By: John Doe
I'm not a fan of the animated series, but that shouldn't hold anyone back from spending time with this game.
You assume the role of Bob, (from a third person perspective ala Tomb Raider) who resides in Mainframe and must stop the evil Megabyte from destroying your world. The gameplay revolves around fixing "tears" in the fabric of Mainframe as well as finding keys and destroying enemies. "Tears" are white balls of electricity that appear three or four times per level in different areas. You have approximately "3" minutes to locate and repair the tear. Once located, Bob must fix his tractor beam on these tears and repair them. The catch however, is that once locked on, the "tear" pulls you towards it, so be careful. Once the tears have been repaired, Bob must locate a key (or keys) which opens the vidwindow somewhere in the level, which allows Bob to exit and save the game at that point. A nice feature is there is no time limit once the tears have been repaired. You can take your time and explore the levels for more powerups, while looking for the vidwindow.
The coolest aspect of this game, is Bob's preferred method of transportation: his hover board. It handles much like you'd expect; that means it's a little tough to get used too. But once you do, you'll be maneuvering like a pro. Just be prepared to practice with it. For example, to jump, you must charge the board slightly in advance of the jump. This does make it frustrating at first, but it does get easier. There are lots of ramps to make some cool jumps, so those who snowboard and skateboard will love this aspect of gameplay! The game is 3D action/adventure with a ton of platforming thrown in to the mix. If you thought jumping in Tomb Raider was tough, ReBoot will have you dusting off some good old expletives you thought were lost forever! Actually, I'm slightly exaggerating, because even though it is tough in parts (especially that $#@* jumping from crate to crate nonsense) it really never becomes too difficult or loses that fun feeling. At least if you fall from a GREAT height, you don't take any damage. Bonus!
Although this game doesn't look obviously as a good as the cartoon, Electronic Arts is still to be commended. The graphics are definitely on par with the third generation PSX games. (They are no Gex 2 however....)
The one aspect of the game that does fall short, is camera control. There is none. Bummer... The game has a tendency to close the camera in really close to you when it should be far away. This tends to happen around crate jumping as I mentioned before. As well, although the control is as tight as it should be for controlling a hoverboard, it would have been nice to be able to shut it off for some garden variety jumping. While positioned on a crate for a precise jump, you may find Bob is facing the other direction, and nothing you can do will set him up correctly. Thus Bob falls off of the crate for the zillionth time. Impossible? No? Frustrating? Hell, Yes!
Bob's weapons can be upgraded and selected via the R2 or L2 buttons. He's packing some major fire power. In fact for many of the petty enemy annoyances that litter the early levels, it's almost overkill. But you'll be thankful for that, while you get your hoverboard "legs".
All in all, I have to say that this game will find a nice home in my collection. It's just different enough to stand out and the play mechanics of the hoverboard really have drawn me in. In this day and age, rent first, buy later is the ONLY creed to live by. Give this game MORE than a tryout at the store. It deserves your FULL attention.