Here we go again: yet another game that tries to make Santa Claus and gaming go together. We've all learned that Santa does not blend well with video games, but the developers at various companies continue to force more Santa games on us, that always fall somewhere between Mediocre and tolerable, with a few exceptions (those being the ones that make us want to bash our heads on the table, as even that would be more fun than the game). Still, I press on, looking for a good Christmas game, and even better, a good Santa Claus game, since I am either a poster child for perseverence, stubborn, or an outright idiot (I'll let you decide which).

The controls are easy to learn, without being overly simple:
A button (not the A key on your keyboard. Configure your controls first) jumps. tap it to get a small hop, press and hold it to jump higher.
B button attacks. How you can attack depends on what weapons you have (more about that later).
D-pad moves.
L button, R button, and Select can all cycle through your current weapon selection.
Start Pauses.
Easy, right?

So let's move along to the ratings, and see if this Santa game actually manages to do what seems more and more to be the impossible for Santa games: be fun.


Graphics: 9/10
Excellent.

This is one of the big sell points of Santa Claus saves the Earth. The graphics are amazingly sharp for a GBA title. In fact, they are the sharpest, smoothest, and overall best looking graphics I've seen on the system.

The sprites are the highlight of the graphics, blending an almost claymation look with smooth designs. The result: an almost 3D look to the characters. Also, I am happy to say that this applies to every single character in the game, not just Santa or some of the more important characters. Even after spending quite some time playing this game, I never grew tired of the sprites in the least.

The effects are a little less fancy, unfortunately, and while they don't exactly disappoint, they never really impress at all. They just look about average pretty much, which is a shame, given the sprite quality.

The backgrounds and colors are nice, but eventually they all start to look the same, with the exception of a few levels. I really enjoyed the boss level designs though, with the building blocks, pencils, and such that made up the level layout, and a play room for a background. It's too bad they didn't take that approach with all of the levels, as they are quite charming.

And so it is, that despite having the best graphics I've seen on the GBA, they dropped the ball just enough on the repetitive background, and level design, that I could no longer justify a perfect ten.

Highlights:
-Extremely impressive, almost three dimensional sprites.

-Great level design and execution in the boss levels.


Sound: 8/10
Exceptional.

I'm feeling generous, and I admit that this is quite possibly a better score than this game deserves for sound, but I did enjoy the music here.

The opening screen and ending screen music sounds like Christmas Mp3's, however the actual in-game music tracks sound more like sixteen bit music. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, depends on your preferences. I enjoyed the level tunes, unfortunately all of the levels sound the same, with the exception of the boss levels, which eventually leads you to feel more like you would just as soon not hear it, after a prolonged period of play.

The Sound effects are pretty plain, but not really bad, just...kind of there. These are far from attention grabbing, and will mostly fall on deaf ears, as you don't really tend to notice them with the music going.


Highlights:
-Good menu and end game tunes

-Decent level tunes, for a handheld


Story: 2/10
Terrible.

Wow. This is sad, really. The story is there, and it makes sense enough, but it leaves a few plot holes, and it's so scarce that it's almost non-existent. You literally get a scene at the opening of the game, and a block of text at the end of the game, and that's it. But hey, at least with that block of text at the end, you get a picture of a cool looking clock! Yeah...fail, right? I thought so too. And the biggest problem with all of this, is that without any mid-game scenes or story text, the player has no clue where each level is supposed to be taking place in the toy kingdom, or how close they are to the end of the game. This is a shame, because the game actually has a lot more promise than it manages to deliver on, largely due to the fact that the story is so badly botched.

Highlights:
-Er...there is a story. That alone wraps up the highlights here


Depth: 5/10
Average.

Again, I could just as easily have rated the depth a four, but I'm writing this on Christmas, so I'm feeling generous.

There are four weapons you can use by finding their ammunition along the way: A Toy Sack (you start out with this one, of course. I mean, you're Santa after all), Snowballs, a tomato...machinegun (maybe? Tomato weapons? Move over Toejam & Earl!), and what appears to be a shoulder cannon or something.

There are also two powerups: a blue package that makes Santa jump several times higher, and possibly move faster, as well as a green one that does the same, but takes it a step further, and also makes him temporarily invulnerable.

