| Introduction
Spirou has already had an outing on the original
GameBoy and most other consoles although this was some
years ago. A huge star in his native Belgium, the adventures
of Spirou and Fantasio are almost unheard of anywhere
else but that's all set to change. Those fine people
at Ubi Soft bring a platformer with a difference to
our humble GameBoy Colour and, as most of us have never
encountered this particular comic book character, let's
hope it's a good game.
GamePlay
All of Spirou's adventures are a little strange,
to say the least, and this is no exception. The Robot
Invasion will have you dodging droids and solving problems
in a variety of environments but your adventure starts
at a disused railway station. It's here you'll encounter
your friend, Fantasio, and he'll give you information
critical to your quest. You get this by standing next
to him and a speech bubble appears above. As there's
not enough room for everything a given character wants
to say the text scrolls. It's important to talk to everyone
as these are your hints, tips and mission goals.
On completion of an area your performance is rated
out of 100. This is based on what you've collected and
the amount of rooms you've entered. This is yet another
title where you can see an area but can't get to it
and everything here is based on sections of a comic
strip. The frame you're in will be lit up whilst everything
else will be darker. Getting around isn't always easy
and you'll often find that a door is operated by a switch
you passed some time ago and to make things a little
more challenging, it's on a timer. Platforms too, sometimes
require switches to be activated in a certain order
but this is mostly trial and error.
There are a huge number of things to pick up on the
way and in addition to the usual health and lives there
are also objects that send you to bonus levels. Pick
up enough 'question marks' and you're off to a great
'pairs' game whilst finding the elusive UBI KEY opens
up an extra level. For those who haven't encountered
this 'key' before it's unique to Ubi Soft titles and
when found is stored in your GBC. Get a friend who's
also got an Ubi Soft title which has this feature and
swap information via the infra red port. New and exciting
things are promised and it's usually quite easy to locate
the key in a game.
The gamescreen is completely clear of all interference
with everything appearing at the base of the screen.
The password system is a little strange as you'll often
receive one, and sometimes two, during the middle of
a level. All the passwords are on sign posts so look
out for them. This is yet another title that should
have had battery backup as, although only 6 digits,
it can be a bit of a chore entering the password all
the time.
Control
Spirou has to use a whole host of moves throughout
this adventure but fortunately he's a joy to control.
Movements such as jumping and grabbing a ledge can some
times be incredibly difficult in this type of game but
here the intelligent sprite detection helps every step
of the way. Everything else is very instinctive and
you'll never feel your gameplay's suffering because
your main character won't do what you want him to.
Graphics
As usual Planet Interactive have excelled in this
department and everything is near perfect. Spirou himself
moves with great ease and is on a par with the fluid
animation we first saw with the Prince of Persia titles
and all other on screen characters display the same
quality. Other graphics such as backgrounds and cut
scenes are wonderful too and throughout the game you'll
often become distracted by the level of detail in the
environments. This really is quite an accomplishment
for the GBC and if only the Advance graphics could measure
up we'd all be a lot happier.
Sound & Music
The music is a very good interpretation of the animated
series soundtrack although as most of you probably haven't
seen it, it's possibly not the best example I could
have used. Sound effects are kept to the usual clicks,
bangs, buzzes and twangs that this system does so well
but, if you're finding it hard to listen to GBC now
that the superior audio of the GBA is around, you can
always switch them off.
Final Comments
As platformers go this is possibly one of the best
and most original you'll come across. The whole idea
of playing a game out in a comic book is quite surreal
but keeps your attention locked on the gameplay. The
puzzles are a little difficult at times and enemies
can be unforgiving but the great graphics and animation
only help to reinforce that this is a must have game
for anyone interested in the platform genre.
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