MCPC Games
Gameboy Advance

The heart of the game is the golf sim. The controls are familiar to most electronic golfers, press button to start a back-swing, press it again to end the back swing, and then press a final time to connect with the ball. The back swing controls the ball power, and the accuracy of the final button press controls the accuracy of the shot. It is not as tricky as it sounds, but the new game also allows a simpler control. The "A" button starts a back stroke, and pressing it again will end the back stroke and let the game finish the stroke. While it is not as accurate as pressing "B" and then pressing a button again to connect with the ball, it's a great option for younger players and for players just starting to get the feel of the game. A few extra button presses will also let one add topspin or backspin to the ball. While this may all seem complex, the controls really do seem spot-on and setting up shots isn't too difficult. As courses get tougher, you soon find the buttons second nature, meanwhile you agonize over which spot you want to hit on the fairway and how much to compensate for the wind.

This IS a Nintendo game, so there are plenty of things to see, do, and unlock. A club maker will reward you with clubs that have special properties, provided you have the right prize ticket. There are golf pros to challenge, and many golf-based mini-games to play and experience. Several of these games are modes of golf in their own right and can be selected from the main menu. You can choose from golf slots (where your bag is filled with a semi-random collection of only 3 clubs), golf through slalom gates on the course, or mess around with some of the stranger courses where there are action buttons that cause the course environment to change in the middle of play. Most of the common, and several quite uncommon (such as speed golf), styles of golf play are available.

The entire game is well made and should provide a fun game experience for almost anyone. With all extras to explore and unlock in the story and regular play modes, there is plenty to do. The only thing holding the game back is its similarity to the previous Mario Golf on the Gameboy Color. There are nice improvements in this version, but if you played the first title, you might bored a bit sooner than an newcomer. In any case, Mario Golf: Advance Tour is still an excellent game. If you missed out on the previous one or know you enjoy the Mario line of RPG/sports titles (tennis, golf) this is a clear winner. If you've yet to pick one up, I give it a hearty recommendation as one of the better titles available for the GBA.
(Written August 2004.)

The game plays through a series of events spread over several days. Each day there are three events, such as tennis, beach volleyball, swimming, diving, or archery. Compete in each event and earn a medal for your hamster team. At the end of all the days, a winning team is declared based on the number of medals won. The various events are sports-themed minigames that tend to call upon button press timing or button press matching to complete. Events can be practiced as many times as a player wishes before the actual contest. Perform well in an event, and you earn seeds which serve as money. Winning at higher difficulty levels give even more seeds. Seeds can be used to buy new outfits for hamsters and other toys and rewards.

Traveling between events, as well as sleeping each night, serve as a mild RPG-like backdrop for the overall game. Hidden areas and secrets have some additional seeds to be acquired and there are plenty of hamsters from other teams to meet and greet. After completing one entire set of games, a new collecting mode is unlocked so players can go through the game and exchange cards with all of the hamster characters.

A game lacking any real faults but also lacking much depth for older players. It contains plenty of cuteness with all the little cuddly hamsters around, even the villain teams. Anyone with a serious aversion for cuteness on the level of Hello Kitty should definitely steer clear, but younger players might enjoy the competitions and trying to set new world records in the various hamster events.
(Written September 2004.)

Fast forward to 2004, and Nintendo has released Mario vs. Donkey Kong. This game is an homage to the previous two games (Arcade and GameBoy) that has been made more colorful, upbeat, and just a tad friendlier. Once again, Mario is using all his jumping, climbing, and puzzle solving abilities to catch up with Donkey Kong who has made off with stolen little toy replicas of Mario. The game primarily consists of six worlds of eight levels each. The first six levels of each world are actually two screens of fun. The first screen, Mario must reach a key and then take it to a locked door located on another part of the board. After passing through the door, the second part of the level requires finding a pathway to reach the little Mario toy still sealed in its tiny bubble packaging. The challenge comes in the extras. Collect the presents scattered in out of the way places to get a better score and earn bonus lives. Finish quickly to obtain a high score and earn a star. The seventh level in each world is somewhat of a mini Lemmings game where you must lead all six mini Mario toys to freedom by having them follow you around the board to get to a little box of toys. The final level on each world is a battle with Donkey Kong himself. Even when all six worlds are finished there are more things to unlock and play.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a great example of taking old-school platform gameplay and doing it right. It has great GBA graphics, voice sound effects(some might say too much Mario at times), and some gripping gameplay. This is all packaged in such a way that you can pick it up and play for 5-10 minutes and then put it back down again. This is what makes handheld gaming so great. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a good GBA game, a must buy for fans of platformers.
(Written June 2004.)

Fire Emblem was developed by the same folks that made the excellent GBA Advance Wars titles, and the game's turn based combat reflects this. While just patiently slugging it out can bring positive results, better players will want to take advantage of unit tactics, terrain effects, ranged combat, as well as individual unit strengths and weaknesses in order to get the most bang for their units' buck. As the game progresses, some new units appear and older units become more powerful providing a continuing variety of combat experiences. Combats can focus on different primary and secondary objectives, from surviving, to killing all opponents, or even trying to convince some opposing units to join your side.

Connecting all the turn based combats together is an overarching story played out in cut scenes between each battle as well as some events and discussions that occur within combat. Those looking for an Advance Wars type game with new units will find the story line getting in the way of the combats. Taken as a strategic RPG, the game is seen in a much better light. For most battles, a player is allowed to bring along a set number of units and no more will be provided during the fight. Every unit has a name and history, and as they fight they increase in power. This helps players become attached to their units, but can become frustrating if a particular unit dies in combat. Units typically don't die, but are wounded and permanently removed from combat. They can no longer be used during that combat or any later combat, although they might still appear in occasional cut scene. As is typical, the game is lost and the battle must be started over if one of the primary characters is disabled. Almost every battle is bracketed with cut scenes filled with text that further the story, some might say too much text. While there are often snippets of advice and hints within the text discussions for hidden features and ways to accomplish secondary goals on a battlefield, a simple press of a button or two will fast forward over the discussions and jump right to the battlefield set up screen.

A significant difference from run of the mill turn-based games are the units. In Fire Emblem, every unit has a name and a history and they follow you throughout the game. This is a two edged sword. Slowly leveling up your favorite characters can be entertaining and can help immerse you in the game, but the inevitable loss of a character here or there can seem even more devastating. While starting a scenario over to try and avoid the loss is always an option, it greatly bogs down the game's storyline. Since character death is so dramatic, it is a nice touch that the initial campaign serves as almost a tutorial, after which a new, longer storyline begins and all the old characters are rediscovered, whether they were previously injured or not.

