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»Popeye: Rush for Spinach
"An interesting concept, but it was executed poorly."
Glance over to the right, and you should
notice the genre this game falls under. Popeye: Rush for
Spinach is the first racing game that I’ve played to have no
mode of transportation besides the character's own legs. Sonic could
easily fit the bill, but as fast as he is, his is an action game, not
pure racer. I was sort of confused at first, but then I realized this
could be an interesting game, with things I’ve never experienced before
in gaming.
The concept is extremely simple. You choose from 4
characters: Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto and Wimpy, and “rush” to the
finish. Along the way, you’ll interact with various obstacles, question
boxes, and of course, spinach! Some of the elements are extremely
obvious and what you’ll need to do with them… but others leave you
feeling a little confused. Piles of paper act as trampolines and orange
pod-like things burn you if you touch them. The question boxes give you
various power-ups; lightning bolts to stun your opponent, spinach,
armor, and you can even turn your opponent into a chicken for a few
seconds (but aren’t chickens supposed to run fast?).
This game
is probably one of the funniest I’ve seen. Transitioning from
Popeye to racing is extremely fun. In one level, Olive Oyl suggests
racing instead of fighting. Another level, you have to follow a witch.
In one, the only reason you’re racing is because Wimpy wants to get out
of the desert first, because he’s hungry! The best line was, “Dream on,
fatso!” I wish cartoons could get away with that today without some
youth organization on their backs. Some (most) of that was sarcasm, but the odd story was quite funny.
The controls are extremely
simple. Hold the direction to run, and jump with A. After you get an
item, you press R to use it. If you press B, you’ll reach for the
opponent in front of them to push them behind you, but if you miss,
you’ll slow down yourself.
Running through the levels isn’t
exactly hard, but your opponents always seem to have an unfair
advantage over you. The competition seems to know where they’re going
and, worse, where you are going. The game really
isn’t easy. There are various elements you’ll have to learn to interact
with. For example, in one level you’ll be in outer-space and, if you
stop, it takes a while to start moving full speed again. There are tons
of little holes and substances on the ground in any given level to slow
you down. On top of level hazards, you also have to finish first every
time to move on.
Popeye is a pretty impressive little package.
It doesn’t have any flashy graphics, but it looks colorful and well put
together. The character’s animations are priceless. When your character
reaches certain parts in the game, they’ll change outfits. When Popeye
gets a skateboard, he gets headphones and does an “indy” grab when he
jumps. When Popeye grabs a vine in the jungle, he dawns his Tarzan
outfit. And of course, when Popeye finishes first, he busts out his can
of spinach for a snack.
There are a few modes of play, but all
are pretty much the same. You can challenge up to 3 other characters,
or challenge a friend. You can also do their time trial mode. All of
this would be great, but everything’s the same old boring game.
To
finish this off, I really want to say one thing: PASSWORD SAVES SUCK.
There you have it; the one least-redeeming factor is that Popeye has a
password save system. The passwords are 8 characters long, and that’s
too many to remember off the top of your head. It’s a handheld game.
Password saves should never, ever be used for handheld games!
Article by: Knives
Posted on: Dec. 6th, 2005 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| It’s kind of fun at first, but gets old really fast. The story rocks though. |
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Graphics |
| The graphics are very good, although they’re really simple. |
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Sound |
| The tunes are great, but nothing is memorable. |
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Replay Value |
| You probably won’t play it again after the main modes. There’s really no reason to complete all of the time trials and get 100%. |
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