| Introduction
Hey Arnold is the hit cartoon TV series about a boy
with a football-shaped head and his quirky group of
friends. It's so popular that it's been made into a
full-length movie. As you might have guessed, this game
is based on the movie and is the first Hey Arnold title
to appear on the GBA. We've been here before though
and we all know that a popular cartoon license draped
as a platform game often equals a terrible experience.
There are some exceptions of course and here's hoping
that Hey Arnold is one of them.
GamePlay
Obviously the plot is closely linked to the movie.
Set over five various areas it's your job to aid Arnold
and friends in their quest to save their boarding house
and the rest of the block from demolition by the unscrupulous
Future Tech Industries.
Each area consists of four levels of mission-based
platforming and one end of level boss. The missions
themselves range from finding your friends to delivering
leaflets, whilst being continually hindered by a variety
of henchmen and animals. You won't always be playing
the game as Arnold either as various tasks are played
out using the four other characters from the TV series.
As usual with platform games now there are also some
puzzle elements to give the game some variety and depth.
These usually involve finding a key or overcoming an
obstacle and really shouldn't hold you up for too long.
What will frustrate you though are the end of level
bosses and you're likely to lose a few lives before
you actually work out how to defeat them.
Finally (and frustratingly) we have another password
system that's simply too difficult for its intended
demographic and unless you're incredibly careful when
recording it, you'll find yourself starting from the
beginning. Developers, if you're reading this, understand
that gamers really don't want this kind of mysterious
and automatic password system, so please stop doing
it. It's downright annoying!
Controls
Well, as this is a platform game, the controls are
the standard jump, throw and move. It couldn't be simpler
and Hey Arnold is no exception with its responsive controls
and good collision detection. It gets a little frustrating,
however, when you realize that you can't look down and
must resort to the age old 'leap of faith'. Most developers
might consider this a strategical element to extend
the gameplay, but for me it seems like a really unfair
way to lose a life.
Graphics
Hey Arnold is undoubtedly one of the better looking
"For Kids" titles that I've reviewed. Not
only are the areas wonderfully designed and realized
but the characters are huge and well animated. There
are also some great spot effects and a generous number
of screen grabs from the movie which work nicely to
push the story along and enhance the gameplay elements.
Sound & Music
While the music is fine in a 'teen pop' type of way,
the lack of any sampled voices is a little short sighted
and does effect the overall quality of the title. As
we've heard before, the GBA is capable of supporting
very high quality samples, and why none was used here
is a mystery. So although it does the job, the audio
in Hey Arnold is decidedly minimal and nothing to rave
about.
Final Comments
Hey Arnold - The Movie proves once again how relatively
easy it is to drape almost anything as a game, provided
it's popular enough that people won't care. Don't get
me wrong, the game is enjoyable, but only in short bursts.
Play it for more than 15 minutes though and it becomes
a tedious affair as the whole game simply consists of
gathering objects and getting to the end of the level.
It's a shame as the overall presentation of the game
is pretty good, although the developers appear to have
run out of ideas with the level design. Add to this
the infuriating password system and you're left with
a game that even fans of Hey Arnold should consider
twice before buying.
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