The game has a thick manual for a GBA game, but it leaves quite a bit for discovery within the game. In particular, there is only a small amount of information on items and weapons that can be found within the game. It is nice to have sense of discovery during the game, but many unique items are rare or single-use and if they are encountered early in the story, a player can easily regret applying the bonuses to an inappropriate character. Some of the battles have similar trial and error issues, but they are relatively minor and if a player is particularly concerned you can pay an oracle ahead of time and get hints as to how best to prepare for battle. (Who to select and what items to wield.)

Fire Emblem is an excellent and lengthy diversion for fans of turn based strategy as well as combat-oriented RPGs. There is serious depth to the game play, and enough back story to have a reasonable plot. It's a polished game and has a number of nice bonus features or Easter eggs, such as on-battlefield character discussions that do nothing but add flavor text to the battles. Intense war gamers should be warned that since every character is unique, battles cannot be fights of attrition. Aside from that caveat, it's a highly recommended game for all ages.
(Written March 2004.)

The actual game consists of trying to accomplish set goals while maintaining your sim's happiness. While sims in previous incarnations of the series were fairly independent, in the GBA version of Bustin' Out, your sim is entirely under your control. That means you have to maintain his or her comfort levels by making sure they're fed, washed, gone to the bathroom, socialized, entertained, and visit their home frequently. (Sims get homesick.) All of this is really in the background. The game progresses as you meet people, speak with them using a multiple choice interface, and try to increase your friendship index with each person. Answer questions favorably and your score increases, answer poorly and your score drops. New chores and objectives can appear as you meet new people. As your sim runs around talking to people and doing chores, he or she will signal you when any comfort level category drops and it should be taken care of quickly. Ignore a comfort category too long and your sim will have problems, either collapsing on the spot from fatigue or wetting their pants and making a mess on the ground. This rarely happens, because as soon as a comfort level reaches a low threshold, your sim can no longer talk to other sims and must fix the problem immediately. This can become frustrating as you may accomplish a task only to have your sim become hungry in the middle of the conversation, requiring you to go get something to eat and then find the character again before you can finish the task.

There are five levels in the game with about six major goals per level. As sets of tasks are completed to finish off a major goal, minigames can become unlocked. These are mostly job related activities that can earn your sim extra cash. Some examples are: fishing, mowing the lawn, weightlifting, serving drinks at the local bar, making pizza, and even playing the guitar in a band. The mingames are fairly challenging at first, with some better moneymakers than others. As you increase your sim's vital statistics (like creativity, logic, or body) and perform well in minigames, you can get promoted to higher difficulty versions of the games that have higher payoffs. Statistics can be improved through reading books at the library or using the gym facilities

Typically, the last goal for each level allows you to move into a better and better living area. Here, the standard collecting and rearranging objects and furniture comes into play. There are a number of different stores in the area where you can shop. In the early evenings, there is an auction feature if you want to try to buy something on the cheap. However, without practice, one can often end up buying items for more than market value. Decorating your home with items is more than window dressing, as bathroom and kitchen facilities allow you to take care of your sims needs in the convenience of your home. There are also items that can be used in order to increase your statistics, such as a chess set that increases your logic ability as you play.

One additional feature of the Gameboy Advance version is its connectivity to other GBAs as well as the GameCube. You can trade items with other GBA Bustin' Out owners and just by linking to another GBA system you unlock a special vacation island that is available to visit from then on. Owners of the GameCube version can send their sim out to play in SimValley and then re-import him or her to the GameCube version with any additional money or ability increases earned in the GBA version. There is also a minigame item unlocked for purchase in the GameCube version where you can play minigames using your GBA while its hooked up to the GameCube.

On reflection, The Sims: Bustin' Out is a pretty well put together title with a variety of features and things to do. However, in giving the player more control over his or her sim the game has strayed away from some of the more hands-off aspects of the original game. In the end, the game is more of a Role-Playing Game and less of a simulation. While some tasks are nice, problems with locating specific people can become frustrating and stop your game progression cold. A telephone call can help locate sims, but some are notoriously hard to locate and aren't exactly where they say they can be found, just nearby. Add this to the constant requirement to take care of all your sims needs and the game can feel a bit tedious. Sometimes just as you feel like you are getting somewhere, you're forced to run back home to take care of things. This is not the Sims you are used to playing, but its not all bad either. People who enjoy the collecting and laid-back style of the Sims will find plenty to do in the GBA Bustin' Out version, but those who really enjoy watching to see what their sim is going to do in a given situation will be disappointed with having to micromanage their sim's needs.
(Written December 2003.)

The basic idea is that WarioWare contains over 200 little mini games that each take about five seconds to play. Fail to complete the game, and you lose a life. Lose four lives and you're out. However, the farther along you get, the faster the little minigames are played. After awhile, you play a more involved minigame called a boss stage. Complete that, and you gain a life, but all the minigames increase in difficulty. For an example, you might be asked to jump over an object racing towards you. At easy levels, the object just comes faster and faster. Once you go up in difficulty, the objects will sometimes jump, making you want to stand still, or possibly pause, and make you want to jump at a later time.

The initial focus of the game is a gauntlet of amusing characters that you must encounter in order. Each character has a set of minigames to challenge you, usually in some sort of theme like nature, or sports. Beat each character in the gauntlet in turn to finally reach Wario and beat his set of minigames to finish the story mode. The minigames are quite a treat, as many of them have quite humorous subjects, such as picking a nose, eating a hotdog, and keeping a little kitten from getting wet in the rain. The sheer variety is quite stimulating, as in one game it will be line drawn black and white graphics, and then your very next game, you'll be trying to keep a beautiful lady from suffering from post nasal drip. A very nice touch is that many of the minigames will fill the older gamer with nostalgia as you recognize situations similar to classic games such as: "Spy Hunter", "Donkey Kong", "Excitabike", and even some of the old Nintendo Game and Watch games.

As you beat characters in the game, and sometimes if you go back and improve your previous score, you can unlock bonus minigames that can be played for a high score in their own right. Usually, they are just games that are slightly more involved than their minigame counterpart, and they do not have a set time limit. You play them until you crash, fail, get shot, etc.... Some of the minigames unlocked are even vs games for two players, designed to be played with two people using a single GBA. They are quite simple games, but fun for a quick little contest with a friend. It is a very nice feature.

