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08-22-15 01:40 PM
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Final Animaniacs video game goes off with a whimper. What happened?

 
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08-22-15 01:40 PM
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1sam234
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Next, the second Animaniacs game released after the show and movie, and the supposedly final one: "Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action", released on the Game Boy Advance on November 13th, 2005, and the DS version released one day later.

If you're keeping track, that means this game was released only ONE TO TWO MONTHS after "The Great Edgar Hunt", depending on what console version of it you got. And if that's not confusing enough as to why they'd do that, the DS version apparently released first on August 4th for the PAL format, but the Game Boy Advance version was released first in North America on August 12th. Scheduling, what's that?

This is completely different from the platformers before, this time it plays a bit like an isometric puzzle game. For a portable game, it definitely runs fine on both systems, but the gameplay is so drastically different from before, it's almost jarring if you've just gotten off of the retro games or even "The Great Edgar Hunt".
-
The plot here during this "Newsreel of the Stars" intro is that the WB studio is in major, 1 zillion-dollar debt thanks to the Warner Brothers' and Sister's destructive attitudes. Now Plotz needs to make 3 movies to get the money back, and gives Yakko, Wakko and Dot, along with Pinky and the Brain's help, one last chance to prove they can do it or else the Warners'll be locked in the water tower forever. Again. Because that totally stopped them before, right?
-
There's 15 levels here this time, a thankful refresher from the constant 4-5 levels before, and there's 5 parts to each movie for adventure, sci-fi and horror, each level played in that order. The game plays on an isometric plane this time as opposed to 2-D and 3-D, so we get something like a 2.5 D game here.
-
The game's graphics are passable, the two guys watching at the bottom of the screen is a nice touch(Along with Yakko lounging and looking up from the bottom screen on the DS version), but for some reason, they just really don't look right to me. Maybe it's the looks of the characters throwing me off being so used to the 90s games' 16-bit designs for them. The controls are abhorrent as well, especially when there's multiple enemies coming after you or if you're trying to jump from platform to platform, it's like it fights you every time you try, and it feels so slow too. You do have a choice though, you can either pick the isometric controls so you're playing "Q-Bert", or the direct controls to actually move where you press the D-Pad, but have your aim thrown off when trying to attack. If it's trying to be a platformer as well, shouldn't it control a bit better when you try and jump(And on a related note, the jump height isn't good either on every character)?
-
The perspective is skewed as well thanks to the isometric world they're in, so you never know if a platform is above you or next to you, not even your shadow helps below you. The camera is too shaky, sensitive, and even nauseating at times whenever you move. You can use L or R with the D-Pad to try and see farther: L if you're stationary and R if you're moving, but you'll never use it since the game does it for you whenever you try and move anyway!
-
There's barely any worthwhile music and sound to listen to outside of the mini-game(Not mini-GAMES, mini-GAME), and the humor has been sucked out next to dry throughout the game, I just don't feel myself laughing as usual with the characters as opposed to the retro and even the console games. The puzzles get difficult fast if you don't know what to do or where to go, many things get confusing and you end up getting stuck a lot of times too.
-
Each of the 5 characters you control here has advantages and disadvantages, having special abilities like the last games. Yakko can throw apples and push objects around and is the well-rounded character, Wakko can burp, which is stronger than the apples, and he can push objects as well, but the burp doesn't provide much range and he can't use apples; Dot can hover after jumping for extra jump length but can't push objects, Pinky can run fast and go through small areas the Warners can't get through but can't push anything, and The Brain can do the same things as Pinky and is the only one that can operate special "IQ" levers, but can't jump.
-
You REALLY need to learn about what they can and can't do, as if you don't, you'll end up stuck for several minutes looking for what to find and do next. And God help you if you try to shortcut your way through, the game will just break. Almost all you do here is fetch quests for other characters, to find levers, keys, find someone specific, among other things. Luckily other characters from the show make an appearance here other than just the Warners, albeit briefly, to which I'm thankful for.
-
You can collect food to increase the rating of the level after you complete it, even though I doubt it helps with the ending other than for completion's sake; garlic to improve Wakko's burp attack range though it still doesn't beat out the apples, a stunt double which saves you from losing a reel if you get hit once, and single and five-stack film reels to increase its amount, which you'll need more than you know.
