"A great showcase of the Lynx capabilites, and a great, underrated game on itself..."

Epyx sure knew how to do good games. Their games had that distinct polish that most others lacked, not only technically, but gameplay-wise as well. After all, the Epyx team was the designer of the Lynx, and you can see that they were trying in giving its creation the best they could. Good examples are Chip´s Challenge, California Games, or this one: Todd's Adventures in Slime World.

Story: 8/10

While the story is nowhere near as deep as a 60-hour rpg, it gets extra points for originality and effort. You are Todd, a galactic explorer that likes to explore new and undiscovered worlds. On one of your travels, you discover an abandoned ship, and inside, the captain's log. You load the file on your computer, and find some different entries that describe their adventures in Slime World. In one of them, he describes how he landed at the worst part of Slime World and he had to get to the other side of it to get to the rescue ship, or how its gun became useless and he had to use it's intelligence to escape, up to 6 different entries. Once the last log ends abruptly, the captain's brother goes with a rescue team to find out what
happened and writes another 6 different logs before disapearing as well.

It seems pretty dangerous, but once Todd discovers that there are valuable Slime Gems scattered all around Slime World, he decides to go there.

All of the logs are detailed at the instruction booklet. The first 6 represent the 1-player game, while the other 6 represent the multiplayer scenarios, and it´s all told like a sci-fi story. As I said before, gets extra points for the effort and the original premise.

Graphics: 10/10

The enemies and Todd, your character, are nothing special(except when Todd cleans himself in pools of water, it looks rather humorous). They are well designed and you can tell what they are perfectly, but you won't find nothing outstanding about them. The environments, however, are a totally different thing. They give the game an amazing look, and make you really feel like you are in Slime World. You can see walls, ceilings, etc, move just like if the slime they are made of was alive. It´s a really beautiful game to look at.

Sound: 7/10

The music is like a pulsating, constant heart beat that accompanies you through all of Slime World, and it's not really noticeable if you don't pay attention. It kinda gives the game a feel of loneliness in a strange place. The sound effects are a mixed bag. While there's some pretty good sounds (when you get a Slime Gem), there are others that are simply mediocre (like the ones some enemies do when they appear).

Control: 7/10

The low-point of the game. It's not bad at all, but it it's not perfect either. You have your basic commands like Jump, Shoot, and more advanced ones like using special items and such. Depending on how long you push the Jump button (and if you are pushing a direction at the same time), you'll do a different type of jump. It's kind of floaty, though, and a bit hard to control (and specially aggravating when you jump and continue hitting an enemy because the character still has not touched the ground and you can't escape, resulting in frustrating deaths). Shooting its easier, and you can direct your shoots in a few different directions. Pushing Option 1 will let you see your items, and Option 2 will let you use them. There's a slight delay after every push, which can lead to use items you don't want to. To sum it up, it controls well when you get accostumed to it, but still gets frustrating times.

Gameplay: 10/10

Where to start? It's really amazing how deep this was for a game released in 1990, and in a handheld, no less! The game is a side-scrolling adventure not very different from Metroid. You get to choose 6 scenarios at the beginning of the game, each one with different premise (Easy, Exploration, Action, Suspense, Logic and Arcade). For example, in Action, you'll have more enemies, while in Logic, your gun will be damaged and you'll have to survive without it. To defend yourself against the hordes of enemies, you
have a water gun, and some special items you can find scattered all around the planet. Gun upgrades, shields that make you temporally invincible, Mega bombs that clear up entire rooms, Jet Packs that let you fly... And let's not forget there's also the VERY useful automap feature.

One of the most original things about the game is the health system.When you get hit by an enemy, you don't die. Instead, you turn greener and greener untill you eventually explode. To restore yourself to full health, you have to find one of the multiple pools of water scattered all around and Tood will automatically wash himself all the slime. There's even one item that lets you transform a pool of slime into one of water.

If there's one grip I have about the game, is that if you die, your score is reset. You have to do the stage perfectly, and that´s almost impossible because of the enemies, and specially one that you can't notice because it's hidden in the ground and kills you instantly. But, the exploration part of the game is good enough to make it a minor flaw, and, is good if you like challenges.

Todd's Adventures in Slime World also includes an very handy in-game manual that you can access at the beginning of the game. It details the story, items, and enemies, and it's a pretty cool extra you don't find in many games. It also lets you resume your game with a password. Too bad it doesn't save your score.

Replay Value: 8/10

Very high. Not only do you have the multiplayer mode against other 7 friends (first 8-player game ever, BTW), but you have six different scenarios to try, each one playing differently from the last one. And, you can try to just finish the missions, or get as much points as possible. But the highest replay value comes from the huge stages. They have so much secrets packed in, you won´t believe it until you see it. The mazes take literally hours to be fully explored.

Overall: 9/10

Todd's Adventures in Slime World has great graphics, an amazing atmosphere, and lots of little details that make it a must have for every Lynx owner. If you like exploring games, you should get this underrated gem.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/07