Even with the unlockable minigames the game can be a bit on the short side, but if one thinks of the whole game as more of a puzzler game that challenges one to improve in skill, it works out well. This game comes highly recommended to anyone from the younger set of gamers. Older set of gamers with a sense of humor will enjoy the nostalgia factor as well as some of the mild middle-school sense of humor of some of the games. If you're looking for a deep game, look elsewhere, but if you just want a nice little diversion from life, WarioWare, Inc. fits the bill perfectly.
(Written September 2003.)

The sequel to Advance Wars, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, is now available and thankfully there have been only minor changes to the overall game. The campaign is a bit longer, there are more commanding officer (CO) characters to choose from, and there is one new unit, a very large super-tank. However, the few changes that were made do make the game a better one, so anyone who enjoyed the original game will probably want to pick the sequel up.

Lets look at some of the changes. First of all, the added uber-tank called a Neotank costs about 50% more than the previous large tank and does quite a bit of damage. Its worth its purchase price when you need to power through other sturdy tanks, but is in danger of losing its cost effectiveness if it encounters too much artillery or cheap antitank infantry.

A second minor change is the addition of several new commanding officer characters. All the COs from the original game are here and are fighting on your side in the campaign mode, as well as three new allied COs. The original uber-bad-guy, Sturm, is still your arch nemesis and leads four new COs. In addition, every CO now has two powers, one normal power, and a second more powerful super power. For instance, the CO Max can heal his units for 2 points of damage with his power, but his superpower heals his units for 5 points of damage. In a nice play balancing move, each COs' power meters fill at slower or faster speeds so stronger CO powers are useable less often. A final bonus CO frill is that once a new CO is purchased at the battlemap section to be used outside the campaign mode, you can then also purchase the ability to change their clothing color scheme from among eight predetermined choices. The COs will then show up in that color scheme within the campaign game as well.

The third, significant, change is the campaign mode itself. At the normal difficulty, the enemy is slightly smarter than the original game, but most of the maps are set up to be far more challenging. This is accomplished by using special map items such as large and small gun emplacements, indestructible barriers such as pipelines that can only be broken in specific places, laser turrets that shoot in a pattern completely across the map, and even lava spewing volcanoes. As a result, some campaign battles border on puzzle solving as you try to take advantage of the board layout and battle your opponent at the same time. This adds a nice variety to battles, since those who crave the purity of a one on one battle against the computer can also play games in the battle mode. While the battles are slightly harder this time around, I found the scoring to be just a bit easier. Rather than coins, this time points are awarded for collecting, and I found it slightly easier to earn an "A" or even an "S" grade for campaign battles than in the original game.

One last addition to the game is the ability to design your own maps. Maps can be designed and traded between game cartridges. While designing an entire map from scratch can be a bit time consuming using the GBA buttons, it's a nice addition to the game and allows players to pit themselves against the makers of the game to see if they could design something better.

In conclusion, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is an excellent game. It rates very highly even if you're not a fan of strategy games. However, since almost all strategy titles for portable consoles have had very poor showings, Advance Wars 2 shines out like the gem it is. It is highly recommended for anyone.
(Written August 2003.)

The controls are fairly straightforward and are intuitive, which avoids any frustration with levels due to poor game control. The graphics are sharp and brightly colored so that objects are usually easily discerned and detected onscreen. The are occasional problems with depth perception in the Atlas Ball levels and some parts of the water-skiing levels, but, with practice they are surmountable. There are multiplayer modes available to those with 2 GBA's and 2 game cartridges and several other bonus modes only unlocked if you have completed parts of the previous GBA Crash Bandicoot game (The Huge Adventure).

With a variety of level styles, well designed levels, and multiple levels of challenges available on each level, Crash Bandicoot N-Tranced is a solid GBA game. It is a recommended buy for everyone but avowed haters of the platform genre.

As mentioned, the game is on the short side, with only a few hidden areas to discover on any given level. Thankfully, the game can be saved, but only at the end of missions which can be a problem if you prefer to play your GBA in very short, less than 15 minute, sessions. Since the storyline is fairly linear, and there is no multiplayer support, the game ends up seeming just a bit short for my tastes. It is a great game for fans of the comic book heroes, giving some limelight out to the less-appreciated superheroes of the League, but it just doesn't last long enough to rate it a top purchase.

The game is in the 2 1/2 dimension format common to games of this type. The characters are all 2D but are animated as if they are 3D while the viewpoint of the player is looking down at an angle. This is a nice viewpoint to use to see obstacles and enemies, but at times control is a little difficult with the small GBA gamepad. If you are used to playing platform games on a console with a nice analog joystick, transitioning back to a digital 4 way d-pad on a GBA can sometimes be frustrating. With that, minor, caveat, Spyro 2: Seasons of Flame is an excellent selection for anyone who wants a quality platformer for gaming on the go.

In many ways, the game is well done. For such a tiny screen the graphics are usually easy to see, the text is readable, and the developers did amazing things in order to simplify the ease of navigating menus of the various characters. However, in order to simplify the game a little bit for players of the GBA, the game has lost much of its depth. Combats are slow moving affairs with each individual combatant walking across the field of battle to take a swing at an enemy and then walking back again. Controlling the wandering characters in the main world is also a problem at times. While there aren't any action sequences where it is a problem, it can still be annoying to have minor difficulties wandering around the world. Some of this is the result of the nice semi-three dimensional viewpoint. While it is pretty, it means most of the character walking around is done at the four "angled" directions (NE,NW,SE, or SW) and the D-pad isn't quite as easy to control in those directions.

In summary, the game itself is ok, but lacks depth for an older gamer. While this might make it accessible for younger players, gamers most likely to be interested in the series would tend to be from the older crowd. The Fellowship of the Ring for the GBA only gets a moderate recommendation for gamers who are only looking for a more simplistic RPG on their Gameboy Advance.

The e-Reader is not just for storing games, Nintendo has already put in place several other uses. The newest release of Pokemon collectible cards include lines of dot codes along the bottom of almost every card that, if swiped in the e-Reader, give advice and information about that particular Pokemon card. Along the side of many of the new expansion cards are additional dot code strips. These are often parts of larger games, requiring more than one Pokemon card to complete. Some card sets contain short little animations of Pokemon, often the Pokemon on the cards swiped to create the animation. Other card sets contain music, sounds, and even minigames. In addition to the Pokemon cards, the Gamecube game Animal Crossing is releasing cards that can be swiped into the e-Reader to provide special prizes and other gifts to the virtual characters in the Animal Crossing game.

