Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

"This is NOT Devil May Cry"

Ok, as the title to my review suggests this is NOT Devil May Cry, it has some similar elements but that is it. If you're expecting to play an incredible fast-paced action-packed game that rivals DMC, then don't even bother picking the game up... Heck if you need persuading to get this game you probably shouldn't get it.

This game is meant basicly for fans, sort of like Squares Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Another thing I'd like to say is don't expect this game to be AT ALL lik the NBC level in Kingdom Hearts. For one thing this game is much more faithful to it's movie, Halloweentown is an almost-exact replica of what it was in the movie. I say almost because I have a feeling they added a few things seeing as we couldn't see them in the movie.

So before I begin I'd just like to make it clear that this is NOT DMC OR KH (well... ok maybe a FEW things can be compared with KH) and even though I love both games should not be compared to this one.

Now the story takes place after NBC (If you paid ANY attention to the movie and if you pay ANY attention to this game then that will be obvious) Jack, once again is feeling bored of the Halloween he knows. And once again he wants something more, the professor gives him the soul robber and Jack sets off. Upon returning he finds the town empty, save for a few evil skeletons who attack him.

The Battle system:
Jack uses the soul robber as a whip to attack his enemies, at first it may seem tedious and a bit boring since the soul robber really has limited reach, but upon getting upgrades for it (they can be a little pricey though) it becomes much more fun, the soul robber has few attacks. The basic combo which consists of whipping your enemies (more is added to it upon upgrading), you can also grab enemies and swing them around to either hit other enemies, or throw them at other enemies.

During the game Jack unlocks two main costumes (more can be unlocked, but that is after meeting certain requirements).

The Pumpkin King: This consists of two attacks, Flamethrower which wastes your fire souls by the decimal (fire souls are like ammo for the pumpkin king), and the Pumpkin bomb which takes one fire soul. Upgrades for the Pumpkin King can be bought to make the costume more powerful.

Santa Jack: This costume allows Jack to use his old Sandy costume and give horrible presents to his enemies. He gets one starter present and he can buy more presents and upgrades for them so that they become more powerful and have longer range.

Now that the elements of the battle system have been said I can say my thoughts. The battle system is very easy to pick up and anyone who has any video game experience will have a fairly easy time mastering it, one thing that is annoying though is the dodge system, to dodge Jack must jump away since (for some unfathomable reason) he can neither duck nor run. The lack of this is a bit annoying but it can be overcome. The Pumpkin Kings flamethrower is quite slow, so it is not a very effective attack to use frequently (especially due to the ammo thing), the Pumpkin king should really be mainly used for his fire bomb which is probably the most powerful attack available, and it blows all Jacks surrounding enemies back. Santa Jack is admittedly a bit useless, it's hard to integrate this costume into your normal fighting technique, unless it is necessary to be used. But for some odd reason I found myself using Santa Jack alot, it was fairly easy for me to integrate his present system into my battle technique (though not all will find it easy, SOME may find him slow and will just rather stick with the soul robber).

Another annoying thing about battle is that every time you use the grab attack Jack yells "soul robber" not one of the best ideas, it will get annoying as the game progresses.

During boss fights you will often find yourself receiving musical notes. Once you collect enough of them you will begin a dance battle, the dance battles are quite entertaining and consist of pushing the buttons that are displayed on screen at the right time. Some dance battles can get a little hard though. Here's a little something that can make dance battles evn better though: If you switch costumes just before entering it you will dance in that costume. Many dances look ALOT cooler in Pumpkin King form.

As you fight you'll be given a combo rank, which depends on how many attacks the combo consists of.

At the end of each chapter (yes the game is split into chapters) the game tallie's up how well you did during it, and depending on how well you did gives you a rank (yes, much like DMC).

Music:
Ok, onto music, one of the most memorable things about TNBC. You're probably expecting a whole new lot of songs, but that sad truth is that that is just not the case. It's not all bad though, all the songs scores remain as they are, but many songs lyrics have been changed. The music will keep your toes tapping (something that made Boss battles much more enjoyable for me, since they usually have different songs). What CAN get annoying about the music though is the fact that they play "This is Halloween" every time you enter a battle. For someone who adores hearing it (like me), this is not a problem, but a few will find it quiet annoying.

VAs:
Gah, my one major beef with this game... Having been practically raised by this movie I find it quite... mmm.. how could I put this?... Painful, to hear characters I know and love with different voices. The most annoying of them all would have to be Shocks, in my opinion it sounded nothing like the original Shock same with Sally (But she's different seeing as she sounds ok while singing, and this VA is much better than the one that was used in KH), I'd have to say the same for Dr. Finklestein but his original VA is dead so there's really nothing that can be done about that.

A few of the the original VAs HAVE returned though Chris Saradon is once again Jack, and Ken Page is once again Oogie Boogie, The Mayor's original VA is back to (I'm very glad for that, seeing as I hated the one that was used in KH), and some of them are quite similar to the originals, but some are just painfully different.

Backgrounds:
Ah, one of my favorite parts of this game, the backgrounds look ALOT like the movie, rough edges, misproportionedness and all.
The most noteworthy part about the backgrounds though is how accurate they are in comparason to the movie, it's as if the asked Tim where everything went... That or got a full model of Halloweentown (something that I believe is almost impossible to obtain.)

Re-playability:
Well, it has plenty of re-playability seeing as there are plenty of things to unlock, such as figures, costumes, etc...
The game also has difficulty 3 modes to play in:
Easy
Normal
Nightmare

Story:
Well, I'll admit the story could be a little better and in-depth. But all in all it really is pretty good and you'll find yourself wanting to continue.

Conclusion:
I think alot of reviewers are giving this game a hard time, and aren't appreciating for what it is. A sequel to one of the best films ever, and video game sequels very rarely work.
This game was pulled off beautifully and it is very faithful to the movie, but once again this game really is aimed more towards fans and not the casual gamer. Inf fact the casual gamer might not even know what's going on during the game.

In my eyes the game deserves a 10, but it is not flawless, it is not bad or moderate either. And for that I give it a 9.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/05