Santa Claus saves the Earth has only one mode, and no difficulty selection, but it does offer fifteen levels (though given the simple gameplay, that's actually too many. But "too many" is a far cry from "shallow"), four weapons, a small array of enemies, sometimes complex levels that can require you to backtrack multiple times, a couple of different power-ups that you find along the way, hidden areas that are accessed by finding a hole in the wall (or perhaps it's a false wall? Either way, this place is obviously in desperate need of repair) and of course those pesky little items that are scattered around for you to pick up in typical platformer fashion, this game does offer a decent amount of depth for an older handheld system.

Highlights:
-There's always something to find lying around

-Plenty of secret areas to find


Addictiveness: 5/10
Average.

Will I play this one again? Probably next year, but it isn't anything that I would call especially addictive, more like a go-to game when looking for a Christmas title. I wouldn't even recommend finishing the game really, more like just playing for a few minutes to have some Christmas themed entertainment. It's fun enough for that, but it isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, and you won't be hooked at all.


Difficulty: 7/10
Difficult.

This one is actually pretty easy until you get to a certain point in it, where the designers expect you to be psychic...literally. Grab your crystal ball, because there are a decent amount of pits that are inescapable and filled with lava or spikes, that are made to appear to be simple drops like the ones that you have to drop down all of the time, and sometimes they even have goodies above them, so they'll lure you into dropping down for them. But there are times that you seem to have no choice but to do so, and hope for the best. Then there are pitfalls that do have lava or spikes at the bottom, yet you have no choice but to drop down them anyway. It's level designs like this later in the game that make the game difficult.

Another difficulty factor is that a few of the levels are almost too big, and require several trips back and forth, up in the sky, and below ground. They are quite overwhelming, but they're fair, and a challenge.

Finally there is the final boss. The hardest thing is figuring out how to hurt her. Good luck there.

All in all, the game is definitely a challenge, but it's more than doable.

Highlights:
-Difficult enough for those who want a more challenging game


Overall: 5.8/10
Average.

Despite the rating, this is actually the best Christmas game I've personally played. It's far from being a masterpiece, but it's also worth a play if you're looking for a Christmas themed game. It's a simple little platformer, with some really nice graphics, nice enough sound, and a sleigh-load of cheap shots. It's actually an enjoyable experience, as Christmas (or worse yet, Santa) games go. It's worth the time during the holidays, for those seeking some Santa fun.


In the end, this game is not that impressive, but it does it's job of offering some Santa based entertainment, even if it does wear off before the end. I actually enjoyed most of it, personally. I could recommend the game to people looking for a Santa game to play, and if you're going to pay Viz for one, it might as well be this one, since it's actually fun for a little while. It isn't incredible, but Santa Claus saves the Earth is worth a holiday glance.

Eirinn : Yep...another great review made by you. So yes like always you have a lot of information and you broke it down into categories. So anyway keep up the great work. Have a great day after Christmas!

Eirinn : Definitely an awesome review on your part, that was a very entertaining to read & doesn't only explains certain little parts of each section but goes far into depth about every section. Once again great review and I hope I'll see more of your work in the future!

This is why you are my favorite reviewer. You can keep me reading like no one else. Very long, very entertaining, well put together.

This may be the best Santa game (like you said) but is that really saying much? I have played quite a few of them and I will say that I would rather play nothing but E.T. for the Atari 2600 (a pretty dang good game compaired to all those Santa games) everyday then play a Santa game once a month.

Ok, the good about this game, its a platformer, the bad.......everything else about it.

GenesisJunkie : Lol Thank you. And yes, there are many games out there that are worth more time than this one, but this one is okay for a few minutes. I really actually enjoyed myself up until level four probably. After that, the game began to feel too long and dragged out, and fifteen was far too long. I went easy on this one, because it was a Santa game (I didn't want to be put on the naughty list lol). Kind of like, I don't like tournament fighters, since they're almost all boring to me, but I wouldn't rate one accordingly in a review, but I would rather compare them to other games in the boring (to me) tourny fighter genre. So yeah, I rated this one by comparing it to other Santa games. lol Oh, and I don't think E.T. is that bad! I also somewhat enjoyed Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde though...

sonicthehedgehog57 : Thank you!

supercool22 : Thank you too! I appreciate the feedback from all of you.

Eirinn : No problem man, you always take the time to look at my reviews so I wanted to make sure I gave your review a read and see what I thought. I do agree that there aren't many christmas games that are very interesting or worth your time, there's only really one game I can think of that I enjoy for a while...which is A Daze Before Christmas on SNES.