While swiping both sides of a set of five cards can be a little bit annoying at times, the e-Reader stores in its internal memory whichever game was read in last. The Gameboy Advance can then be turned off and when it is next turned on the previously stored game is still ready to play. Only when a new game is read in is an old game written over. Swiping the card is just slightly tricky at first, until one gets the hang of it. However, if a read error occurs, only that one dot code strip has to be reread. After a little practice, read errors are infrequent.

As might be expected, the games themselves pale in comparison to most currently available Gameboy Advance games. However, the "Cool" factor and the Nostalgia factor of the e-Reader is off the chart. The games available are exact replicas of the games many older players remember in the arcade and on the NES system. The controls for the games seem to work well for the ones we tried, Donkey Kong Jr. and Pinball. The e-Reader typically comes with one or the other, and additional games are available in five card packs for about $5 per pack. This technology is just darn spiffy to a technophile. Being able to show someone a set of five playing cards, pointing to little tiny squares full of dots on the side, and declaring that these cards contain the entire Donkey Kong Jr. arcade game is enough to make many gageteers green with envy.

The e-Reader is a remarkable new piece of hardware. If the concept doesn't grip you right away, and you know you aren't a fan of old fashioned arcade and NES games, then by all means stay away. Currently, there just aren't any overly impressive games available. (Other than the impressive fact of the game storage medium itself... little dots on cards.) However, the e-Reader is a must-by for any true technophile, gadget-hound, or nostalgic gamer.

The entire game is constructed to attract people new to the genre. A set of training missions introduces the interface and basic ideas of unit control, supply lines, and other common wargame concepts. Once they are finished, you can begin the campaign mode witch leads you on a long series of battles that follow a storyline. Animations are provided for battle scenes to make them more "exciting", but they can be turned off in the options menu in all but the campaign games. Performing well in the campaign unlocks other options modes of playing the game. For example, you can earn coins, which are then spent to purchase battlefield maps useable in multiplayer games.

If you have friends with their own Gameboy Advance consoles, the game is a great deal. You can play multiplayer battles in several different modes. The basic mode is for a single GBA and cartridge, setup the game and take your turns by passing the Gameboy Advance back and forth. If you have multiple GBAs, one cartridge will allow up to four people to play a multiplayer battle. Finally, if you have a game pack for each player, there are a number of additional rule and map options available for multiplayer game play. In this mode, you can even save your multiplayer games in progress.

Overall, the graphics and sound are fair but not exactly eye-catching. They do the job and units can be identified without any problems. Sometimes the color scheme of some units can be difficult in sub-optimal lighting, but it is rarely an issue.

The computer AI is passable and will take advantage of your mistakes but isn't quite a full match for a capable human player. Many of the campaign scenarios are somewhat stacked against the human player and set up to require a particular strategy on the human player's part in order to be successful. However, that doesn't stop the overall enjoyment of the game. It's a strategy wargame all the way, and while not Big Blue, it is a decent challenge for so small a package.

If you know you just can't handle a little cuteness with your strategy games, you might want to be a little wary, but for anyone willing to look beyond the Nintendo style, this is a definite treat for thinking gamers. It is also a great present for that daughter, niece, or nephew that you want to introduce to the world of wargames. Advance Wars is the game MCPCGames has been waiting for ever since the Gameboy Advance system was announced. Advance Wars itself wasn't announced until later, but we recognized the Gameboy Advance was a portable gaming system that finally had enough power to run a strategy wargame with depth and complexity. Advance Wars is not going to replace any serious computer wargame player's desktop machine, but within its specialized niche it is truly a great game.

The polish of Nintendo's programmers is clearly seen in the first set of levels. While traversing a rather simple level scheme, you progress only if you learn Wario's basic moves, which are conveniently inscribed onto the background of the walls in pseudo-Egyptian hieroglyphics. Each level is designed so that you must run, jump, and fight your way into the deepest part of each level while you search for the key to the next level and the four parts of a gem found in each level. Optionally, you can also look around for a minidisk hidden away that holds a short soundtrack you can listen to in the special playback room. Once you find the switch at the end of the level, you have to retrace all your steps back to the start of the level in order to hop into the warp gate that will lead you home. However, you have a time limit and often the switch will open up new secret passages that you should explore if you want to get all the possible treasure. This mixture of exploration into the level with a time pressure for escaping the level once its fully explored combines and gives the game an "Indiana Jones" style of feel that fits in nicely with the Egyptian pyramid exploration back story.

Collecting the key in a level opens up the next level in a series. Collecting all 4 parts of a gem in each of four levels opens up the gate where you can fight the series boss monster. If the boss monster is too tough, you can spend gold you earn in completed levels on three minigames like baseball or face matching where you can earn special coins. These special coins are used in the pre-boss magic shops to buy toys that weaken the boss before you start to fight. It's a cute addition to the game that adds to the fun. It's not necessary to use the toys to kill the bosses, but the minigames are often fun just by themselves, a definite bonus value for your gaming dollar.

The Gameboy Advance is really strutting its stuff in this game. Sound is of high quality with occasional vocal calls by Wario. What stands out are the graphics. Each level series has a bit of a theme, and even the levels within a series sometimes have significantly different feel to them. The bright, colorful, cheery graphics in one level are even more impressive when contrasted with the rocky, volcanic terrain found in another.

If you're looking for a platform game on the Gameboy Advance, look no farther. Warioland 4 is the best one out there so far. The game flows well, with most of the items needed to progress the game able to be found the first time through each level. However, some items, like the listening mini-discs, are often well hidden and can provide a larger challenge to those who simply must find EVERYTHING in a level.

The heart of this game is basically a platformer game crossed with a fighting game. Roam around levels avoiding traps and hazards while you fight with enemies. find secret power-ups like new spidey-suits and web shooter improvements, all while beating up on the bad guys. Make it through a level and you fight one of the sinister six as a zone boss. It's a simple concept, but simple concepts work well in handheld games, and this game is no exception.

The graphics in the game are not simple, however. While the character sprites aren't as large as in the recent X-Men GBA game (see that review below), the characters are plenty large enough for the GBA's handheld screen. If Spiderman were any larger, you would lose the sense of freedom you have while web-slinging around the levels.

Sound effects and music are nothing to call Aunt Mae about, but are very adequate. Despite the improvements in the sound chip of GBA's, things still sound a bit tinny through those little speakers. No multiplayer modes are available, but that is much preferable to sacrificing other development time just to make a haphazard multiplayer mode. Finally, the only save option is through password saves. True, this does make things cheaper and password saves fit well with this game, but if I'm to spend $40 on a game, I would prefer a save game feature rather than remembering short strings of 6 letters and numbers just to continue my game. In addition, the game itself is just a little short, but hunting down all the secret power-ups and beating the game on the 3 different difficulty modes does extend the length.

