Previous entries can be found HERE
There's a commonly held belief among video game fans that licensed games, particularly those based on films, are intrinsically bad. There's decades of evidence to back this up of course, but as far back into gaming history as bad movie tie-ins go, so too go the exceptions to this rule.
Due to its limited power (compared to everything else around it) every cross-platform game for the GBA had to be made from the ground up for the hardware and this resulted in a lot of 'de-makes' - games that elsewhere embraced the power of 6th generation hardware were given GBA versions that looked very much like something from the SNES or Mega Drive era.
For the 2007 TNMT CGI movie the big boys were given a horrible, generic action platforming mess of a game while the GBA received one of the best side-scrolling beat-em-ups anyone had seen for years. It was a similar case with Ghost Rider. The Nicolas Cage movie vehicle may have been poor, but the home console tie-in games were even worse, while the GBA had a cool little 2D action effort with shades of Castlevania.
Which is all ground-work so that you believe me when I say that this Scorpion King game on the little GBA, that can be picked up online for about three quid, is really, really good.
The 'Sword of Osiris' subtitle is indication that the game actually serves as a sequel to the Scorpion King movie. You start in control of the Kelly Hu character, Cassandra, but early on you'll face an unwinnable boss battle and the avatar switches to that representing Mathayus, the character portrayed in the movie by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson - and just like that we're right back to 'rescue the damsel in distress' territory (but more on that later). As you would expect from Wayforward the sprites, despite being fairly small, are well drawn and beautifully animated. And while some of the games backgrounds can be a little nondescript the worst thing that can be said about the visuals is that when it uses still headshots from the movie to illustrate which character is talking it looks cheap and clashes with the style of the game, but as biggest issues go, that's a pretty small one.
The game is ostensibly a side scrolling action platformer. You spend the first true section heading from left to right killing things in time honoured fashioned. However, there are a couple of SNES era tropes to keep things interesting. We have the good old 'keep jumping to stay out quicksand' gambit and a nice screen effect to represent walking into a strong wind. When you hit the second section things start to build upon this solid start. While the representation of the levels remains pretty basic, structurally they begin to open up and offer alternate routes. Enemies too evolve and start to exhibit patterns to be avoided and exploited, and there are secret routes and rooms everywhere.
Basic combat is enhanced by a choice of two weapons, one strong but direct, the other weak but a bit more versatile - both can be enhanced by collecting gems for the infinity gauntlet style glove you are given at the start of the game. There is nothing outstanding about the game in this area but it works well. It's really the exploration that sets Scorpion King apart from other games of this type, and this excels through a nicely implemented wall jump that enables traversal to otherwise unreachable areas.
The positives on offer make this an attractive proposition all by themselves but the game has one last trick up its sleeve. Once complete, you can start the game again and this time control Cassandra as she rescues Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Mathayus. Cassandra has different abilities so this second playthrough offers variety alongside the extra challenge. Better still, the game uses old fashioned password saves, so if you just want to skip the first playthrough and start with Cassandra the codes can easily be found online.
There's a commonly held belief among video game fans that licensed games, particularly those based on films, are intrinsically bad. There's decades of evidence to back this up of course, but as far back into gaming history as bad movie tie-ins go, so too go the exceptions to this rule.
Due to its limited power (compared to everything else around it) every cross-platform game for the GBA had to be made from the ground up for the hardware and this resulted in a lot of 'de-makes' - games that elsewhere embraced the power of 6th generation hardware were given GBA versions that looked very much like something from the SNES or Mega Drive era.
For the 2007 TNMT CGI movie the big boys were given a horrible, generic action platforming mess of a game while the GBA received one of the best side-scrolling beat-em-ups anyone had seen for years. It was a similar case with Ghost Rider. The Nicolas Cage movie vehicle may have been poor, but the home console tie-in games were even worse, while the GBA had a cool little 2D action effort with shades of Castlevania.
Which is all ground-work so that you believe me when I say that this Scorpion King game on the little GBA, that can be picked up online for about three quid, is really, really good.
The 'Sword of Osiris' subtitle is indication that the game actually serves as a sequel to the Scorpion King movie. You start in control of the Kelly Hu character, Cassandra, but early on you'll face an unwinnable boss battle and the avatar switches to that representing Mathayus, the character portrayed in the movie by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson - and just like that we're right back to 'rescue the damsel in distress' territory (but more on that later). As you would expect from Wayforward the sprites, despite being fairly small, are well drawn and beautifully animated. And while some of the games backgrounds can be a little nondescript the worst thing that can be said about the visuals is that when it uses still headshots from the movie to illustrate which character is talking it looks cheap and clashes with the style of the game, but as biggest issues go, that's a pretty small one.
The game is ostensibly a side scrolling action platformer. You spend the first true section heading from left to right killing things in time honoured fashioned. However, there are a couple of SNES era tropes to keep things interesting. We have the good old 'keep jumping to stay out quicksand' gambit and a nice screen effect to represent walking into a strong wind. When you hit the second section things start to build upon this solid start. While the representation of the levels remains pretty basic, structurally they begin to open up and offer alternate routes. Enemies too evolve and start to exhibit patterns to be avoided and exploited, and there are secret routes and rooms everywhere.
Basic combat is enhanced by a choice of two weapons, one strong but direct, the other weak but a bit more versatile - both can be enhanced by collecting gems for the infinity gauntlet style glove you are given at the start of the game. There is nothing outstanding about the game in this area but it works well. It's really the exploration that sets Scorpion King apart from other games of this type, and this excels through a nicely implemented wall jump that enables traversal to otherwise unreachable areas.
The positives on offer make this an attractive proposition all by themselves but the game has one last trick up its sleeve. Once complete, you can start the game again and this time control Cassandra as she rescues Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Mathayus. Cassandra has different abilities so this second playthrough offers variety alongside the extra challenge. Better still, the game uses old fashioned password saves, so if you just want to skip the first playthrough and start with Cassandra the codes can easily be found online.
The Scorpion King: The Sword of Osiris (GBA) - Another licensed winner for this handheld
Previous entries can be found HERE
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