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« on: October 01, 2003, 12:43:14 PM »
I am glad to say that Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is a very addictive game. I have I think about half of the game complete. Some areas are complicated, but not because it's cheap. The third stage, I think it's called Dino Mountain, at one part you have to roll your egg to a track and let it roll across and then as it's rolling, you have to climb up to a platform and then jump across 2 to 3 small platforms (depending on the mission the number changes) and down to the other side and catch your egg before it rolls of the edge. Took me a while to get the timing of my jumps down. (Sometimes the egg will stop before it rolls off the edge, I think non charged eggs have the best chance of stopping.) Also while each mission in a stage uses the same stage, like Mario 64 and Mario Sunshine, but you start at different points for the mission and some parts are off limits too and the rings you use to propel your self, kind of like in Sonic Adventure, are rearranged for each mission so you can't go through each mission the exact same way. There is also several times in the mission where you have to roll down ramps with your eggs. Usually that kind of stuff annoys me because the control is never real tight, but here it's very good and I rarely fell off the ramps, some were half pipes and others just flat ramps either level or at an angle, but most always they are windy ramps which made rolling down them rather exciting. Some reviews state that later in the game it gets hard to control the eggs because the areas you roll them get narrower, but I really haven't seen any of the that. You also get to rescue your friends, who each have a mission in each stage. The only downside I can think if right now is that several missions get recycled for each stage like: The traveling salesman (find so many blue or red coins within a set time limit), Race with *insert name of a animal helper, but a bigger version either King or Queen* and save the 8 chickens, and defeat 100 crows. But since the layout of the level gets a change around each mission it doesn't seem boring. You fight a boss on each second mission and sometimes you can just go right to the gate whereas some you have to unlock the gate first. A nice variety of eggs also exist, like 72 or some different eggs. There are 5 coins in each mission, but in the first stage, two missions had coins that were completely out of the way that if I didn't just decide to go that way just because it looked like I could, I wouldn't have know that's where they were. There are 2 different animal helper types that I know about, one is where you hatch them and you control them with either the X or Y button, (The one right of the A button) and they will do their attack, a ice seal, a electric flying monkey, a flying weird fiery thing, a weird wind rabbit thing, a water penguin, and the second are ones that you hatch and then ride, like a shark, a bird that flutters for a little while and a weird one that jumps high. There are other animals you hatch as well, but they are for one use only, like a gorilla, a hawk, a chameleon, two different sized butterfly's, (they heal either a lot of health, or a little) and a crow that steals your light and makes everything dark for a short while. (These animals you use the other button, farthest left one). There are three types of bombs I have found so far, one that you thrown and it follows a enemy, one that you can roll and throw and it will explode, and one that I don't know much about, something about "everyone else sees it as just a normal egg"
The stages are different, like Super Mario 64, you have a forest, a pirate ship theme (from the demo if you have played it), a fiery dinosaur mountain, a ice mountain, and a circus park. There is an area I don't know what it is yet because I haven't opened it yet. The camera can get in the way, but it wasn't until the circus park area that it actually blocked the view completely and you have to manually move it ( a nuisance because at the same time an egg is rolling along a track and you need to jump several platforms and catch it before it falls, and also the egg in question is a golden egg and if it cracks even a little or falls you have to start over again from the eggs starting point. It would have been nice if Sega made the walls in this area become invisible when it is between you and the camera, but I think it will be easier for this level if I move the camera before I put the egg on the track. And speaking of tracks, there are two kinds I know about, the one I have already mentions where you let the egg roll along and you have to catch before it falls, and then the kind where you jump on with you egg and you both roll along, but don't worry you don't fall off.
The graphics are nice and clear, colors are bright and really convey the mood of the game, too me they more than get the job done. I like the music, it's cheerful and I like listening to it. There is no real voice acting, but kind of like the recent Legend of Zelda games where link makes noises to convey his actions. But each time you finish a mission the character says "Good Morning" in a real cute way that goes with the whole chicken theme. Each mission also has several little chicks roaming around that can give hints or nonsense really if you talk to them. Sometimes talking to them can mean completing a mission quickly, or taking a long time. Sometimes at the beginning of a mission your are given details of what you have to do, and sometimes you are not, so talking to the chicks is needed sometimes. You are rated for each mission, on how many eggs you hatched, enemies you defeated and how many egg combo's you pulled off, and a mission bonus. You are timed on each mission, but it's like the Sonic games where it keeps track of how long you took on each mission and not a set time limit unless for specific missions. The controls are very tight in my opinion, and just running around rolling eggs is very fun too, but you have to finish a mission. You can throw you egg with the B button. You can jump with A and pressing A while in the air will result in a egg slam move like Mario's butt stomp, and it will propel you higher than you can jump, which will be needed to get past some obstacles that will break your egg, or to get up to high ledges. Pressing the L trigger centers the camera behind Billy, and the R trigger will give you a boost to your speed that you can use and then jump with will cause you to roll with your egg, giving you enough speed to get up small inclines, which later in the game becomes necessary to finish missions, R also is used to hatch a fully charged egg, "cock-a-doodle-doo". Each egg, except for the golden ones can take several hits from enemies before breaking (with will leave a eggy mess, hahaha), but some times an enemy can break it with one hit. But fear not, eggs regenerate and there are probably a dozen or so different eggs per mission too. Also it should be noted that unless Billy or his friends are armed with an animal helper, they are completely defenseless if they do not have an egg at hand.
Combat usually revolves around you rolling your egg into an enemy and killing them, some take more than one hit though. Also, if you have defeated 100 enemies and you lose a life, you also lose the 100 enemies defeated when you do finish the mission, and also any combos you may have pulled off. Kind of cheap, but in a way it makes you want to redo the stage for a better letter grade. I have a lot of D's because I have been focusing on completing missions or finding all five coins in a mission. I also die a lot because some coins are in places that mean instant death if you don't go at getting them right. Like a coin floating above a pool of lava you have to jump across after getting a speed boost. But once you get the hang of it all it shouldn't be difficult.
If I were to grade it, I'd give it a 9 out of 10 because it's just a fun game., and take the point off because some levels get repeated and because later levels the camera gets lazy.
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Too bad still no Gamecube Castlevania
At least it looks promising.