In the end, Spider-Man on the GBA is a very fun and engaging game. Minuses include the lack of a save game feature and a low degree of replay-ability, but the game is definitely a blast to play and is a nice, portable way to ease one's desire to actually be Spider-Man. Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to go practice my web-moves

As a single X-men character (Cyclops, Wolverine, Rogue, or Storm) or two characters in the multi-player mode, you fight waves of enemies in a style familiar to anyone who's played the old four-player arcade X-Men games. What makes this game so great on the GBA, however, is the fact that this style of game calls for large player and enemy sprites "duking" it out onscreen. With the small size of the GBA screen, the large sprites look very stunning and are pleasing to the eye, particularly when compared to some other recent GBA games with much smaller sprites. As a result of this nice, large graphical presentation, I consider this title as a top choice for showing off the GBA graphics. A handheld gaming neophyte can quickly understand the simple fighting concepts as well as be impressed at the graphical details presented without having to squint at tiny little sprites.

The sound effects are straightforward, but nice and the music is also well done. Unfortunately, the music is looped in fairly short segments so you are in danger of quickly tiring of the repetitive music.

The fighting controls are fairly tight and easy to learn, but do not have much depth. This is good for folks who aren't into the massively-complex fighting style games, but does limit your strategic options somewhat. As you progress through the game, you can improve your chosen character in a semi-roleplaying manner by assigning experience points to your health, combat, or special attack modes. While a nice customization touch, it seemed infeasible to specialize in one area without severely handicapping your character. Kudos, however, for the battery-backed save feature that eliminates the need for any annoying password save feature.

You can play the game with friends in cooperative mode or in a special vs. fighting mode, with special enemies and arenas to unlock via the main progressive story mode. Unfortunately, you both need a game pack to play, and the 2 player cooperative mode does not allow any continues. Since the main single-player game is a little short, the requirement for 2 game packs in order to play multiplayer can be a concern for anyone worried about long-term replayability.

To sum up, X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse is a great game to show off the graphics capabilities of the GameBoy Advance to anyone unfamiliar with the system or videogames in general. With simple controls, excellent graphics, solid sound effects, and a battery-backed save feature, the game was clearly well polished. There only remains a warning that the solo game itself is might be a little on the short side if you don't play through the game with all four different X-Men characters. If you are not sure about this style of game, you may want to try it out as a videogame rental first.

The core game play of the Blitz franchise is definitely there, snap in the cartridge and you will be playing well in no time at all, due to a streamlined, easy-to-use interface. Graphics for each team are well implemented and it is usually not a problem to know who has the ball and where the open receivers are. In fact, the game is actually just a little too easy to play. Even at the harder difficulty settings it is often easy to score against the computer. While high-scoring games fit within the ambiance established by Blitz style games, it translates into a game that is not too difficult to beat.

The graphics are a far cry from anything you would see on a Gameboy Color, but the small screen does limit how much showing-off and taunting that can be done. Even late hits, a mainstay on the console and arcade versions, don't occur since the play stops as soon as a player is tackled.

There are still some taunts and victory dances in the game and nothing beats taunting and showing off to a human opponent. Unfortunately, Blitz 20-02 does not have any multiplayer capabilities. Games can only be played against the computer. While the various game and tournament modes are enjoyable for long-term play, a football game with multiplayer capabilities would have greatly improved the long-term replayability. Another minor grudge, game saves are via a password system. Understandably, password systems are cheaper since a battery-backed memory isn't required, but they are inconvenient. A battery-backed memory, perhaps with tracking of individual player statistics, would have been a nice touch. Finally, in one or two instances the game actually hung while playing and the Gameboy Advance needed to be rebooted. It could be a sign that the game was a little rushed to market in time for the fall football season.

A recommendation for NFL Blitz 20-02 can be given with a little reservation. Fast action football is present in an easy to play package, but the lack of a multiplayer mode, the somewhat weak computer AI, and the lack of a save game feature knock it down a few pegs in my book. But if you want a quick fix of portable football video gaming, the NFL Blitz sights, sounds, and fast-action feel all shine through.

If you're unfamiliar with the Bomberman concept, the main character is a little person who roams a game board or maze similar to a very simple Pac-Man board. Bombs are dropped which then explode in four directions but not at any angles. By dropping a bomb and running away before it goes off you can avoid getting hit by your own bombs. Since you can't walk past your own bombs, the trick is to arrange your bombs so that your enemies are stuck and have no escape from your or their own exploding bombs. One of the greatest aspects of the multiplayer games is that just before a player gets hit, they have a split second where they just KNOW there is no escape and then they are knocked out of the game.

The long-lasting game play of this title will definitely reside in the multiplayer mode. Using the best feature of the Gameboy Advance, you can play with up to 4 total players with only a single Bomberman Tournament game pack. Within the multiplayer battle arenas, there are a variety of game boards and rules for play that can change things around in minor ways to keep the game fresh. Once play begins against your opponents, quickly gather power-ups that appear during the game. However, don't pick up power-ups at random. Some of them actually hurt your character. If you just want to improve your multiplayer game play and have no friends around at the moment, you can also have the computer control the other players, it gives a fairly good performance. Since your bombs behave very similarly in the adventure game as the bombs in the tournament mode, the adventure game is a great diversion as well as a training ground to improve your multiplayer game play.

The adventure mode of Bomberman Tournament resembles the Zelda series or Pokemon series on the Color Gameboy. There are little monsters that you can collect like in Pokemon and the exploration style with puzzles are very reminiscent of the Zelda games. In the adventure mode you play as a Bomberman character and wander a world filled with small towns with areas of danger between them. In order to progress through the game you need to obtain power-ups such as underwater or more powerful bombs. Use your bombs and other equipment to keep yourself alive and challenge Boss monsters within dungeon levels. Killing a boss monster will usually give you more life points to help you survive future fights as well as open up new abilities and areas to explore. As a cute little addition, many of your bomb power-ups are bestowed upon you by little monsters that tag along with you. Select a particular monster as your chosen one of the moment, and you will benefit from its special power. The monsters also gain a little experience as you travel with them and you can challenge others to a duel with them. A much-simplified Pokemon style game play mechanism.