-
This game's fatal flaw ARE the film reels. They aren't just the time limit, with each reel lasting a certain amount of time before losing one(Easy gives 30 seconds, Normal 20, and Hard 10), they're your LIVES as well. And if you get hit only once, the word "CUT" floats up and down, you wait 10 seconds, and you start at the last checkpoint you activated(which are the directors you find, who also call Dot "Dottie" sometimes. Whatever happened to "call me Dottie and you die"?), while taking away a film reel. That is the biggest flaw outside of the confusing level design and lack of direction. At least you're given actual lives here, but it's also your time limit, which makes it worse.
-
Most of the time, they're guarded by enemies which can take more than one hit to kill, unless you switch to Wakko which can beat them in one hit mostly, but needs you to get dangerously close cause the burp has way less range, it's a complete dilemma! And sometimes it's not even worth it when you only get one film reel for your effort! And if you lose all of your film reels, you see a pretty disheartening cut-scene, it says "Game Over", and you go back to the title screen. That's right, this game has NO continues whatsoever. It makes the player rely on passwords to continue since there's not even a save system here either! You do get an extra reel if you lose reels to the point you only have one left, but I think that only happens once per level. If the director can just dole out reels like that though, then what's the point?
-
But for some reason, you can actually exploit this to your benefit! You can enter these changing rooms that let you switch characters an unlimited amount of times in a row like they did in "The Great Edgar Hunt"(even though each changing room has a different combination of characters inside, even on the same level for some reason) to play a minigame called "Polka Dottie"(subtle). The buttons you need to press to get the extra film reels don't change patterns at all each time you play, you can get up to a maximum of five reels if you get all of them, there's a big margin for allowable error, and you can keep doing this until you're all maxed out on reels and just go back and get more if you're running low without having to change characters. So if possible, you can never, EVER lose a level and game over if you know the pattern in each one!
-
When the game's not being aggravatingly annoying and dragged out, it commits the Animaniacs license's worst possible sin of being boring, unfunny, and out of character. Compared to the other Animaniacs games, even the Game Boy port, this is the bread, crackers and water of the license. I've never seen such a grosser misuse of it since other modern movie-licensed games. The story and gameplay and sound design is as basic as basic can get, and the puzzles can grow too challenging for its intended demographic. You could make this game about pretty much anything else, but they attached the Animaniacs logo, name and characters on it in a last-minute ditch effort and cash-in to avoid it getting into the bargain bin, and kids immediately wanted to try it out and be disappointed at what it's become. Still a majority of its other characters make no appearance at all, and this time, the Warners are completely out of character, actually following authority! Sure, the threat of being locked up forever helps with keeping them in line, but what's to stop them from getting out again because toon logic?!
-
Multiplayer doesn't fare much better either, it feels the same but with more than one character this time, wooooooooo. It's basically like "Keep away" with trying to keep your crown by avoiding being tagged by other players or hit with apples. Not much else past that.
-
The DS version is exactly the same too, it's nothing but a 1:1 port of the GBA version, only the bottom screen shows the collectibles you got and only a few other functions like to pause the game(cause what's a Start button, right), but that is literally it. If you like puzzle games in general, then good for you, this could be decent to rent at least. But if you've just come off of the previous Animaniacs games and you're a big fan of them and the show, then this'll really disappoint you.
-
In short, this is the worst Animaniacs game to date, it makes the Game Boy port look good in comparison. The studio that worked on this clearly forgot what or how the Animaniacs were and acted, because as stated, there were next to none of them other than the Warners, Pinky and the Brain, Plotz, and Scratchansniff outside of cameos, the Warners are the most out of character I have ever seen them as, the humor that normally came with the show and license was completely sucked dry, everything else about the game is either aggravating, boring or barely functioning, and the ending is the most insulting thing I've ever seen in any video game. It probably beats out Ghostbusters for NES in being insulting to the gamer and a fan of the show. "A new Animaniacs series", Plotz said at the end of the game. What a swift kick to the groin that was, because we never got it. It'd be nice, but it only shown how clueless Warthog Sweden was. At least "The Great Edgar Hunt" TRIED to be funny and good, and sort of succeeded in that.

