Astro Boy is not an altogether bad game, but considering its source, Sega’s Sonic Team, it should have been so much better.
Like many members of my generation, the original Astro Boy was my first exposure to a Japanese animated series. Seems everything old is new again and even Astro Boy has a new series with the inevitable spin-off video game. Astro Boy is the continuing adventures of a robot boy with a human soul that fights for justice in Metro City. He has million-horsepower strength, rocket feet for flying, arm cannon, digibeam (fingertip laser beam, get it?), and super senses. The sentiments of the story are at times almost cloying sweet and might give those with a weak gorge pause, but it is pretty much kid targeted and subtlety is generally lost on the very young. And though Astro Boy’s ensemble of just bright red boots and black-vinyl jockey shorts looks like something you might expect to find in a N.A.M.B.L.A. fetish film, overall the series is good clean fun. Sadly, little of the charm of the series has made it into the game.
Where the game did do well was in the graphics and audio departments. Character voices were provided by the actors from the cartoon series. Though some might choke on the lines they have to say, it gives the game a nice air of series authenticity. The graphics likewise look very cartoon-like with bright, vibrant colors.
As those who know me will attest, I hold that great graphics and audio do not feed the bulldog. It is the gameplay that makes or breaks a game. It breaks Astro Boy. Most of the stuff you’ll do is pretty inane – flying around the city or through mazes and stuff. Then suddenly Astro Boy is called into a boss fight, which is generally uninspired and the big boys can be polished off without too much sweat or even utilizing the full arsenal of weapons that Astro Boy ultimately acquires as he goes through the game. It is all fairly short with few bosses and not much in between.
A clue that this may have been a title developed for the younger set is the card collection sub-game that anyone above puberty is probably going to eschew. Damn Pokémon and his ilk for introducing the “gotta get ‘em all” mentality! If the game were more fun it might be worth picking up the cards along the way. As it is, it is best just to plow toward the end of the game and not get your stupid sister, Zoran, her dumb cards.
There are camera-angle issues and the control scheme leaves a lot to be desired. Flying like a bird must be a pretty cool thing, but Astro Boy does not convey any of the speed or freedom of maneuverability that you’d expect from the experience.
Disappointment is my main feeling toward Astro Boy. I loved the classic cartoon. I also think we’ve all come to expect better things from Sonic Team. Perhaps one day we’ll find out what happened with Astro Boy on an episode of G4TechTV’s Icons profiling the group. Until then, I’ll be shaking my head and wondering what went wrong to create this seriously flawed game from a great development team working with a strong license. So, unless you are just a rabid Astro Boy fan and must own this game to complete your collection, I’d strongly suggest a rental.
© 2004 GameShark.com