Bomberman Tournament has two modes of play: adventure and multiplayer. Each mode is a fairly reasonable game by itself, but together make a high quality game. If you enjoy Zelda type puzzle adventures or are familiar and like the old fashioned Bomberman multiplayer game, you should pick up this title. At a minimum, if you have friends with a Gameboy Advance, you need to pick up one copy of Bomberman Tournament so that you can enjoy the multiplayer modes. The rest of your gang may get their own copy, just to enjoy the adventure mode and practice for future multiplayer contests.

Mario Kart on a handheld.

That has to be in contention for the shortest review on record, but it sums up what the game is about, an excellent port to the Gameboy Advance of a great game. Anyone familiar with the Mario Kart series of video games will be able to jump right in and be Kart racing without a problem. Anyone who hasn't played a Mario Kart game might still recognize the cartoony over-the-top style of racing with power-ups and weapons that the original Super Mario Kart helped pioneer. Included in the cartridge are multiplayer options. You can race friends as colored Yoshis in a few special tracks with just one game cartridge. If you want to play the vs Battle Mode or race any of the other sets of tracks, you'll need a game cartridge for each player (up to four can race.)

If your friends are familiar with any of the previous versions, the game play and controls are nearly the same. It will only take a race or two for an experienced "Mario Karter" to put out a pretty good race. Graphically, it's comparable, if not a little better than, the Super Nintendo version. Putting that in a handheld package and its sweet to look at. The game includes three Kart "speeds" that can be raced on any of four sets of four tracks. If you do well, additional tracks and other secrets can be unlocked.

Mario Kart's strength is its main weakness. It does an excellent job of recreating the standard Mario Kart series look and feel. This means that if you have grown a little tired of past incarnations of Mario Kart, after the initial "wow" factor wears off, Mario Kart Advanced might begin to feel a bit too familiar. However, the staying power of the original Mario Kart games was the multiplayer modes. If you have friends to race against, Mario Kart Advance is definitely something that will give you hours of enjoyment.

If you already know you are a little "tired" of Mario Kart style racing action, feel free to stay away, but Mario Kart Advance: Super Circuit gets a "must buy" recommendation to Mario Kart fanatics, anyone who likes a good racing games, anyone looking for a great multiplayer Gameboy Advance game, and folks who haven't yet experienced the thrill of shrinking and running over your opponents to get revenge for them pegging you with a nasty homing red turtle shell.

There are as many styles of Dodge Ball as there are school playgrounds. In Super Dodge Ball Advance, there are four main players per team that stand on their own "home" half of the playing field. Three support players each line the remaining sides of the enemy territory. The ball is thrown back and forth until the four main players of one team are completely tagged out. In this version of the game, only the four players on the playing field can take damage when hit by the ball. Once a player reaches his or her maximum damage, they are "out" and a little player angel flies off screen. The ball is thrown using simple button timings and combinations. If you time things correctly when the ball is thrown at you, you can dodge or catch the ball and receive no damage. If you recover the ball you then get the chance to turn the tables and return the favor by throwing it back at the opposing team.

As I mentioned, the gameplay is fairly simple and I found this to be a good thing. There are "super" throws that can be implemented but are not too difficult to master and the game doesn't require the advanced button manipulation you might find in common fighting games. This allows you to focus on the fun of the game and the concept without struggling to remember particular complex button combinations. The graphics and sounds aren't revolutionary but are high quality and I didn't have any trouble distinguishing important information.

Multiplayer is possible for one on one matches through the use of two cartridges. It would have been nice to take advantage of the Gameboy Advance's ability to allow a two-player game with only one cart. While I didn't play the game in multiplayer mode, I can easily see that mode as the most popular and long lasting mode if you happen to have two GBA's and two cartridges.

There are many options to play with including team setups, individual team rosters, and more. You can adjust gameplay difficulty as well as the difficulty of achieving "super throws" and a few other details. The roster and player setups lent the title a sort of sports simulation feeling. Reminding me of the arcade style sport games like NFL Blitz or NBA Hoopz. This could be good for some players, but I prefer the role-playing aspects that Nintendo is known for in their sport games like Mario Tennis or Mario Golf. I enjoy designing a player with my own preferences for strengths and weaknesses and watching him or her develop into an athletic powerhouse. Without the ability to "grow" a team over time, I feel that the cartridge will not maintain my interest as long as I would like. At medium difficulty settings it was not much of a challenge to beat the championship computer teams.

My final opinion is that the game itself is a joy to play, but I am concerned about its long-term replay value. Since multiplayer games would probably not lose their entertainment value very quickly, its too bad Atlus didn't take advantage of the Gameboy Advance's cartridge-downloading capabilities. I recommend the game to anyone know knows they'll be able to play it multiplayer and folks who are into this style of arcade sports game. If you yearn for the old days of pummeling the guy next to you who keeps bragging about his latest toy, check out this title and let those rubber dodge balls fly.

The first thing you notice when picking up the GBA is the way it is held "sideways" compared to previous Gameboys. This helps those folks with larger hands who ran the risk of getting hand cramps when playing for long periods of time. The second thing I noticed was when I first turned the unit on.... the sound quality was amazing when compared to previous Gameboys. While I would find gameboy games that had sound effects and (rarely) music I could put up with, the quality of sound output by the GBA is actually at a level that I can find enjoyable. Here's to hoping for games that take advantage of this development.

In this age of insanely impressive console and computer graphics, I found the graphics on the GBA to be acceptable but not earth shattering. However, the graphics are definitely a large step forward from what you might see on the Gameboy Color. As developers get better at using the hardware, I'm sure it will get even better with time.

All this raving about the GBA is nice, but what is the downside? Well, I feel like the initial spate of games released for the GBA are not quite must-have games, but I'm sure that will change quickly as more and more games are released. There is also a learning curve associated with using the top-mounted "R" and "L" buttons. The Gameboy Color's width was just a little narrow, and now I think that the GBA's height is just a little short. It makes it difficult to comfortably use the "R" & "L" buttons while playing action games. If a game requires a fair amount of use of the R/L buttons, it might get cramped.

A final plus I simply must mention is that GBA games have the ability, if the developers so choose, to download data through link-up cables so that up to 4 players can play a multiplayer game using only one cartridge. This is a real boon to close circles of friends or families that might have multiple Gameboy Advanced handhelds but not sure about spending the money for multiple copies of the same title.

With backwards compatibility with all Gameboy and Gameboy color games (they can be played letterboxed or stretched out on the bigger GBA screen) along with future GBA titles and all the GBA computing power behind them, I can heartily recommend the GBA as a quality and probably the best portable gaming machine you'll see for the next few years.

