Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

"Brillaint, yet with some rather noticeable errors"

This game, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, is a brilliant display of Sega's innovations in the world of video games. In this title, you control a boy named Billy Hatcher, who is entrusted by the chicken elders with a magical ''Chicken Suit'', which gives him control over eggs, so that you can defeat a swarm of crows that are engulfing ''Morning Land'' In Darkness. Sound strange enough for you? Yes, that was what I expected.

Graphics: 10/10

This game's graphics look a little bit sharper than most of Sega's other games, which is definitely a good thing. The Cinematics are stunning to behold, and the overall graphical effect of this game is quite hilarious. Overall I definitely think that Sega did a great job with this game's graphics.

Sound: 9/10

The music in this game is so catchy it's annoying, and I generally love that in a game. However, Sega has fallen WAY short of expectations in the voice acting department. Billy's voice is very, very unnatural, not only because they kept the Japanese voice acting (something I liked), but because I had a lot of trouble really connecting Billy's voice to his looks...

Controls: 7/10

Once again, Sega stuns us with a brilliant display of ''Horrible Camera-itis.'' although it's the same camera system as PSO, it seriously needs improvement. with the camera constantly changing, one ends up with their egg rolling all over the place and you are stuck behind the overwhelmingly large figure of your egg. To make matters worse, should one tilt the control stick in the opposite direction the camera is facing, Billy lets go of his egg, leaving him VERY susceptible to attack. Once again, the camera has laid the fun factor of Sega's games to waste.

Length/replay value: 9/10

Although the game IS rather short, should one go for full completion, the game can take a good long time to complete. The learning curve is perfectly balanced, and anybody can get good at this game. The Camera, once again, can greatly hinder gameplay when the pace of things reaches something just short of crazy, though after a while one can get used to it and really enjoy this game for the crazy game that it is.

The Multiplayer mode is on par with the insanity created by Bomberman Generation's Coin and Dodge battles. The hilarity of rolling over your friends with gigantic eggs is something it is difficult for one to convey in words. I must say, this is the best multiplayer mode I've seen from Sega since Super Monkey Ball 2.

Overall: 8/10

Despite this game's noticeable shortcomings, I think that this game is great for gamers of all ages. You should definitely pick this game up if you like a nicely paced game with a hilarious plot and even more hilarious visuals. However, you should stay away from this game if the plot seems to bizarre.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/03/03