The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King Review (no fat)

by Tose/Buena Vista Interactive Platform: GBA Genre: Platformer	ESRB Rating: Everyone Release: 2005-10-11	The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King Features: Action Packed Prequel Involving Platform Play 1 player/1-2 player minigames Touches on events pre Nightmare Before Christmas
	Egamer's Rating: 6 / 10. Reviewed on: 2005-12-06

Game Description

Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas franchise gets some loving right before the major holidays hit, to be welcomed by adoring fans everywhere. Jack Skellington gets to run, jump, and fight his way through Halloween town in hopes of wrestling power away from Oogie Boogie and his evil baddies.

With some funny weapons and secrets The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King is enjoyable for all ages.

NBC: The Pumpkin King - Kid Friendly, Adult Approved

Traditional platform games seem to make a living nowadays on the technically challenged GBA, which is surprisingly still popping out quality games. With a demand for newer hardware by consumers, the GBA is sometimes license dependant to help push sales.

Followers of the Batman and X-Men video games know that this is not always a good thing, in fact it can be downright crippling to a game. A little creative thinking on Tose and Buena Vistas side has overcome this stereotype, somewhat.

NBC: The Pumpkin King plays like a 90’s platformer, it is no Castlevania: Symphony of the Night but it still has considerable familiarities. The simple play was built in to appeal to the kids, while the games more advanced extras were made purely for the nostalgic adults.

It is a fun romp that isn’t groundbreaking, but follows the usual trend of movie to handheld.

NBC: The Pumpkin King - Gameplay

The premise of the Pumpkin King involves Jack stopping Oogie and his army of giant bugs. Definitely a nice start for the kids, especially with a toxic frog as one of the weapons. There is a nice set of upgradeable weapons throughout the game, just as weird and eerie as they are effective. Through launching pumpkin grenades to giant bosses kids will eventually fly through the game quite quick and without trouble from the numerous health pickups.

Adults will enjoy the exploration parts of the game, which prolongs the adventure with hidden areas. Secrets are easily found with the available map, even the fans of the franchise will be well at home.

NBC: The Pumpkin King- Oogie Boogie?

This is sure to confuse a couple of owners of the Dreamcast game Ooga Booga consisting of witch doctors and a volcano Goddess. Not at all related to Oogie Boogie, but the idea of true multiplayer support for the Pumpkin King could have been a nice addition to the dying GBA fanbase.

The multi-player hidden games within this GBA title are almost as fun as the game itself, in some cases. The mini-games serve their purpose along with the hidden artwork that surely adult fans will be after, the game’s saving grace.

NBC: The Pumpkin King Graphics

The GBA toys with the PSP with no frame rate slowdowns whatsoever, delivering solid 2d gameplay with non-memorable cutscenes. The developers did a poor job of capturing the original films personality and instead make a graphics format to fit the GBA.

NBC: The Pumpkin King Sound

Some of the original films music is in the game, but stuck on loop and only short clips. More of a tribute to Danny Elfmans’ film work than the game, moviegoers will get that familiar feel while playing. It may be the top thing to get their attention in the long run.

The sound effects are also lifted from various other games, it seems, making for a little bit of an unoriginal feel to the entire experience.

NBC: The Pumpkin King - Summing up

No one blames Buena Vista for going the route they did with this GBA game, and even with all the effort it is still a pretty playable game for kids. The attempt to make the gameplay universal for adults alike does not really fly, and only fits a nostalgic crowd whose loyalties lie in the original film.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King would have been a great all around game 10 years ago, now it is kid friendly bargain bin material.

NBC: The Pumpkin King -cost

NBC: The Pumpkin King retails for $25.93.