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Thread: Bargain Bin GBA/GBC Reviews

  1. Bargain Bin GBA/GBC Reviews

    It's amazing how fast the Game Boy library grows, I doubt rabbits multiply this fast. Anyway this thread is for reviews of GBA/or other Game Boy titles, I figured with the number of titles that end up in bargain bins this could be a good reference. I'll start it off...

    PINOBEE (GBA)- Originally one of my most anticipated GBA launch titles, I held off buying it due to some mixed reviews. Finally found it at Sam's Club for a decent price.

    First off, graphics are great with a attractive sun dretched look and multiple scrolls. The music is upbeat platforming filler, no big impact on me. Pinobee's controls are excellent, he can cling to walls, hover, dash (you are granted more dashes as you progress). Attacking is standard bop on a enemy scenerio. The game was mae by former Sonic Team members and familiar springs, sheilds and cannons from Sonic make a appearance.

    The game has (I believe) twenty levels of several different themes and you will see them all quite quickly. You see, Pinobee isn't that taxing of the average gamer, early levels are sparsely populated with enemies and by the time you reach later levels you are powered up enough to overcome near everything. This powering up comes from a fairy (that looks very much like Nights) who endows you with additional dashes and from gathering items around levels. Gathering a set of items will increase your life gauge, speed, etc and these can be traded via the GBA link. The items add replayablity and bits like special enemies and reaching platforms in earlier levels with improved dashes help as well.

    However, Pinobee didn't impress me. The game seemed too sedate and borderline boring. the designs on characters except the cool Nights fairy rip are unimpressive and the story (based on Pinocho) is for the kids. Also when Pinobee falls from a dash, his head gets enormous for a sec which is quite annoying. Overall 6.5 of 10

    RHINO RUMBLE (GBC)- Published by Telegames, my interest in this title was perked by the nice character designs and colorful (for GBC) graphics. A platform game with a tiny Rhino, the game has seven worlds with a number of levels to each world. Your Rhino controls well and attacks by shooting fireballs or a Yoshi style body stomp.

    The graphics are decent (again, for GBC) and the music is forgottable. The game itself doesn't have the flow of a Mario game or Rayman, you don't get that perfect rhythm of running and jumping. However for a platformer on GBC I can think of far worse. Nice little game. 7.5 of 10

    Project S-11 (GBC)- If you are looking for a Game Boy vertical shooter, keep looking. S-11 is by the books mundane fare. The graphics have moments of beauty but enemy ships are unimpressive (your own looks like the Raiden fighter). The power-ups have all the standards: laser, spread beam, etc. There is a decent and powerful shot that shoots out and cascades back off the sides. You also have a very Raiden-like smart bomb.

    Problems? The aforementioned design is lacking, the opening cinema is starved for imagination with the "enemy" being aliens with green skin and slanted eyes...original. Then there's the control, remember Out of Gravity in Aeroblasters? It's not that bad but your ship does slide a bit which is not acceptable, to me at least. Last, your ship has a life gauge which really in the heat of combat you are not going to look at anyway. Pass. 5 of 10

    PHALANX (GBA)- A nice GBA remake of the SNES shooter. Phalanx caters to the Thunderforce crowd of SHMUP freaks. The controls feature a normal shot, special shots (power-ups) that can be switched), a normal bomb, and a special bomb which takes on attributes of a special weapon. A speed adjust is also present ala Thunderforce.

    The game itself features more cinemas, nicely detailed but a bit stiff looking, with snips of CGI animated clips here and there. The new boss is interesting but nothing amazing, there's no slowdown (I forget if the SNES versio had any) and the graphics seem faithful to the original rev (nice transparencies) and a bit sharper as well. The music is good but a bit dialed down. The game has a continue feature as the game autosaves after levels. The continue keeps track of ships too, so if the game auto saved with you having only one ship left then that's all you get when you load the continue.

    Phalanx itself is fun, the designs of the ships and enemies are detailed, many enemies have a uneven mechanical design that reminds me of Radiant Silvergun and later enemies have a "bio" feel to them. The game seems a bit slow at bosses though, as you will pump mucho ammo and time into any one of the large enemies.

    Overall, a fine remake though probably only for the faithful. Come back Zoom!!! 8 of 10


    *-neo

  2. #2
    deathwishkersey Guest
    so which version of Phalanx is better-GBA or SNES?
    I've been wanting to buy it and the SNES version seems easy enough to find.

  3. Ethier I suppose. The GBA's enhancements are minor at best and the original SNES version is very cheap. Also no grizzled old man in the GBA version . *-neo

  4. thanks for the reviews. I'll have to get my hands on phalanx one of these days

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