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The boy genius returns to consoles thanks to the kind folks at THQ. Jimmy Neutron is one of the few Nickelodeon licenses that isn’t totally repelling to me (Fairly Oddparents and yes, SpongeBob Squarepants complete the list), so I went into the game wondering if the developers could pull off a reasonably good game and not solely rely on the license. Do they complete that goal? Read on to find out.
In Attack of the Twonkies, Jimmy has once again caused a possibly world devastating problem. This time, he unknowingly brings back to Earth an alien race known as Twonkies. These aliens threaten the earth, and Jimmy must use his genius to develop inventions that will prevent them from doing any harm.
Let’s get one thing out of the way. Jimmy is slow; he is very, very slow. Besides that, he is easy to control as he doesn’t do much except running and jumping. Along the way, you’ll find simple puzzles but nothing of note. The bulk of the gameplay has you collecting many gizmo parts which you’ll use to build gizmos, inventions and “super” inventions. You’ll need these to continue through the game but that isn’t too hard as you won’t need to look very hard to find them. As you can probably tell from the names, Gizmos are the simplest of inventions and only require two parts to make. Inventions bring that number up a notch to three while super inventions require four parts. Occasionally, you’ll use Jimmy’s dog, Goddard, to help you collect the more difficult to spot parts.
Once you get the appropriate gizmo parts, its time to create your little item. Creating gizmos, inventions and super inventions in the game isn’t a gameplay highlight or anything but it is pretty cool to see what would otherwise seem to be everyday items used to create bizarre things. And remember, the game is aimed at kids.
When you aren’t traveling looking for gizmo parts, and then using the parts to create a new item, you’ll have a chance to command a vehicle in a driving or flying segment. These add a bit of excitement to the game and break up what would possibly be a monotonous experience.
The game mirrors the charming look of the cartoon. The many characters, environments, enemies, Gizmos, inventions and everything else could fit right into the cartoon and it wouldn’t be a sharply noticeable difference. The only problem is that some parts aren’t as detailed as they could be as some textures lack detail.
The game’s audio is as equally charming. The soundtrack is happy and cheery, the sound effects match the strange creations you’ll find in the game and the game is voiced from the same people as the cartoon series.
THQ was able to release the game on both PlayStation 2 and Gamecube and there are no notable differences between the two.
Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies is probably a perfect example a cartoon-licensed title. The underpinning gameplay is decent but the game uses the license to really spruce things up. Creating the many items and Gizmos in the game is quite fun, just like the rest of the game. -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Oct 6, 2004
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