The Incredible Crash Dummies Review by: Eirinn - 6/10
It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it!Ah, now here are some serious memories. Tucked away in a tiny little plastic cartridge (or now a ROM), is one of the most memorable parts of my childhood: The Incredible Crash Dummies. This was the first game I ever played on my Game Boy, and despite my initial expectations (even though I was only seven or eight), I loved it. This, to me, is what Game Boy gaming was all about. Upon opening the game, and
inserting it in my Game Boy, I was hooked, and continued to play it for a few years to come.
This game has you playing the part of one of the Crash Test Dummies, performing jobs that are designed to either dismember you upon completion (jumping off of a building), or put your health at serious risk (crashing a car into a brick wall to test the air-bumper). Each job pays criminally low wages, that vary depending on your performance, and how much cash your underpaid Dummy desperately grabs during a job.
The controls of this fast paced game are simple, but change with each mission, and explaining them would prove rather tedious in a review, so I'll keep the focus on what the game offers here. Suffice to say, you won't struggle to learn the controls for each new job. Now, how about getting to that review?
Graphics: 7/10
Very Good.
I have to say that I was a little iffy on the graphics rating here, but I felt that the graphics here deserved a little better than just "Good", given the nice look of all of the sprites. Speaking of which, the sprites are very well done. They're some of the best illustrated sprites I've seen on the Game Boy. The dummies look great (boy how superficial did that sound?), as well as the other objects in the game. Things are smooth, and smoothly animated, to make a truly good display of graphics on an older Game Boy title. Unfortunately, the lack of color on a Game Boy, along with a level design system that leaves most levels devoid of much of a background at all, leaves this one lacking a little bit. But what we do have is very well done, and I can't fault the graphics for that.
Highlights:
-Great Illustration on between scene images.
Sound: 8/10
Exceptional.
Okay, so the sound may not be something you're jamming out to anytime soon, but bear in mind that this is an older game, and on the Game Boy, that filled our ears with those notorious blips, bleeps, and bloops for music for years. So with system limitations in mind, I feel that an eight is warranted, at the very least.
Grab the headphones! The music is where this game really shines in the audio department. I really enjoy listening to the tunes here, to be honest. They managed to make those bleeps and bloops sound prettier than the average blip! Wow, was that as confusing to read as it sounded in my head while writing it? Anyway, the tune in each level is enjoyable, and screams retro gaming to me, but even playing it when it was new, it was really enjoyable music, so it isn't just nostalgia talking here. Oddly, I even enjoy the "You lost a life" tune, even if it is annoying to be taunted by it.
The sound effects aren't bad either. They're decent in quality, but there aren't a lot of them. So while this one isn't just impressive with the sound effects, it isn't bad either. All things considered, I would say they're good for a Game Boy game.
Highlights:
-Great music
Story: N/A
There really is no story at all. The closest you'll get to a story, is saying that you are a crash test dummy, that has to eek out a living by doing insane odd jobs for really low wages. That's it. Rocket crash test, anybody? "Yup, it exploded when I crashed it, alright. Now pay me that $3.50 we agreed on."
Depth: 3/10
Bad.
There really isn't much depth offered here. You have a few different jobs, you play through them, and you start all over again, on a higher difficulty. The first three jobs at least offer you a choice on how you proceed to the level: just get out in the correct amount of pieces, or get as much money as you can. After that, you just complete the jobs.
Highlights:
-You can....yeah, I got nothing.
Addictiveness: 6/10
Good.
If you enjoy Game Boy games, amd simple mini-game style gameplay, then you'll like this one. As I said earlier, it had me hooked for a long time as a kid, and I still enjoy it in moderation today. It's simple retro gaming, and it manages to be entertaining with it's cheesy humor.
Highlights:
-Bite-sized gameplay that allows for a game break when you only have a few minutes.
Difficulty: 8/10
Very Difficult.
While this may look like a kid's game, it certainly offers plenty of challenge, if you plan to finish it in it's entirety. The difficulty jumps after you complete all of the levels, and it gets considerably harder. Think you can master this one in one sitting? Think again, because it won't go down without a fight. It'll take plenty of practice to beat this one all of the way through.
Highlights:
Easy enough that anyone can play it, but difficult enough that beating it offers a challenge for even the best Game Boy expert.
Overall: 6/10
Good.
You know how sometimes when you review a game, your "fair review" rating is lower than your personal rating of it, and you walk away feeling bad for rating such an awesome game so low? Yeah, this is not one of those times. The Incredible Crash Dummies may be somewhat of an epic game in my life, but the quality of it and play/replay value of it to me personally is Good at best. In short, this is a pretty fair and accurate rating. Incredible Crash Dummies is a fun Game Boy game to kill time with once in a while, and it does carry a fun, light hearted tone to it, but it's no more than a game you pick up from time to time to kill a few minutes. So while it isn't the greateat game ever, it certainly won't sit on your shelf and collect dust. It's a good game that's worth the time and Viz that it takes to play it.
In the end, Incredible Crash dummies is a good game that I can recommend to anyone who likes old school mini-games, and silly humor. It may not offer hours of entertainment, but it offers great music and some interesting, and sometimes fast paced, gameplay, that won't bore right away. Many are the batteries that I killed playing this very game, and those drained batteries are easily justified with this one. So give it a try, but don't lose your head if you fail a task...wow that was a lame joke. I really need to quit playing this game...
Graphics
7 Sound
8 Addictive
6 Depth
3 Difficulty
8
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