This game must've killed any remaining potential for Animaniacs, because there's been no more games or shows or anything about it since then(Outside of poorly-made iOS games which don't warrant mentioning). Does the show and license deserve better? Yeah it does, it got cancelled for next to no reason, which had been proven flat-out wrong years ago time and again, but as for the games, someone needs to make a good one again. Something to actually either remember the series by, or to bring its potential back from the grave. The Animaniacs fanbase is still going strong, the voice actors such as Rob and Maurice still reprise their roles sometimes for fun, so the interest is still there as well. Heck, even creator Tom Ruegger himself in a Reddit AMA said he'd love for Animaniacs to come back in this day and age if Warner Bros. allowed it and gave it the green light! But until then, this is all we're gonna get, and those are the facts.

That was a bit rough to play through when I did, but that's all for the modern games. Now to the PC.

(Next: Animaniacs: Splat Ball! on PC)
Next, the second Animaniacs game released after the show and movie, and the supposedly final one: "Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action", released on the Game Boy Advance on November 13th, 2005, and the DS version released one day later.

If you're keeping track, that means this game was released only ONE TO TWO MONTHS after "The Great Edgar Hunt", depending on what console version of it you got. And if that's not confusing enough as to why they'd do that, the DS version apparently released first on August 4th for the PAL format, but the Game Boy Advance version was released first in North America on August 12th. Scheduling, what's that?