In traditional racing fashion, you can race against opponents in a multi-race Grand Prix style or just run individual practice races against the clock. There is even a ghost-car option that can be unlocked where you can race against a ghost of your best previous time. Perhaps the best part of the game is the ability to race with up to 4 total people using only one F-zero cartridge, 4 Gameboy Advanced handhelds, and the GBA link cable. The cartridge uploads the game race data into the GBA's that don't have the cartridge and 4 people can then link up and play. That's truly a great benefit for those folks who have friends or family with additional Gameboy Advance units.

While the racing component, and thus multiplayer play as well, is a great experience, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of play depth. In some racing games, there is an opportunity to improve or customize vehicles and develop a sort of racing style by choosing some attributes (like speed) over others (like cornering). While many racing games fail to include this sort of role-playing aspect, perhaps in the interest of play balance, I find that the inclusion of some sort of strategic character development elements into a game can transform a game that I enjoy for a few days or a week or two into a game I can't put down for months.

If you're looking for a game that shows off the best qualities of a Gameboy Advance: like "spawning" multiplayer games via the connecting cable" and the nice new graphics and sound, then I think F-Zero is one of the better games out there to purchase. However, I feel that if you are not going to be using the multiplayer features of the game it feels as if the game could have been given a bit more depth. Now its time for me to go race my ghost again....

The controls are straightforward and responsive, the challenges are appropriate, and (as I already mentioned) the graphics and sound are far better than anything you could experience on previous gameboy systems. However, the gameplay of the Super Mario Bros. 2 section of the cartridge was lacking some of the bells and whistles you might find in the gameplay of more modern platformer titles like the Spyro or Wario series.

The recreation of the Mario Bros. arcade game was a special treat. I was always a fan of the Mario Bros. arcade game, particularly the cooperative mode. I consider its addition to the cartridge a major plus. Unfortunately, using the special uploading feature of the Gameboy Advance, only the competitive Mario Bros. mode is available and it requires two or more cartridges in order to play the Mario Bros. arcade game in cooperative mode.

I think Super Mario Advance is a nice title that is packaged well with several extras (like the arcade Mario Bros) making it a solid title. However, the gameplay of Super Mario Bros. 2 is a bit dated, and the requirement of multiple cartridges to play the cooperative mode of Mario Bros. arcade version are downsides to the title. My final verdict has to be that its a good title, but more of a quality middle-of-the road title. Not a groundbreaking, must buy, title though. However, folks who are into Mario Brothers nostalgia should definitely pick this title up.

For those less familiar with the Pokemon concept, the whole Pokemon franchise began with the Gameboy games: Pokemon Blue and Pokemon Red. In this role playing or adventure game, the protagonist begins with a small Pokemon pet and then goes out into the world collecting other Pokemon by challenging other collectors and finding wild Pokemon to add to their collection. Pokemon increase in power through experience gained by winning battles. Each Pokemon series (Red/Blue/Yellow or Gold/Silver/Crystal) has many different kinds of Pokemon you can try to collect (about 150 in the first series and about 250 in the second series.) Collecting all the Pokemon is impossible without trading the little creatures among friends using the Gameboy connecting cable. Thankfully, there is a back story of you, as a collector, setting out to learn and collect all the Pokemon you can and train them up to be a fighting force. In each game, you are regularly challenged by an "evil twin" Pokemon collector who will periodically challenge you to fights and give you an incentive to keep playing. Those with a penchant for collecting and exploring will find entertainment in the game as you explore new areas and find new Pokemon creatures to add to your collection. However, puzzles are very much the exception rather than the rule. As Pokemon grow in experience they gain new powers so just focusing on increasing the power of your Pokemon can be fun if you enjoy watching their growth.

If you would like to try out Pokemon on the Gameboy to see what started the large Pokemon craze, Pokemon Crystal is definitely the way to go. The Gold/Silver/Crystal versions have a much smoother plot progression, more Pokemon to find and a few more places to explore. Pokemon Crystal in particular has a few feature not found in the Silver or Gold versions. They are minor, like improved use of your "cell phone" and a special shop or two, but are nice to include.

Pokemon Crystal is definitely the best Pokemon gameboy game produced so far, but only a little better than the Gold or Silver versions. The minor improvements are not quite enough to justify buying a completely new game if you already own a Gold or Silver version. However, if you did enjoy the earlier Pokemon games (Red/Blue/Yellow), Pokemon Crystal is a definite step up in quality and fun game play. If you aren't sick of running around collecting Pokemon and training them up, the new adventure storyline as well as general improvements in the interface add enough spice to make trying out a game in the second series worthwhile. And if you plan to try out either Gold, Silver, or Crystal, Crystal is definitely just a little bit better.

Game options are quite varied, with a standard Marathon mode where you last as long as possible (which can be done with or without extra junk falling on you from above.) There is a time attack mode where you have 2 minutes to make a high score. I found the puzzle mode to be quite challenging, with some puzzles stumping me for quite some time before I stumbled onto their solution. Of course, there is the two player head to head mode as well. Finally, there is the "Challenge" or "Story" mode.

I found the story mode to be quite entertaining. You play the computer in various matches as if you were playing a 2 player game against the computer. Once you beat all challengers on the easy setting without a restart, you can progress to the hard and then the hardest levels. An interesting feature of the game is that for most of the modes, you can choose one of a few "Pokemon" that you have collected during the various games. Your chosen Pokemon will receive experience and increase in levels while you play. This becomes necessary in the challenge mode since a stronger Pokemon will actually help you last longer and "fight better" against the computer controlled opponents.

Typically Nintendo, the game is well put together with high score features, excellent save game features, etc... My only disappointment stems from the actual game itself. I must be getting old and crotchety, but I have yet to develop a good "instinct" for the game. I can make multiple blocks disappear at a time, but struggle to get chain reactions to happen fast enough to be useful in the challenge and time attack modes. Because you are performing a binary switch operation, I find it difficult to set up very large chain reactions.

Some of it may be my frustration at my lack of technique in creating chain reactions, but I feel that the controls of the game are innately restrictive. Only being able to switch two adjacent blocks in a row often makes me feel as if I'm not able to manipulate the blocks as I would like. Once finesse with the game is gone, it quickly turns into a clickfest in an attempt to just line up the quickest set of three boxes I can find. Some of the advanced moves for creating chain reactions also require moving blocks while other blocks are falling. If you like slower moving puzzle games, consider yourself warned about this game's frantic clicking in the endgame.

