Inspector Gadget

"Who Knew Inspector Gadget Was Competent Enough to Solve a Case Without Penny or Brain?"

Inspector Gadget is modeled off the hysterical cartoon by the same name. Of course, in the actual cartoon show, Inspector Gadget would just bumble about, while Penny and Brain solved the cases, but that won't happen this time. Penny's been kidnapped, and Brain certainly doesn't seem to be doing much (maybe he's sick?). This leaves Inspector Gadget on a mission to save Penny. Can he do it on his own? That's up to you!

In this game, gadget can utilize many of his gadgets from the cartoon show (and some that were never in the cartoon, just made up for this game). At any time, you can extend your arms (to punch bad guys), legs (to kick bad guys), or head (to head-butt bad guys). Getting Brain heads will make the extensions even longer. Also, from your hat, you can shoot plungers (to scale walls) and an arm (to hang onto hanging rings). The more plunger icons you get, the longer they stick to the wall, and the more hand icons you get, the longer your hand becomes. Also, there are several items that require ''hats'' to use (each hat icon gives you 2 hats, up to 99 can be acquired at once). Arrows can be shot costing 1 hat (the more arrow icons you collect, the farther they travel). A lantern can be used for two hats--they basically give off light in a small section of the game where it's dark, and are more useful to throw at enemies). A bomb can be used for 3 hats--they blow up enemies and certain walls (rarely useful, as it turns out... I think there's only one wall in the whole game you need to blow up like this, and there are more effective ways to kill enemies). The more bomb icons you collect, the bigger the explosion. Miniature Inspector Gadgets (up to 5) can be used to attack enemies on the ground costing 4 hats--the more mini-Gadget icons you collect, the more mini-Gadgets come from your hat. The traditional Go-Go-GadgetCopter costs 5 hats; the more blue copter icons you collect, the longer it lasts. It should be noted that you can't actually FLY with it, however--you merely float down slowly, a gyp if you ask me. For 6 hats, you can use the best weapon in the game--the projectile copter (never had these great things in the cartoon!). Collect one red copter icon and it just slowly flies up, disappearing if it hits an enemy (not very useful). Collect 2 icons and you can control where it goes, but still disappears if it hits an enemy (also not too useful). Collect 3 icons and you still control where it goes, but it doesn't disappear until it leaves the screen, meaning you can hit all the enemies on the screen, and also kill enemies requiring multiple hits immediately (VERY useful). Collect 4 icons and the copter will flash and actually home in on all the enemies on the screen until they all die! Ultra cool! One more item, a mystery item, that costs 10 hats to use--it's stupid, doesn't work very well, and there's no reason to use it other than to quickly waste hats.

Of course, with all these cool gadgets, it seems as if it might make the game a little easy. Well, a few things to remember. One, if you like to use those projectile copters often like me, you'll run out of hats VERY quickly, and have to rely on more conventional ways of killing foes. Two, you have a 300 second time limit on EVERY level. Since each level is pretty long, that time goes by FAST! I don't know if it's possible to get through the last stage in 300 seconds. Luckily, each time you get to a new part of a level, you start from there when you die, with all 300 seconds back. Three, two hits and your dead! When Inspector Gadget gets hit once, he loses his trenchcoat, leaving him in his underwear (ala Ghosts and Goblins). He can get his trenchcoat back, though, by collecting a (what else?) trenchcoat icon. Also, the last 3 stages in the game are QUITE difficult, and the boss of the game (Dr. Claw, of course!), can be an absolute NIGHTMARE!

Graphics (10/10)--For the time it came out, these looked absolutely stunning! You don't even need to get far into the game to see the best of it--right at the beginning of stage 1 takes place during a lightning storm. SO COOL! The enemies look pretty nifty, in their MAD Agent suits, and all sorts of other costumes taken from the show (and a few ''weird'' enemies, like killer snowmen). Inspector Gadget looks like he's supposed to, as well as Penny and Brain. And--get this--you actually get to SEE Dr. Claw's face at the end of the game--or half of it, I should say, which is more than you can see in the cartoon show!

Music/Sounds (6/10)--The biggest thing to bring the score down is that the main Inspector Gadget theme is NOWHERE! Some of the stage tunes sound great though (known as ODD NUMBERED STAGES), while some sound pretty average. It makes a VERY cool music though when you're about to run out of time! The sound effects, though many are generic, have at least one that shines--the ''ow'' when you hit an enemy! Such a classic enemy-being-hurt noise!

Control (7/10)--The way Inspector Gadget jumps is a little strange (he jumps about a sixteenth or an eight or so of a second after you hit the jump button), but it takes almost no time getting used to. The controls are almost spot-on, except for the awkward way of switching gadgets, and how hard it is to find a specific gadget you're looking to use--you shift through them using the L & R buttons. This takes a little while getting used to, and you lose precious seconds trying to find what you're looking for (or an enemy might kill you while you're trying to find that projectile copter!).

Fun (9/10)--Maybe I find it more fun than some, being a big fan of the cartoon show, but it seemed pretty faithful to it (except for the fact that Inspector Gadget is incompetent, but then we wouldn't have a game, would we ;oD).

Overall (8/10)--I fear the last few levels in the game might be too difficult for younger children, and the first few might be too easy for more experienced gamers, but it is a fun game worth having, and a definite must-have for Inspector Gadget fans, like myself :oD

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/01, Updated 07/09/01