This is completely different from the platformers before, this time it plays a bit like an isometric puzzle game. For a portable game, it definitely runs fine on both systems, but the gameplay is so drastically different from before, it's almost jarring if you've just gotten off of the retro games or even "The Great Edgar Hunt".
-
The plot here during this "Newsreel of the Stars" intro is that the WB studio is in major, 1 zillion-dollar debt thanks to the Warner Brothers' and Sister's destructive attitudes. Now Plotz needs to make 3 movies to get the money back, and gives Yakko, Wakko and Dot, along with Pinky and the Brain's help, one last chance to prove they can do it or else the Warners'll be locked in the water tower forever. Again. Because that totally stopped them before, right?
-
There's 15 levels here this time, a thankful refresher from the constant 4-5 levels before, and there's 5 parts to each movie for adventure, sci-fi and horror, each level played in that order. The game plays on an isometric plane this time as opposed to 2-D and 3-D, so we get something like a 2.5 D game here.
-
The game's graphics are passable, the two guys watching at the bottom of the screen is a nice touch(Along with Yakko lounging and looking up from the bottom screen on the DS version), but for some reason, they just really don't look right to me. Maybe it's the looks of the characters throwing me off being so used to the 90s games' 16-bit designs for them. The controls are abhorrent as well, especially when there's multiple enemies coming after you or if you're trying to jump from platform to platform, it's like it fights you every time you try, and it feels so slow too. You do have a choice though, you can either pick the isometric controls so you're playing "Q-Bert", or the direct controls to actually move where you press the D-Pad, but have your aim thrown off when trying to attack. If it's trying to be a platformer as well, shouldn't it control a bit better when you try and jump(And on a related note, the jump height isn't good either on every character)?
-
The perspective is skewed as well thanks to the isometric world they're in, so you never know if a platform is above you or next to you, not even your shadow helps below you. The camera is too shaky, sensitive, and even nauseating at times whenever you move. You can use L or R with the D-Pad to try and see farther: L if you're stationary and R if you're moving, but you'll never use it since the game does it for you whenever you try and move anyway!
-
There's barely any worthwhile music and sound to listen to outside of the mini-game(Not mini-GAMES, mini-GAME), and the humor has been sucked out next to dry throughout the game, I just don't feel myself laughing as usual with the characters as opposed to the retro and even the console games. The puzzles get difficult fast if you don't know what to do or where to go, many things get confusing and you end up getting stuck a lot of times too.
-
Each of the 5 characters you control here has advantages and disadvantages, having special abilities like the last games. Yakko can throw apples and push objects around and is the well-rounded character, Wakko can burp, which is stronger than the apples, and he can push objects as well, but the burp doesn't provide much range and he can't use apples; Dot can hover after jumping for extra jump length but can't push objects, Pinky can run fast and go through small areas the Warners can't get through but can't push anything, and The Brain can do the same things as Pinky and is the only one that can operate special "IQ" levers, but can't jump.
-
You REALLY need to learn about what they can and can't do, as if you don't, you'll end up stuck for several minutes looking for what to find and do next. And God help you if you try to shortcut your way through, the game will just break. Almost all you do here is fetch quests for other characters, to find levers, keys, find someone specific, among other things. Luckily other characters from the show make an appearance here other than just the Warners, albeit briefly, to which I'm thankful for.
-
You can collect food to increase the rating of the level after you complete it, even though I doubt it helps with the ending other than for completion's sake; garlic to improve Wakko's burp attack range though it still doesn't beat out the apples, a stunt double which saves you from losing a reel if you get hit once, and single and five-stack film reels to increase its amount, which you'll need more than you know.
-
This game's fatal flaw ARE the film reels. They aren't just the time limit, with each reel lasting a certain amount of time before losing one(Easy gives 30 seconds, Normal 20, and Hard 10), they're your LIVES as well. And if you get hit only once, the word "CUT" floats up and down, you wait 10 seconds, and you start at the last checkpoint you activated(which are the directors you find, who also call Dot "Dottie" sometimes. Whatever happened to "call me Dottie and you die"?), while taking away a film reel. That is the biggest flaw outside of the confusing level design and lack of direction. At least you're given actual lives here, but it's also your time limit, which makes it worse.
-
Most of the time, they're guarded by enemies which can take more than one hit to kill, unless you switch to Wakko which can beat them in one hit mostly, but needs you to get dangerously close cause the burp has way less range, it's a complete dilemma! And sometimes it's not even worth it when you only get one film reel for your effort! And if you lose all of your film reels, you see a pretty disheartening cut-scene, it says "Game Over", and you go back to the title screen. That's right, this game has NO continues whatsoever. It makes the player rely on passwords to continue since there's not even a save system here either! You do get an extra reel if you lose reels to the point you only have one left, but I think that only happens once per level. If the director can just dole out reels like that though, then what's the point?
-
But for some reason, you can actually exploit this to your benefit! You can enter these changing rooms that let you switch characters an unlimited amount of times in a row like they did in "The Great Edgar Hunt"(even though each changing room has a different combination of characters inside, even on the same level for some reason) to play a minigame called "Polka Dottie"(subtle). The buttons you need to press to get the extra film reels don't change patterns at all each time you play, you can get up to a maximum of five reels if you get all of them, there's a big margin for allowable error, and you can keep doing this until you're all maxed out on reels and just go back and get more if you're running low without having to change characters. So if possible, you can never, EVER lose a level and game over if you know the pattern in each one!
-
When the game's not being aggravatingly annoying and dragged out, it commits the Animaniacs license's worst possible sin of being boring, unfunny, and out of character. Compared to the other Animaniacs games, even the Game Boy port, this is the bread, crackers and water of the license. I've never seen such a grosser misuse of it since other modern movie-licensed games. The story and gameplay and sound design is as basic as basic can get, and the puzzles can grow too challenging for its intended demographic. You could make this game about pretty much anything else, but they attached the Animaniacs logo, name and characters on it in a last-minute ditch effort and cash-in to avoid it getting into the bargain bin, and kids immediately wanted to try it out and be disappointed at what it's become. Still a majority of its other characters make no appearance at all, and this time, the Warners are completely out of character, actually following authority! Sure, the threat of being locked up forever helps with keeping them in line, but what's to stop them from getting out again because toon logic?!
-
Multiplayer doesn't fare much better either, it feels the same but with more than one character this time, wooooooooo. It's basically like "Keep away" with trying to keep your crown by avoiding being tagged by other players or hit with apples. Not much else past that.
-
The DS version is exactly the same too, it's nothing but a 1:1 port of the GBA version, only the bottom screen shows the collectibles you got and only a few other functions like to pause the game(cause what's a Start button, right), but that is literally it. If you like puzzle games in general, then good for you, this could be decent to rent at least. But if you've just come off of the previous Animaniacs games and you're a big fan of them and the show, then this'll really disappoint you.
-
In short, this is the worst Animaniacs game to date, it makes the Game Boy port look good in comparison. The studio that worked on this clearly forgot what or how the Animaniacs were and acted, because as stated, there were next to none of them other than the Warners, Pinky and the Brain, Plotz, and Scratchansniff outside of cameos, the Warners are the most out of character I have ever seen them as, the humor that normally came with the show and license was completely sucked dry, everything else about the game is either aggravating, boring or barely functioning, and the ending is the most insulting thing I've ever seen in any video game. It probably beats out Ghostbusters for NES in being insulting to the gamer and a fan of the show. "A new Animaniacs series", Plotz said at the end of the game. What a swift kick to the groin that was, because we never got it. It'd be nice, but it only shown how clueless Warthog Sweden was. At least "The Great Edgar Hunt" TRIED to be funny and good, and sort of succeeded in that.

