Pinobee: Wings of Adventure

"Take the scarecrow from Wizard of Oz, Mix some Pinocchio and add Bee and you get this game."

First off I want to say that I LOVE this game. I would like to say Hudson did a wonderful job in creating a new and original platformer that sticks out in the mass of platformers out there today

Graphics 10/10
Exceptional... It can easily compare with some of the 2-D platformers on the PSone. Colourful backgrounds, easy to see enemies, cool facial expressions when Pinobee gets in trouble. The movement is fluid and the game never slows down.

Sound 6/10
Not exceptional but its decent I guess. Like most games it gets boring after a while. And some of the sound effects are really weird.

Control 8/10
Good controls simple to learn, easy to master but at times the control seems a little ''floaty'' (unresponsive).

Story 5/10
This could use some work... its a pretty typical ____ saves ____ story, but it this case its Pinobee saves his Grandpa. Kind of a weird mix between The Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio and Buck Bumble (i.e. Grandpa disappears before he can give Pinobee a heart, fairy shows up to guide Pinobee).

Gameplay 9/10
The fast gameplay is very enjoyable; it's reminiscent to the speed of the Sonic series. The vast levels contain lots of enemies, platforms (duh!), flowers (used to power Pinobee like a timer) and lots of items. Pinobee uses dashes to reach high platforms and attack enemies; he can float and climb walls to reach his goals. The dash system is excellent, with more dashes he can reach higher and jumping from platform to platform is a little more forgiving. My favourite part is that Pinobee's dashes can lock onto enemies and items so you won't over-dash and fall into a pit. And a unique bingo style items systems awards player who collect lots of items with specials powers.

Play Time/Replayability 10/10

Here is what really sets Pinobee apart, for example, lets say you push a switch in Stage 2, this will open a door in Stage 8 that leads to a room full of useful items and bingo tiles. The fact that something you do in Stage 1 can affect how you advance through Stage 15 merits that level to be played through a couple of time. Also at the end of a stage Pinobee's expression will rank you on how well you did in that particular stage. These rankings will affect how long your journey is and if you get a good ending or a bad one. But sometimes good rankings can only be achieved by hitting certain switches or talking to certain characters, but at first in many levels you can't reach them, so come back after you've played further in the game and won more dashes to reach them. This raises the replay value even higher. Its a good thing this game has a save feature! This game will take the casual gamer maybe a weekend to beat, but to achieve the best of 8 endings and find all the secrets the game could take weeks to complete.

Overall 9/10
I love this game, its unique gameplay and its replay value set it apart from normal platformers, personally I would recommend you to buy this as I feel it is the best platformer so far for GBA, but if you're not really into platformers I'd suggest it for a long road trip rental or a weekend rental.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/12/02, Updated 12/12/02