Captain Planet and the Planeteers

"Captain Planet! He's.....a boring game!"

Captain Planet and the Planeteers for the Nintendo Entertainment System

The Review

Based on the campy cartoon of the time period, Captain Planet and the Planeteers offered players to play some of the common scenarios from the series like saving the earth from pollution, enemies who want to pollute the earth and uh…..saving the earth from pollution again.

The Graphics

This title came out in the later years of the Nintendo Entertainment System and manages to be one of the better looking titles the console has to offer. Not SNES quality but still fine work.

Sprites of the main character, vehicle and enemies are well done. They have clear detail, are vividly colored and you can tell what they are supposed to be from the cartoon. Captain Planet himself looks well enough when in motion and the environments look pretty good for what they are especially in the starting levels. Sure the later levels don't look all that pretty or exciting but they are supposed to be damp, dirty and un-attractive so they serve the purposed needed.

Enemies including the monsters, toxic enemies and vehicles all look good but sadly like many older games this title tends to use the same sprite over and over but with a different paintjob to signify a different enemy. Does it work? Well yea but it's a cheap tactic that luckily has all but disappeared from games of modern.

Previously mention the animation of Captain Planet looks pretty good. Punching and flying all looks great. Of particular note the liquid animations are really well done. Slime and sludge falls and splatters from the ceiling very well. The vehicles, both player controlled and enemy, also animate well but tend to have the “on-rails” feel. Having scripted animations that are very limited in what can be done makes the player feel like he isn't really playing the game but rather just participating in the game. I know that a lot of older titles did this but many didn't so it's not excusable.

Last to mention, between levels you are treated to sparse cut-scenes that are nothing more then a picture of a character and a line of text. Nothing to call home about but help move the game along.

Overall there are some solid points about the graphics but the overuse of sprites and scripted, over-used animations keep the score from being any higher

Score: 7/10

Sound

Ugh, the sound in this game is down right horrible. All we are treated to is the standard beeps and boops. Your vehicle and enemy vehicles all make the same sound when shooting or chasing, Captain Planets attack hardly sound powerful and the animal sounds in the game are nothing more then hums of noise. Another huge downfall is the lack of Captain Planet's trademark lines like “The Power is Yours.” Voice is possible on the NES and come on, it's not a Captain Planet game with out that trademark line.
If you can imagine in the music is even worse then the sound effects. For each level we get a 20ish second midi track again made of beeps and boops that loop over and over and over….

Not much to talk about but hey, there isn't much here. The sound is just plain horrible. We've heard better on the NES and the craptacular state of the sound effects and musc offer no excuse.

Score: 2/10

Controls

Direction pad moves both Captain Planet and the vehicles around the screen. [A] is your attack both with Captain Planet and the vehicle you are using, [B] performs a 180 turn in a vehicle and allows Captain Planet to morph into the selected element to use. Select is the pause button and Start selects which element you want to use in the vehicle as your attacks or to have Captain Planet turn into.

Controls are responsive and would get the job done if not for one big problem. Controlling the movement of the vehicles is way too drifty especially with the number of enemies on screen. When you are trying to avoid a dozen enemies at once you need controls that respond and move in turn with what you want and that is missing here unfortunately.

If not for this problem then controls would be great but as it is this error in controls keeps the score in the mediocre range.

Score: 5/10

Gameplay

Gameplay consists of five levels, each with two parts. The first part of each level has you in one of three vehicles from the show; Geo-Cruiser which is an airplane, Eco-Copter which is um, a helicopter and Eco-Sub a submarine.

While vehicles let you control the movement in all directions they do move forward in whichever way you are faced by themselves; meaning they are on rails and you won't have the ability to stop them. This is where the 180 turn comes in handy; if you see you are faced with a problem of any kind then just whip the ship around. In each of the vehicle levels your main goal is to get to the end of the stage alive. You have three lives to get to the end. Along the way you will be faced with large groups of enemies, tight tunnels to fly through and plenty of dead ends. The only help you have is your trust 180 turn and the ability to upgrade your basic weapons.

In the vehicle you can use one of five elements at any time. Fire is a basic attack that fires forward, Earth launches a rock down towards the ground, Water shoots a juking water plume forward, Wind creates a shield around your vehicle and Heart allows you to shoot a beam that can be used to command animals.

The second part of each level has you playing as Captain Planet while doing the same things as you do in the vehicles. Elements are the same but now you have the ability to morph into one to get through a certain pollution as well as Captain Planets standard punch. At the end of each Captain Planet stage you will face a boss that requires a quick thumb to defeat but at the end of the day it's just button mashing.

Overall Gameplay is your standard puzzle, shooting action. The game manages to do enough to be called a game but never does it offer anything innovative or anything even fun. Through out the whole game you will feel bored and wonder why you are wasting your time doing stuff that is done much better in other titles like R-Type. Games are supposed to be fun and this one is just a chore and where the hell are the Planeteers?!? You only see them in the cut-scenes and never get to play as them. I imagine that levels that focused around each ones certain element could have induced some fun Gameplay but I guess they didn't feel that way.

Score: 5/10

Overall

Captain Planet and the Planeteers is just what you would expect from a game based on a children's cartoon about pollution. It does nothing more then it has to earn the moniker of videogame. If you are a fan of this cartoon….then get an MRI done. Everyone just needs to stay away from this title; nothing you need to see or do here.

Overall Score: 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/05