This game must've killed any remaining potential for Animaniacs, because there's been no more games or shows or anything about it since then(Outside of poorly-made iOS games which don't warrant mentioning). Does the show and license deserve better? Yeah it does, it got cancelled for next to no reason, which had been proven flat-out wrong years ago time and again, but as for the games, someone needs to make a good one again. Something to actually either remember the series by, or to bring its potential back from the grave. The Animaniacs fanbase is still going strong, the voice actors such as Rob and Maurice still reprise their roles sometimes for fun, so the interest is still there as well. Heck, even creator Tom Ruegger himself in a Reddit AMA said he'd love for Animaniacs to come back in this day and age if Warner Bros. allowed it and gave it the green light! But until then, this is all we're gonna get, and those are the facts.

That was a bit rough to play through when I did, but that's all for the modern games. Now to the PC.

(Next: Animaniacs: Splat Ball! on PC)
Vizzed Elite
https://www.youtube.com/c/1sam234 A contributor to Vizzed, and proud of it! Affected by Matrix Syndrome


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 12-12-09
Last Post: 2452 days
Last Active: 5 days

(edited by 1sam234 on 02-04-19 10:35 AM)     Post Rating: 1   Liked By: jnisol,

08-23-15 01:29 AM
Eirinn is Offline
| ID: 1197575 | 48 Words

Eirinn
Level: 154


POSTS: 4699/7900
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Likes: 0  Dislikes: 0
Nice work on these reviews. If you're interested in having some of them featured, I'd love to do so if you could edit out the HTML (links you added).

Regardless, this is a nice review, and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of your work, man.
Nice work on these reviews. If you're interested in having some of them featured, I'd love to do so if you could edit out the HTML (links you added).

Regardless, this is a nice review, and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of your work, man.
Vizzed Elite
Eirinn


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 07-18-12
Last Post: 2031 days
Last Active: 2031 days

08-23-15 12:09 PM
1sam234 is Offline
| ID: 1197659 | 34 Words

1sam234
Level: 60


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Eirinn : Thanks, and sorry for the links there, that was so they can get to the next review in that series easier. But if you want me to remove them, then I will.
Eirinn : Thanks, and sorry for the links there, that was so they can get to the next review in that series easier. But if you want me to remove them, then I will.
Vizzed Elite
https://www.youtube.com/c/1sam234 A contributor to Vizzed, and proud of it! Affected by Matrix Syndrome


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 12-12-09
Last Post: 2452 days
Last Active: 5 days

08-23-15 03:30 PM
Eirinn is Offline
| ID: 1197714 | 59 Words

Eirinn
Level: 154


POSTS: 4703/7900
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Yeah, that was a good idea, but unfortunately the rule against HTML is still in place for reviews (still trying to get it removed, I promise! People are probably doubting that after over a year of hearing me say it). Hopefully that changes soon. Thanks for the edit though, now I'll go and assign this one as featured.
Yeah, that was a good idea, but unfortunately the rule against HTML is still in place for reviews (still trying to get it removed, I promise! People are probably doubting that after over a year of hearing me say it). Hopefully that changes soon. Thanks for the edit though, now I'll go and assign this one as featured.
Vizzed Elite
Eirinn


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 07-18-12
Last Post: 2031 days
Last Active: 2031 days

08-25-15 06:35 PM
1sam234 is Offline
| ID: 1198136 | 45 Words

1sam234
Level: 60


POSTS: 808/836
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Eirinn : Thanks, really. If you think my other reviews in the series are feature-worthy too, you can assign them there too, I don't think some of those games even had reviews before that. XD That and I removed the HTML on those too.
Eirinn : Thanks, really. If you think my other reviews in the series are feature-worthy too, you can assign them there too, I don't think some of those games even had reviews before that. XD That and I removed the HTML on those too.
Vizzed Elite
https://www.youtube.com/c/1sam234 A contributor to Vizzed, and proud of it! Affected by Matrix Syndrome


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 12-12-09
Last Post: 2452 days
Last Active: 5 days

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