Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring

"They fight, they bite, they fight and bite and fight... and this game certainly bites."

Okay, people, listen up. Those of us who actually saw the original Tom and Jerry cartoon were very fortunate indeed. I'm not talking about the *bleep*y remake by Hanna-Barbera. Anyway, those of us who actually know what the T&J games are based on are those of us who are most likely to buy those games. Unfortunately, this one is just as worthless as the original T&J game on the Game Boy Color. I rented it, and I hated it.

GRAPHICS: 4/10

The graphics on the title screen are okay. The in-game graphics are pathetic. None of the characters look like they should, and if you choose to play as Jerry, he's half the height of the cats! What's up with that?! The scenery is also set up in such an awkward way that it's hard to tell if something is a decoration on the wall, or a useable platform.

SOUND: 3/10

I'll admit it, my memory isn't that good. Since I only rented this (about two weeks ago), I don't remember exactly what the sound was like. I do remember it was of very low quality. The music got repetitive very quickly, and there are scant few sound effects, all of which are of very low quality. They could easily have been pulled off on the Game Boy Color.

GAMEPLAY: 2/10

This is where the game pitfalls. It's in the vein of a fighting game, but it pulls it off as terribly as possible. Every stage in this game is completed simply by plowing your way through the seemingly endless hordes of enemies. If you play as Jerry, you fight off cats. If you play as Tom... well, I didn't even play the game long enough to check that out. Keeping control of your character is relatively easy. The controls are kind of hard to figure out if you don't have the manual (which I didn't). In each stage, there are enemies. And more enemies. And more enemies. And more enemies. What is the point?! As soon as you knock out someone, someone else appears. There is also very poor hit detection. Chances are, you'll be up swinging your fists at the enemy for a few seconds, and you won't hit 'em once. They take one shot at you and knock you flying. That is so aggravating. Finally, the use of items is just as poorly executed as everything else. It takes a great deal of effort to reach an item and pick it up, in most cases. Then, all you can do is throw it at the enemy, praying it hits him. If it actually does, it causes no more damage than you would have done if you'd gone up and punched them!

PLOT: 4/10

Okay, the story is pretty simple. Tom is entrusted with this magic ring, and Jerry somehow manages to get it stuck on his head. Apparently, they're making another T&J movie out of this (and I sure hope it's better than the first). Okay, so Jerry has a ring stuck on his head. But in the game, the character sprites are so poorly drawn that you can't even SEE a ring on Jerry's head! And the storyline seems to have no influence on gameplay, anyway. You can choose to play as Tom or Jerry, and in either case, you simply have to pummel your way through hordes of enemies. Your rival won't even show up, except maybe at the end of the game. I didn't even get past stage 2, so I wouldn't know. If they had actually had the plot put some influence on the gameplay, that would have helped a lot.

REPLAY: 1/10

This game sucks. I mean, it really sucks. After playing through the first room, I turned the game off. There is no-one on this planet who would actually have the patience to play through all the levels to reach the end, without using a password from some site to skip ahead. Or if there is someone with that kind of patience, they certainly wouldn't enjoy the never-ending trek.

OVERALL: 2/10

People, don't buy this game. Don't even rent this game. The game, and everything in it, sucks. If you are an absolute, die-hard, hardcore fan of T&J, you might want to consider renting this game. Still, I'm a pretty die-hard fan of them (I have like 30 old episodes recorded from several years ago when it was still a popular cartoon and I have the movie), and I certainly didn't like what I played. If you want to go out and get a T&J game, try Fists of Furry for the N64, or Tom and Jerry: Mouse Hunt for the GBC. They're pretty good.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/02, Updated 04/06/02