On the whole, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge is a well-made game (no surprise there) that can appeal to anyone who likes Tetris-like puzzle games or just can't get enough of the Pokemon franchise. The game is simple enough for even young kids to do OK at the easier levels. While at the highest levels, there is a requirement for good coordination and fast reaction times. I consider it a good buy, but might recommend that more sedate gamers first try out the game by renting it for a day or two. That will give you a chance to make sure it's mix of quick thinking gameplay is right for you.

First, the downside, there is only one pinball table, but there are around 12 distinct mini-games that can be accessed during play. I thought at first the colors were rather bland, but they aren't. The game is not bright-bright colors, but rather nice coloring that is much more realistic than the Pokemon color tables. The two main problems with the game is the ball's tendency to get stuck from time to time, requiring some judicious table-bumping to free it. I've tilted the machine a number of times trying to free the ball. Finally, while the sound effects are OK, the music is absolutely horrid. Thankfully you can turn it off. However, the music still comes on when entering your name in the high score list. This has now become a good thing, since when I now get a high score I get to remind myself of how bad I think the music really sounds. The composer didn't do such a bad job, its just that it sounds like they tried to do too much with the music and all that comes out is very tinny "Gameboy"-esque sounds.

On to the good stuff! I've already mentioned how I've become addicted to the game. Despite it only having one table to play on, there are three difficulty levels, they determine how hard it is to activate particular bonus features as well as the requirements to "win" the game. I almost exclusively play on the hardest level since that provides me with just the right amount of Gameboy play time for playing in short car and train rides. Thus, I still haven't "won" the game, but know how almost everything does work. There are many different "progression" targets and lights to work on, as well as activating and winning all the mini-games so there are many things to do. I don't like all the mini-games (whenever I activate bumper-cars its almost a guaranteed ball-flush) but most of them are fun and slightly different in their use of pinball mechanics. The manual actually has useful information, but most things you still have to figure out on your own. Finally, the game has a multiplayer mode where up to 4 people can pass around the game and play, and each person can play at a different difficulty level. The sad part about multiplayer is that once everyone is finished, everyone's score is not displayed so you need to remember your final score yourself if you want to compare when you all finish.

I'll end by once again stating that I recommend this game highly to any pinball fans, as well as people looking for a nice Gameboy game that can be played in 5 to 10 minute blocks. If you want to work on "winning" the game, be aware there is a pause feature, but no save game. You'll need keep the Gameboy on or you'll lose your place. With all the different things to do on the table, I often find myself going for goals other than just setting a high score.

Each of the casino games was presented with enjoyable visuals with the expected music and voice accompaniment as well. I was particularly impressed with the interface for most of the games. It was very straightforward to play and maneuver between games, most game commands only required pressing a few keys. Each game usually had a range of options to vary the house rules, allowing for play by the many common variants found at various real casinos. The only variant game that I missed was some type of progressive video poker, but that's probably just my personal preference coming across.

In general, the betting AI was pretty good and you can set it to several different levels or even play with opponents of varying levels. Most games had a fair bit of available advice and help options to teach you the nuances of how to bet optimally. However, I did find the AI to be poor at low-ball poker as well as the advice often failing to be as aggressive as I would prefer to bet. This is also probably because I wasn't playing with real money.

If you're into casino games and want to play and practice with them on your Gameboy, I highly recommend this title. I wish the game itself had presented some form of additional motivation for me to try to progress in the game. If the game had included some form of long term goal other than just trying to raise my bank balance, I would have found my enjoyment of the game to have much more staying power.

HOMM plays just like its early computer game counterparts. You start with a hero and a town. Go out and explore with your hero and a "stack" of accompanying monsters for support. As you explore, your hero grows in power. Over time, your cities can be built up to produce more powerful monsters to accompany your heroes. Conquer all the other player's heroes and cities to win the game. Of course, things are a little more complex than that.

You have to worry about resources. Cities produce cash which you use for buying just about everything. Improving your cities (and recruiting some special monsters) uses up different amounts of the 6 different resource types in the game. You can find some resources just lying around, but you usually want to capture mines that produce the resource every turn. There are four kinds of cities and each city type produces different "monsters" that can accompany your hero, with the more powerful monsters only becoming available after you have built the city up by spending a lot of your resources.

The interface for the game is brilliant. I could do almost anything I wanted to with only a few button presses. That is a real achievement for the Color Gameboy. The graphics are a bit plain, but they're colorful and convey information well. There are 3 save game slots along with an autosave feature.

The downsides to this game are few. The computer AI is somewhat weak (a common problem for ANY strategy game) and you can't play against another human using a link cable. However, a larger game can easily take over an hour to play so even if you could link up you might not want to play a game for that long in one sitting. Finally, the manual is a typical Gameboy manual. It's tiny and short. It will show you HOW to use the interface but will not help you play well until you find out how things work. This can be enjoyable, but if you are someone who simply must have all the unit and resource data in front of you, it will prove frustrating.

Even though the AI is a little weak, the game can still be challenging because of its scoring system. You score better by playing at the harder settings and then finishing the game in a short period of time. High scores are saved on a high score list along with the scenario you played. In this way, I found it to be a very good solo strategy game in its own right. The fact that this game is so easy to play on a portable system like the color Gameboy makes it one of my favorite games of the year. If you are into games where you like to make strategic decisions, and you have a color Gameboy, I can't recommend this game enough.

Unfortunately, that's the limit of complexity that the game reaches. I am sure there are some pretty hard limits to work around when making a RTS game for the color Gameboy, but I found that Warlocked just wasn't complex enough to hold my attention. The computer AI was not great but not bad either. The graphics were pretty. The control scheme was adequate, (but I found unit selection buggy at times.) The scenarios within the plot line were also done well. Wizard units are unique in particular. You can have one on the field at a time, with each type giving different bonuses to your troops. However, when all is said and done, there wasn't enough strategic diversity to keep my interest for very long. There are only 5 core unit types and the human and orc unit types are almost exactly the same. After a couple hours of playing I wasn't finding anything that held my attention anymore. The game might be more suitable for the younger Gameboy crowd who hasn't played many RTS style games before.

Except for some personal control problems I had when selecting groups of units, I found Warlocked to be a well put together RTS game for the Color Gameboy. It's the ONLY RTS game I know of for the Color Gameboy. However, the lack of unit diversity limited my enjoyment of the game. I can only recommend this game to someone who must have a RTS game for his or her portable gaming pleasure or for young adults who are only now being introduced to the RTS genre.