Nicktoons Unite!

"Nicktoons Unite and Fall Together."

Nicktoons Unite is a game based off of 4 Nickelodeon Television programs: Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Danny Phantom, Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly Oddparents. In this game, the 4 shows basically link up to defeat the evil villains from their own respective shows. Nicktoons Unite is a multiplayer adventure game, where 4 players can play simultaneously. I was bored one day, so my sisters and I decided to give this game a try.
Anyways on to the review:

Story 2/10

The story starts with Spongebob starting another standard day in Bikini Bottom. He steps outside to find plankton capturing several people in Bikini Bottom. Spongebob is at his wits end, when he is suddenly transported to another world. As a matter of fact, he is transfered to Jimmy Neutron's world. Along with the other 2 Nicktoon characters. Jimmy then explains the current situation about what just happened to the ill-fated Bikini Bottom. Professor Calamitous copied Jimmy Neutrons machine that has the abilities to cross over into other worlds (dimensions would be an easier name to understand) after doing so, he promptly persuades the villains of the other 3 worlds to join forces to take over their own respective worlds. That's pretty much the story more or less. No character development at all. If I were to play this game without ever seeing any of these cartoons I wouldn't understand anything about any of these characters or what the villain's "true" goals were. As a stand alone the story isn't very good, it's basically, meet the boss, defeat the boss, and find out that you did practically nothing to stop the villains doomsday machine. The story doesn't do much to drive the gameplay at all, and it doesn't help that the actors don't have same degree of enthusiasm that they have in the regular program. Lastly, the supporting cast that makes appearances in the shows make an appearance, but don't function like they normally do. For instance: Sam and Tucker don't do anything to help you like they would normally in Danny Phantom, in Bikini Bottom, only Patrick and Sandy make an appearance here, but don't do much to help except be an annoyance (Patrick's incessant laughter and Sandy's constant "Hurry up boys!" is a pain!). Absolutely no supporting character from Fairly Oddparents makes an appearance except Georgine and doesn't have his normal luster and lastly, in Jimmy Neutron's world, none of his characters appear at all. As a matter of fact Jimmy's world is completely rushed and it's obvious. The ending is very short and loosely knit together.

Graphics 3/10
The backgrounds are okay. Nothing special, but they do resemble the cartoons, so they get the job done. However, don't expect these graphics to have you spellbound to them. The character models are just plain horrible. Characters have limited as well as choppy animations. Characters will constantly make the same animations over and over just for talking! It's actually quite hilarious it's so awful. Danny Phantom really looks blocky, and Timmy Turner's hair is very stiff and Jimmy's computer generated self really looks degraded. Lastly Spongebob suddenly started looking really old. The characters aren't proportional to one another either. The characters really look out of place when they aren't in their own worlds, which is a real shame.

Sounds and music 2/10

The music isn't good, and the acting definitely isn't stellar. The actors don't talk anywhere like they do in the cartoons and I cannot stress this enough. Oh and when you are fighting the enemies, the sounds make the generic "thwacks" and "whooshes" that most games make anyways. The biggest problem is that there wasn't much variation between the attacks. When Jimmy shot his gun and landed a successful attack, it made the same contact sound that Danny Phantom's fist made when he made contact with an enemy. The "slam jumps" all made the same noise when they were used by different characters. At least characters made different grunts when they got attacked, so it was really easy to tell who was getting hurt because they all had different grunts when they were hit.

Control 8/10
The controls are pretty good, and for the most part, they are responsive. The shields pop the instant you press Z, and the characters jump when I tell them to jump, and they attack as soon as I press the A button. The biggest problem I had was when you fell off of a cliff, the game had like this 3-4 second delay where you couldn't control your character when you were reappearing back on the land. This posed a problem, because sometimes you would push the button to advance forward, but wouldn't move, and then you'd suddenly regain control and would fall of the cliff again. Also when you are playing multiplayer, the camera can be a problem sometimes. Regardless, I didn't have that much of a problem with the controls.

Gameplay
3/10
The gameplay, the meat of the game. Sadly, it's not very unique, nor is it very entertaining. In every world, you use the power of each person's special abilities to solve a variety of puzzles. Each character has 4 abilities unique to them. Throughout the game, one can collect coins which power can be used to purchase upgrades for the characters. While the upgrades aren't necessary for completing the game, they are useful to to help completing the game. The problem is, is the fact that the puzzles get a bit redundant after awhile. Rather than using the abilities to make the characters solve several varied puzzles, you'll find you and your friends doing puzzles that are almost identical to the last 5 puzzles you solved. It can get really tedious, really quickly. Speaking of tedious, there are several problems in the gameplay section. The enemies are not varied at all. As a matter of fact, you see just about every enemy (besides bosses) in Danny's World (which just so happens to be the first world). You'll find yourself playing fetch many times in the game, because at several points in the game, characters will ask you to "find" this and find that. It's so ridiculous how the 4 different worlds are so similar to one another. The biggest toll on the gameplay is the characters abilities. They aren't balanced at all. Timmy Turner is just plain over powered in the game. None of the other characters have ANYTHING on Timmy Turner (besides the fact that the other possess abilities to solve a puzzle). All of Timmy Turner's abilities work in battle while all of the other characters have abilities that have a couple that work in battle. Trust me, you'll notice Timmy's dominance by the time you get to Fairy World and he gets his final ability. This ability heals all of the characters standing adjacent to Timmy and also grants them invincibility as long as they are being healed for a small price of Timmy's power. Jimmy is just the opposite and is underpowered throughout the whole game, never being close to being on par with the other characters. Lastly, the bosses are ridiculously annoying. Especially once you figure out the enemies pattern because the enemy is guaranteed to keep the exact same pattern until you defeat the enemy. Battles are dull and slow and have little to no suspense while playing. Especially since the enemies are exactly the same. Lastly, the computer AI is terrible. They usually just stand around and don't do anything while you defeat the enemies. When the computer finally gets the idea to help you attack, the enemy is just about dead. At least there is multiplayer to compensate for the horrid AI.

Summary: Buy or Rent
Rent. The game isn't good, if you rent it, it's good enough if one decides to play the game with 3 friends. Other than that, I wouldn't even play through this game unless you are just a loyal fan to Nickelodeon.

Pros
* It's multiplayer
Cons
* Bad graphics
* Bad story
* Bad music
* Bad acting

Overall a 4. It's playable, but it's on the lower half of the gaming world. It has several flaws that keep this game from being a "must have."

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/05