[Mini-Review] Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island
Another Nick mash-up manages to be entertaining, if fairly mindless.
Published: November 4, 2006
[The Good]
It's a move that's existed in other mediums for years now; take some of the most popular characters you have going in your stable of icons and throw them all in a quickly cobbled-together "reason" for them being there. It worked for Battle of the Network Stars, it's worked in countless comic book crossovers, and for THQ and Nickelodeon, it worked fairly well for Nicktoons Unite!, a mash-up of some of Nick's biggest properties.
In video games, as with most entertainment mediums, if something works, it's reused until it doesn't anymore; concepts are copied and shoehorned into games that may not need or properly accept them, and sequels are inevitable. Thus, we have Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island, a follow-up to Unite that reintroduces a handful of Nick characters; SpongeBob, Sandy Cheeks and Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants, Samantha Manson and Danny Phantom from Danny Phantom and Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents, throwing them all into another button-mashing 2.5D platformer.
Like the first game, the formula works, if only because it's already an established system; button mash your way through simple combos, smacking various wildlife on the island that all the heroes have been summoned to by an old crab to save the peace-loving crustaceans from Mawgu, an evil something-or-other. The story isn't important, as it is another in a long line of quickly cobbled-together excuses to get everyone together, but at least there's something.
And so, you'll hop 'n bop between smooth combat sections (with admittedly fantastic and wonderfully tight controls) and 2D-ish platforming segments. All of the characters that tag along for the ride can be swapped between simply by standing near them and hitting a shoulder button, and all boast the same basic double-jump and light combo movesets with a unique special move. Again, it's all basically an excuse to get a bunch of Nick characters together, but there are some nice references to the first game in place here.
[The Bad]
Though the game mixes 3D combat and 2D platforming segments, it doesn't really have a camera that presents both perfectly. There are times where the side scrolling elements can be botched with a slightly wonky camera, causing missed jumps and leading to a little off-screen combat. The game is also something of a collect-a-thon, with each character having their own items to fetch that unlock costumes. It's only a gripe because games like Jak and Daxter showed that you can do collection with a purpose, and I hate to see it in there just for the sake of smacking every chest and breaking every little set piece in the levels.
There's also the matter of it all getting rather repetitive fairly quickly. The gameplay is rather one-dimensional, and though it's obviously meant to be a simple little one- or two-player affair (the game boasts a LEGO Star Wars-like drop-in/drop-out bit of co-op), it's also rather blah after just a few hours.
[The Verdict]
Despite some camera issues and the fact that the game is about as straightforward as action platformers get, Battle for Volcano Island does a fairly solid job of the one thing it intended to do: give Nicktoons viewers a healthy helping of fan service. Tight control and a butter smooth framerate give the impression that the hardware is actually being used too, which is in stark contrast to that other SpongeBob game. No, the game's not a stunner, but it at least does the license right, and is solid enough that it can give kids something to enjoy for a few hours before they inevitably move on to something else.
It's a move that's existed in other mediums for years now; take some of the most popular characters you have going in your stable of icons and throw them all in a quickly cobbled-together "reason" for them being there. It worked for Battle of the Network Stars, it's worked in countless comic book crossovers, and for THQ and Nickelodeon, it worked fairly well for Nicktoons Unite!, a mash-up of some of Nick's biggest properties.
In video games, as with most entertainment mediums, if something works, it's reused until it doesn't anymore; concepts are copied and shoehorned into games that may not need or properly accept them, and sequels are inevitable. Thus, we have Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island, a follow-up to Unite that reintroduces a handful of Nick characters; SpongeBob, Sandy Cheeks and Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants, Samantha Manson and Danny Phantom from Danny Phantom and Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents, throwing them all into another button-mashing 2.5D platformer.
Like the first game, the formula works, if only because it's already an established system; button mash your way through simple combos, smacking various wildlife on the island that all the heroes have been summoned to by an old crab to save the peace-loving crustaceans from Mawgu, an evil something-or-other. The story isn't important, as it is another in a long line of quickly cobbled-together excuses to get everyone together, but at least there's something.
And so, you'll hop 'n bop between smooth combat sections (with admittedly fantastic and wonderfully tight controls) and 2D-ish platforming segments. All of the characters that tag along for the ride can be swapped between simply by standing near them and hitting a shoulder button, and all boast the same basic double-jump and light combo movesets with a unique special move. Again, it's all basically an excuse to get a bunch of Nick characters together, but there are some nice references to the first game in place here.
[The Bad]
Though the game mixes 3D combat and 2D platforming segments, it doesn't really have a camera that presents both perfectly. There are times where the side scrolling elements can be botched with a slightly wonky camera, causing missed jumps and leading to a little off-screen combat. The game is also something of a collect-a-thon, with each character having their own items to fetch that unlock costumes. It's only a gripe because games like Jak and Daxter showed that you can do collection with a purpose, and I hate to see it in there just for the sake of smacking every chest and breaking every little set piece in the levels.
There's also the matter of it all getting rather repetitive fairly quickly. The gameplay is rather one-dimensional, and though it's obviously meant to be a simple little one- or two-player affair (the game boasts a LEGO Star Wars-like drop-in/drop-out bit of co-op), it's also rather blah after just a few hours.
[The Verdict]
Despite some camera issues and the fact that the game is about as straightforward as action platformers get, Battle for Volcano Island does a fairly solid job of the one thing it intended to do: give Nicktoons viewers a healthy helping of fan service. Tight control and a butter smooth framerate give the impression that the hardware is actually being used too, which is in stark contrast to that other SpongeBob game. No, the game's not a stunner, but it at least does the license right, and is solid enough that it can give kids something to enjoy for a few hours before they inevitably move on to something else.
