"So bad it's ..... still really bad"

The guide of this game is about as useful as a pineapple in terms of being a literary guide, so I'll try and do a better job of it here

- Story -
In fact, the story is the ONLY thing that is mentioned in the guide to this game. It's completely pointless and only really sets up what to do in the game and why you would waste so much time. Basically, there is an unnamed sorcerer we know nothing of who for some reason has thousands of lethal and stupid monsters in his basement. His less lethal but more dense apprentice manages to let every single one of them out and it's up to him (you) to catch them all back before the morning when he gets back from ... wherever sorcerers spend their nights I guess.

- Graphics -
Nice, colourful, bright; likely to draw all of the children in the world in, but like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, it's the only nice looking feature of it. Not much to say here, everything is functional and does exactly what it should do. The giant flying fish all look like giant flying fish, the mystery green running men all look like mystery green running men. The scenery is a nice touch, the desert world has desert scenery, like Egyptian backgrounds and other paraphernalia. If there was a reason this game has a 3, it's probably for the graphics, they're great, but they don't make a game what it is.

- Gameplay -
A simple platform game really. You have to shoot the monsters with your wand, which fires bullet things for some reason, but that can slide, then you grab them and put them in a bag and press down to drop them off screen, you then repeat this for EVERY monster in the level before getting to the end of the level. However, spend too long and the monsters re-spawn and you have to go right back to the start and catch them all again, but faster. The guide says nothing of this, nor does it say anything about having to press down and pretty much anything else. You also can upgrade your wand with difficult to see power-ups that look like scenery, so you might suddenly be able to shoot through scenery and catch monsters long distance but it's difficult to tell if you have them or not, other then by the little timer in the corner.

There is no form of continue in this game, the manual mentions passwords, however, there is literally no way to continue in this game, other then to complete it in one impossible sitting. This game could have actually been awesome had it had a continue system of some form implemented into it but alas it wasn't to be. In fairness, I may not have gotten far enough into the game to actually unlock a password, but after completing the first 2 worlds (16 levels) I would have thought that would have been a good time to get back to where I was in the future.

- Sound -
EVERY level has the same music, it's so repetitive, not only that, but the enemies are all silent, apart from when you shoot them with your gun-wand, then they all make the same 'shot' sound. Every power up and variation of power up makes the same sound. Basically, this is the sort of game that would drive a prisoner insane if his captors were inhumane enough to force him to play it. Simply - you will want to mute this game and put some non-repetitive music on over the top and narrate your own sound effects for the various monsters and wand bullets.

- Difficulty -
The single hardest game EVER made that is aimed at 5 year olds; as a hardcore gamer, I like to think I can complete every game with enough practice, except maybe sports games. This game however, laughs in the face of that theory by being UTTERLY uncompletable. If you have a small child and bought them this game, they would demand an easy game to complete, like Gears of War on the hardest difficulty. The programmers were having the time of their lives when they made this, utterly sad how hard it is. Mainly due a) Every level having around 400 different traps on it that kill you instantly, b) Very few lives, you can die around 3 times and have to restart the game and c) No energy system in this game at all, you get hit BANG, you die, this in mind, you can die in the first 3 seconds of playing this game and I imagine everyone did their first time playing it.

- Replayibility -
No one would want to play this travesty again, an utterly terrible excuse for a childrens game as no child in their right mind would either be able to complete this and want to do it again, nor would they just want to play it at all after the first time.

All in all, this is one of the worst games I have ever played, it's impossible, sounds terrible and a waste of money, you'd be best off buying something worthwhile from your money, like a slinky.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/13/08

Game Release: Magic Boy (EU, 1993)