PlanetDreamcast | Games | Reviews | The Grinch

The Grinch Can the Grinch ruin Christmas without Dr. Seuss? - Review By The Mad Giraffe Page 2/2 The Bad Take control of the Grinch's dog to go where no Grinch has gone before -- perhaps even a good game. My visions of a great game were shattered the second the opening movie started. The graphics are horrible and no better than a first generation PlayStation game. The framerate stays consistent, but that is only because objects usually disappear after you walk a short distance from them. All throughout the game you have to collect presents and that quickly becomes extremely frustrating since they have the annoying habit of just disappearing on you, especially in the first-person view mode. The textures on the objects and buildings are extremely blocky, blurry, and not very smooth at all. For example, on the buildings in the first level, the window textures actually overlap the other textures creating the house so that the house looks as though it has a black eye around the window area. Basically, the textures just don't fit the objects, and I don't mean clipping although you can rest assure that there's plenty of that as well. The character models were supposed to be cartoonish and full of... character, but they end up looking very blocky, plain, and boring with jerky animation. A cel-shaded, enhanced Grinch would have been a treat, but instead we get another PlayStation game without any Dreamcast enhancements. That's no log! That's my son! (sniff) Ideally the game would be enjoyable enough to overlook that, but all of the gameplay aspects fail miserably. There's the stupid idea of having to go to your lair and shuffle the blueprints around (four for each gadget) until you get them in the right order to make said gadget. This is ridiculously simple (C'mon! There's only four images to swap around!) and quickly becomes a non-issue and just a waste of time. The mission based levels are a nice idea but flops as well. Some of the missions are very difficult just to figure out what exactly must be done, but actually completing the objectives is ridiculously easy. I found myself running around for hours trying to figure out what "shuffle mail" meant, but once I figured out what steps I needed to take to actually shuffle the mail, it was a very simple task. The goals are never quite as vague as Ecco the Dolphin's "The water is here, there, and everywhere" clues, but they just don't proceed logically as you think they should. The buttons are configured well, but... you guessed it! They're botched as well thanks to lousy control and collision detection. A simple task such as crushing a present becomes a pain in your own "robust behind" because you always find yourself missing the box as the Grinch kind of just slides over an invisible barrier guarding the present at certain angles. Walking around feels like skating on ice, and targeting objects with the egg launcher is far too sensitive and frustrating. Finally, the game is just boring. What we have here is a game which instructs you to perform certain pointless tasks while overcoming cumbersome controls to spend an infinite amount of time second guessing the designers' intentions. It's really just one step removed from being employed at a fast food franchise, although the only burning you'll feel from The Grinch is having spent $40 on this dud. It's really a shame, too, because the premise is so well thought out... it's just not any fun. Since you can't kill anyone, the people are always around to get in your way and pester you. Since it's nearly impossible to "die," you get to receive hugs for hours while you try and butt smash that last stupid present. A lot of kid rated action games lately are very chore based. I don't know whether that's done to help instill a strong work ethic into today's youth or just function as an endlessly vague and dull electronic baby-sitter. Either way, the game stinks enough to give the Grinch's own breath some competition. The Final Word I really did have high hopes for this game: 1) It's based on The Grinch, and 2) it's from Konami. Unfortunately, the game stunk. Bad graphics and terrible gameplay ruined a game with a cool license and awesome soundtrack. Developer: A2M/Universal Publisher: Konami Genre: Platform/action Highs: Music, sound effects, voice acting, stereo capabilities, license Lows: PlayStation graphics, poor gameplay, unbalanced difficulty Other: 1 player, VMU Compatible (3 blocks), Jump Pack Compatible. Final Score: (out of a possible 10) Visit this Game's Dreamcast Database Entry Previous Reviews Comments on this review? Mail Feedback.