring in popular TV shows? They
join together as one to save the world…! Actually, their ambitions
aren’t quite that grandiose. They are, however, dedicated to saving Volcano
Island, a land endangered by the evil Mawgu. Not to be confused with a
mongoose, Mawgu is a fierce villain who will stop at nothing to prevent you
from completing your mission.
Anything except ask you to
attack.
The worlds of Nicktoons
Battle for Volcano Island could be combined as one giant puzzle. Every
scenario presents a different navigational problem. Players will need to avoid
spiked barriers, thrust themselves over large gaps, and remove goo dripping
from an unknown source, among many other things.
It’s not up to the player
to decide how these problems are solved. They are not optional, negligible, or
in any way substitutable for any solution but the one intended by the
developers.
Solutions are determined
by the type of environment, each of which requires a different character to
bypass. That’s essentially what this game is – one of bypassing areas to
collect the items that allow you to bypass more areas. It doesn’t take the
genre anywhere else, but don’t give up hope just yet. Though this game is far
from what its target market is looking for, some gamers might still find it
worth examining.
Battle for Volcano Island
features four recognizable Nick celebrities: SpongeBob, Danny Phantom, Patrick
Star, and Timmy Turner. Drawing upon TV’s most popular cartoon character, the
game starts off with SpongeBob under your control. He can jump and blow
bubbles. Given how quick and smooth the controls were – no unnecessary stops
or stuttering (it sounds simple, but let’s not forget the number of games that
screwed this up) – I expected to acquire several options for SpongeBob. I
figured the game was starting out slow, allowing kids of all ages to get the
hang of the experience.
Then another character
entered the picture: Danny Phantom. Danny could jump just as well as SpongeBob,
but the growing superhero did not come equipped with any bubble-shooting
powers. He was gifted with the ability to change color, an effect the game
refers to as "ghost mode." For now its usefulness was not quite clear.
Ghosting did not prevent enemies from hurting Danny, and that’s typically the
whole reason for having such a feature. Not that there’s anything "typical"
about Danny.
Before I got a chance to
sink into my two playable characters, another entered the fray: Timmy Turner.
As it turns out, his parents are pretty odd! They follow him around for
no apparent reason, popping up when you’d least expect it. A couple of the
times were predictable – it seems they liked to show up whenever they knew
Timmy wasn’t going to successfully complete his jump.
Timmy, unlike the others,
has a special jump. He can jump the standard way. But he is without powers
comparable to SpongeBob or Danny, nor does he have powers that resemble the
character you’ll acquire next – Patrick.
Timmy’s own abilities
enable him to grab onto any of the rings found throughout the game. All
characters can grab them, but only Timmy can stretch his arms further than the
length of his entire body. From this position the player can swing Timmy
around and launch him in any direction, catapult-style.
Danny’s ghost-like powers
turned out to be another key to puzzling scenarios. Depending on which
character the game wants you to play as, you may be bombarded with a series of
problems that only one specific character can fix. In Danny’s case, all you’ll
get is colored platforms. The two main colors you’ll encounter are blue and
green. When you’re playing as normal Danny, blue platforms are solid – green
platforms are transparent and can be walked through. When Danny is in ghost
form, the platforms’ solidities are reversed. Now blue is the one you can walk
through, and green is as hard as a rock.
The cool part about this
is how you’ll have to change between normal and ghost modes to climb through a
level. The higher the platforms go, the harder they’ll be to navigate. You’ll
have to switch modes midair, and that’s not always an easy thing to do. Once
or twice in a row isn’t too bad. Certainly this is nowhere near the challenge
of the average GBA adventure game. When you have to change modes several times
to sustain your position in the level – it’s not Earth-shattering, but it
keeps your fingers moving.
SpongeBob’s bubbles,
though seemingly useless at first, are the only way you’re going to remove
that weird goo that keeps pouring out of the island. Patrick, the star-man
blob thing, can stick to certain walls and use his pants as a parachute.
I enjoyed some of the
levels and appreciated the controls, but for most gamers, that’s about as far
as Battle for Volcano Island’s appeal will go. This kid-targeted game is big
on exploration and world puzzle solutions. It’s a thinking game. You don’t
fight enemies, you run away from them.
That right there is
enough to kill the intended audience. The average SpongeBob, Danny Phantom, or
Fairly OddParents fan is not going to have the patience to tolerate what this
game throws at them.
In addition to the
puzzles already described, there are also a series of cheap, hit-or-miss
conundrums that do not control very well. When playing as Timmy, his
destination will, on multiple occasions, be blocked by an unnecessary wall or
ceiling. I know where the game was headed with this: more challenge. But
without analog sensitivity to carefully adjust Timmy, and without a 3D camera
to see everything in front of you, there’s no way for it to provide extra
challenge. Just more frustration.
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Gameplay: 6
A clever world
puzzler with numerous turnoffs. Battle for Volcano Island is an interesting
title that’s worth looking into if you like unusual games. Most kids, however,
should pass. They’ll get more out of the standalone SpongeBob games, which are
much more action-oriented.
Graphics: 6
Nothing new from
these visuals, which are well below the best the Game Boy Advance (a
six-year-old handheld) and SNES (a 15-year-old console) games have to offer.
Sound: 7
Better than most
GBA soundtracks. The sound effects are weak, but the music is kind of catchy.
Difficulty: Easy
Frustrations
aside, Battle for Volcano Island isn’t a difficult game. Kids – who are less
patient and less experienced – might beg to differ.
Concept: 6.9
Battle for
Volcano Island’s world puzzles are great when they’re not frustrating. When
they are, the game doesn’t feel like it’s worth continuing. Also, the
characters – while fun and necessary for a game with a large cast, where is
the individual significance? They all have different powers. But in any other
game, each of those powers would have been applied to the same
character. I know that was the concept – to cram Nicktoons’ stars into one
game. But if you’re going to do that, you need to take into account the
importance of each character. Applying one or two unique moves to each party
member is not enough, especially when those powers could have easily been
applied to just one character.
Overall: 6
Nicktoons Battle
for Volcano Island presents some interesting concepts, but there isn’t enough
to any of them for the game to pan out. Hit-or-miss puzzles do, on rare
occasions, hit a homerun. In most cases, however, they strike out.
