"Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge" Buena Vista Games Rated "E" for Everyone For PS2 $39.99 C-
Why it took 11 years for the 1994 film "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to be re-imagined in video game form isn't that surprising. At first only moderately popular, the brilliantly inventive film gained an impressive cult following over the last five years.
"Nightmare" has become a staple of both Halloween and Christmas. The plot cleverly combines the two holidays as the wistful Pumpkin King Jack Skellington, leader of Halloween Town, tries to bring Christmas to vampires, werewolves and other hideous characters. Now, a video game based on the stop-motion musical seems a logical companion to the merchandising machine that's warped the excellent movie into another facet of Hot Topic mall-punk chic.
However, Buena Vista Games' new "Nightmare" doesn't seem to be aimed at the goth audience at all. At the beginning of "Oogie's Revenge," the evil Oogie Boogie is reborn, determined to take revenge on Jack for thwarting his plans of killing Santa Claus in the original movie. As players fight Oogie, the game tells them to press select for some important information. Then the game tells you that Oogie Boogie is "the lord of the flies, bugs and slugs [who] once tried to snuff out Santa and pop Jack's pumpkin head. And now he's back to finish the job." Huh? It's at this moment it becomes clear this game is for 10-year-olds.
The gameplay is crudely simple. Players can merely jump and attack through landscapes vast only in appearance. After exploring levels for a moment, gamers quickly discover there's really only three directions to go without encountering loads of locked doors and dead-ends.
The music is good since it's the same soundtrack from the original film, scored and sung by Danny Elfman, member of the '80s group Oingo Boingo and composer of film scores for "Batman," "Edward Scissorhands" and the theme song from "The Simpsons." In an attempt to add some depth, Buena Vista games incorporated the music into boss fights. Players can control Jack via song-and-dance, echoing the style of classic "PaRappa the Rapper." The feature is wasted, however, by the fact players can only get one or two lines per battle.
Ultimately, "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge" is better suited as a gift to one's kid cousin than a dorm room fiesta to accompany that My Chemical Romance CD ... or Oingo Boingo record, depending on how cool the participants are.
-DANIEL LONGINO
"Geist" For Nintendo GameCube Nintendo Rated "M" for Mature $49.99 B
It's not a new idea in video games to have chills and frights. However, in Nintendo's "Geist," it's the players who do the scaring.
The game starts off feeling like a shoddy first-person shooter. Players are thrust immediately into a typical FPS level as John Raimi, a specialist in biological and chemical threats. The enemy AI is not very smart and Raimi carries only one gun with an unlimited supply of ammo.
Gamers should try not to give up on "Geist" within the first 15 minutes, because honestly, that first quarter of an hour isn't a good indication of what's to come. Jjust when it's easiest to turn the game off in disgust, Raimi dies and "Geist" gets way more creative. From this point on, players do not control a man, but instead a ghost. Instead of simply killing enemies, it is necessary to scare and possess them. Scaring is done mostly through a series of scripted events. For example, in order to freak out a guard, a player might make a ladder clatter to the ground or cause some pipes to explode by overloading the steam pressure within. Besides humans and stationary objects, it is also possible to take command of animals to get through tight areas and automatic gun turrets to take down unwary foes.
This is all fun, but the level design can feel very linear at times. One wishes Raimi had more options to get past the various obstacles and complete his objectives - he is a ghost, after all. This does not significantly detract from enjoyment, but one hopes developer N-Space will improve upon this in any future installments.
"Geist" does not have the prettiest visuals, especially for a game that's release date was repeatedly delayed. Although there are no serious flaws, very little about the graphics is memorable. The sound is likewise just OK - nothing really good, but nothing really bad, either.
Adding some replay value to "Geist" is the multiplayer, which allows up to four players to go head to head.
"Geist" has some great ideas, but it is by no means a masterpiece. It's definitely recommended as a rental, but not worth a buy for those on tight budgets. Here's hoping Nintendo and N-Space will create a sequel that fully lives up to the concept's potential.
-ADAM BENDER
