Reviewed: December 13, 2002
Reviewed by: Loki
Publisher
TDK Mediactive
Developer
Taniko
Released: October 29, 2002
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
7
6
5
4
5.9
The world of gaming is quickly becoming overwhelmed with retro-remakes of classic titles from the 80’s and now we get a game based on an 80’s cartoon series that frankly, I thought died a long time ago, perhaps in a galaxy far, far away.
Masters of the Universe: He-Man Power of Grayskull is the latest game to be spawned from a cartoon series. This time it is based on the new series currently showing on the Cartoon Network, debunking my theory that Nickelodeon had made a pact with the Devil for exclusive toon-to-game licensing.
I can barely remember catching a few of the original episodes way back in the 80’s and I forced myself to watch one of the new shows just for the purpose of this review. I found none of these episodes especially inspiring and while the new series was technically superior to the shows from 20 years ago, nothing had changed in the way of story or characters. It’s all pretty lame and unfortunately, so is the game.
He-Man is an isometric shooter/action game that puts you in the powerful shoes of He-Man (insert school girl giggles here). You get to battle your way across 13 colorful and often challenging levels in your quest to defeat Skeletor. While the designers try to give each mission a quest-like feel to it by assigning you a primary objective, you quickly fall into the routine pattern of killing everything that moves and collecting more tokens than the New York subway system.
There are a few diversions that help to break up the monotony. At the end of each level you get to make a dash back through the level picking up the various icons. If you get them all you get an extra life. There are a few occasions where you get to ride vehicles and shoot things, but it’s not that much different from running and shooting things.
Control is basic to the point of being boring. You can swing your sword and do a super slash attack by pressing and holding the action button. The trigger blocks incoming blows but the enemy isn’t that formidable so you can pretty much get away with running around furiously tapping the attack button and win the game.
Much like Gauntlet, enemies spawn from portals. In this case, the portal is a magic mirror that you need to smash as soon as possible to end the waves of bad dudes that swarm the screen. These mirrors are quite tough so you will undoubtedly take a beating while trying to smash them. It’s a good thing you aren’t superstitious or He-Man would be racking up many years of bad luck.
The bane of all platform games is back, that’s right, jumping puzzles. There are more than a few of these annoying platform jumping sequences that wouldn’t be that hard if the game code wasn’t totally screwed up. Thankfully, you cannot walk of a ledge but you must make sure to land each and every jump perfectly. One wrong move or one marginally bad landing and you are dead.
Visuals are acceptable, but there is nothing here that remotely taps the power of the GBA or makes you saw “wow”. He-Man looks really good with lots of animation drawn from various angles so you always get a great looking main character. The various monsters and evil opponents are also very nice and look and move great.
The levels are colorful and nicely designed even though they are a bit short and not too complicated aside from those evil jumping sections. It all combines for a generic effect that is more akin to the 80’s series than the new show it is based from.
The music slips into the background and becomes a distant memory before the first level is over. The sound effects all sound really good, either sampled from the show or excellent recreations. Like the visuals, it’s all pretty generic and doesn’t begin to show off the potential of the GBA.
This is a short game. With only 13 levels you can probably finish this game on a long trip to grandma’s house or a few bus rides to school or work. There are no secrets or bonuses and absolutely no reason to replay the game once you have finished it - definitely rental material.
He-Man is an uninspired game based on an uninspired remake of a cheesy 80 cartoon. It’s fun in a raw action kind of way but there just isn’t enough substance to make a viable game. He-Man had his 15-minutes of fame right along with the Smurfs. Let this guy retire and play golf with Skeletor at the animation retirement home. I hear they’ve hired the Smurfs to caddy.
If you are a total He-Man fanatic and simply must play this game then give it a rental. You can probably finish it and return it early then get another game. The only reason to buy this game would be to never open it and hope it becomes a collector’s item some day.
