Around the World in 80 Days

Around the World in 80 Days is one of the great works in English literature, speaking to the young adventurer in everyone. The recent movie released featuring Jackie Chan is like most of his work, high-energy, formulaic flicks that hold your interest as Jackie kicks butt. It basically follows the plot of the book, including fantastic Victorian mechanical constructions, etc. The GBA game created on this theme uses some of the artwork and activities, but it is difficult to translate such a dynamic action film into a 2-D side scrolling platform game on the Advance.

The basic gameplay for 80 Days is running around various levels based on locations taken from the movie, but they are all pretty much the same. You play as Passpourte, the "French" valet played in the movie by Jackie Chan. Since you are Jackie Chan, you have a wonderful variety of moves and martial arts maneuvers to bust a hurting on your foes, right? Well, partly. You can punch and kick, with separate moves for when you are crouched, walking, or leaping. You can leap up and catch ledges, bounce on awnings to reach higher ledges and roofs, and perform an intriguing vertical wall jump where you can leap onto a wall, leap out and away from that wall and reach much higher levels than normal.

Each level contains four runes that you must uncover in order to move on to the next level. Scattered throughout the levels are various henchmen and foes such as policemen and ninjas, whose only goal is to stop you from moving forward. As you move from screen to screen, you can always go back and search areas you may have overlooked, but your opponents will always respawn and you will have to battle them again. This mode of gameplay is as old as Pitfall Harry and Twin Dragons, but it suits the GBA mode of gameplay.

There are always tradeoffs in a GBA game, given the limited resources developers have when putting these games together. I suspect that when all of the graphics on this game were loaded, there was little room left for niceties like a decent save system. Most gamers I know hate the codeword method of recalling a saved level, but it does give you the chance to skip ahead, if you know where to look on the 'net.

Given the limits of the system, I believe 80 Days acquits itself very well in the pantheon of GBA games, It doesn't stick out for any one feature, it is a bland, competent entry in the 2-D side scrolling action adventure group. If you enjoyed the movie and are a Jackie Chan fan, don't go into this game expecting too much. If you like this style of game and are looking for a game that the kids can enjoy as well, give it a try.

Gameplay: 7.0
Nicely done example of the 2-D side scroller, like Twin Dragons

Graphics: 7.5
Uses property from the film, scrolling backdrops, game looks very good for the GBA

Sound: 7.0
Some voiceovers from the film, general sound effects and music. Not as annoying as most.

Difficulty: Easy
This game is easy enough that kids will enjoy playing it.

Concept: 6.5
Obviously a spin-off of the movie, part of the overall marketing package commissioned by the studio. As such it is difficult to justify a very high concept rating, but the developers did a decent job at translating the film into the GBA format.

Overall: 7.0
Kids will probably enjoy this game, especially after seeing the movie. Older gamers who have a weakness for these 2-D action games will find this to be a decent way to spend a few hours.