Santa Claus Saves The Earth (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Christmas is not a theme that's really been exploited in the GBA market and outside of JoWood's Santa Clause Jr., there really has been very little to talk about. This is about to change this year though with the release of The Polar Express and The Nightmare Before Christmas both set deep within the Festive Season. Stranger still then that this review has been lying around our office for some time now but as we didn't actually receive a copy until the January after release there seemed little point in posting it. Santa's here again though (in grottos anyway) and the TV is filled with more toy and game advertisements than you can wave a stick at so it seems fitting that we should give it the once over (at last). With a bit of luck we could have a title on our hands that will fill us full of festive cheer rather than the type of feeling you get when you eat one too many mince pies.

Gameplay

There's not a great deal of complication in the gameplay department and this title really is 'old school' and all that label implies. Basically though you have to work your way though fifteen increasingly difficult levels both in terms of enemies encountered and more complicated layouts. Everything's ultimately doable though mostly due to the sheer volume of bonus items and 'health', which are always around the corner although some are hidden. As the game progresses you'll encounter the dreaded and almost indestructible yellow doggy and while children will no doubt see this as cute it's a real challenge to dispose of. This is because whatever you fire at it, it jumps out of the way. That's right enemy AI. Weren't expecting that where you? There are also disappearing and moving platforms and the all-important bottomless pits. The fact is there's little here to surprise even a novice gamer but it is ALL here and just about every aspect of every platformer in the history of gaming makes at least one appearance here. Much like a platforming tutorial you'd find in a 'How to Write Platform Games' manual.

Controls

Do I really need to explain a platformer's controls? In case you've been living under a rock for the past twenty years or so here it is: Left, Right, Jump, Duck and Fire. The important thing with all platformers however is the controls are responsive and the collision detection is pixel perfect. Happily both of these are true in this festive title and if you do happen to fall onto a row of spikes or misjudge a seemingly simple jump there's a good chance it was your own fault.

Graphics

While some bits of this game are significantly prettier than others the visuals have clearly been produced on a kind of trial and error basis. In fact if you look at the game as a whole it does appear that this is the developer's first GBA title after working with the GBC for some years and similar to a first generation release that you'd have encountered when the Advance was first released.

Sound

If you could describe the visuals as a little 'unreliable' then the audio is equally as unpredictable and while the box claims that the game features sampled sound, there really is very little here to warrant turning up your GBA. We suggest that if you happen to be at home why not put one of those 'The Best Christmas Album in the World' CDs on and we guarantee the game will sound a great deal better.

Final comments

As a platformer released any other time of the year there's little doubt that this game would be instantly forgettable but it's festive theme gives it a unique charm. This game does have an audience albeit a very limited one and the style of gameplay and visuals is clearly aimed at the pre-teen crowd. It's all standard stuff too and if you have access to a PC there are hundreds of these types of things available as freeware and shareware scattered across the net. For those that are interested this is a simple and fun platformer and you can't go far wrong spending a couple of hours in the company of Santa Claus as he endeavors to save our little green planet.

Pro: Simple Gameplay
Con: Repetitive Gameplay
Final score: 3.3

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