GameGear

"It was doomed to lose to GameBoy"

GameGear is a great handheld console. In my opinion, this is the only decent handheld to ever really rival the GameBoy and question the abilities. It had color, the looks, and decent games. However, not many people today have one, because of the big flaws Sega made in the making of this mini console. And as it suggests in my review's title, it was doomed to lose the GameBoy.

GRAPHICS- 10/10
What this little beauty can show you is tragically beautiful!! Sega pushed graphics for GameGear to the maximum. I mean, if you were playing a game that was ported from a console or arcade version, like Mortal Kombat II, then you'll defintly notice some nice resemblance from this and the console or arcade version. Everything was sweetly visable at all times, unlike GameBoy(I'm not trying to bash GameBoy here, but it's true). Plus, there was hardly ever any glitches and everything animation ran as smoothly as it could. I mean, this kind of stuff CAN compete with GameBoy Advance!!

MUSIC/SFX- 5/10
I don't know about you, but this was a really poor factor for me. The music often sounded terrible, with a few execeptions to a game or two, of which will remain nameless in this review. OK, it did try to sound like ported versions, and you could hear the resemblance. That's good. But a very nasty problem was only one note was playable at any one time! If you're lucky- two at the same time(Big whoop! Not). It sounded like one of those damn cheap keyboards where it tries to sound like an electronic piano, but fails miserably. You probably won't end up humming a tune from a game you were playing too long.

Now we get to the sound effects. I'll give you a way to find out exactly what most hitting, slamming, and just general contact with your character sounds like. Break a wooden chair over your father's head. Yes, for the last time it is that bad!

GAMEPLAY- 8/10
There aren't an awful lot of good or memorable GameGear titles, but the games that are there, are always, always good! They're always challenging, no matter how long you've played Sonic 2 on Genesis, you will find a challenge in Sonic 2 for GameGear. Most games are strongly addictive, even on a computer EMUlator.

OVERALL- 8/10
Well... GameGear isn't the best handheld ever. I reckon it's the third best mini console ever. When I had a Genesis and GameGear in the same room, I was able to say, ''Sega finally did something right.'' And it's true. Despite the number of batteries(Six?? Whatever) and the lack of good titles, GameGear is a good handheld.

BUY, RENT, OR BURN?
There is no answer to this question. It's not good enough to buy, unless you have rechargable batteries or a lot of money to waist on batteries. After what I've said, it would be cruel to ultimately diss this console. And you can't rent it from Blockbuster or something. I bought one orginally for collectors value, but I find myself playing it a lot now. The choice is yours!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/24/03