Hamtaro: Ham Ham Heartbreak

"Now you have cute Ham-Hams in your gba"

Do you know the manga ''Hamtaro'' ? It's the adventures of Hamtaro, a nice Ham-Ham (kind of hamster). Now you have ''Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak'', the adaptation of the manga, in your lucky little hands. What do I have to say about this game?

Plot: 6/10
A bad guy named ''Spat'' (or Zizanie for the French gamers like me) decided to break the love between all the hamsters of the world! You have to make up the pairs or the world will be awful... That's for the plot. It's not very complicated (1 sentence, you see?) but it's original! The 6 is justified by the linearity of the adventure but you have to use some funny tips to made up the pairs and, after all, you had been made aware by the ''Ham-Ham Heartbreak''.

Graphics: 7/10
It's not extraordinary, but it's nice. The worlds are colored, the different themes are easily recognizable and you never get lost. In general, it looks good. We can compare it to Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire: the gba can do best but the graphics are good.

Animation: 7/10
As for the graphics, it's not extraordinary, but the hamsters are very, very, very cute. You will smile at least once when you see Hamtaro and Bijou using their powers on the screen.

Sound: 6/10
The music is nice, but sometimes repetitive. You have a good quality of sound-effects and it is perfectly integrated in the game. It's good enough for the game and some themes are really good.

Gameplay: 10/10
You master the gameplay immediately. It's simple (you really need the directional cross and the A button, the others are not necessary to press) but it's enough to get fun. Here you will realize that Hamtaro is first a game for the youngest but the older gamers can get fun on it (I'm 16). So why criticizing if it's enough for the game?

Difficulty: 9/10
You can finish the game relatively easily but some enigmas are harder and you'll have to think (thinking in a video game? wow, I forgot how to do...)to solve all of them. For me, the difficulty is perfect (perhaps am I a bad player to encounter a challenge in this game) but I think hardcore gamers will find it too easy. Difficulty is always a question of opinion.

Lifetime: 8/10
You have 6 worlds to get through and 22 pairs to make up. It's long enough to have fun but not boring. But lifetime is related to difficulty, so if it's too easy for you, it'll be too short too.

Gamelink cable: yes
You can exchange dances with you friends but there is no real multiplayer game mode. Anyway, I don't have a gamelink cable, so...

Overall: 8/10
I think the game is worth the 8 as it's fun, the interest is real, it looks good and the hamsters are sooooooo cute! But the real problem is the game is SLOW. In fact, it's not an action game, but you have to select the action ''talk'' to talk to a character and that makes the gameplay bad if you are tired when playing. But the fact you have to learn the hamsters' language to progress, you have precious stones to collect, and some other funny secondary objectives make you forget that sometimes the game seems slow (moreover you can run).

Buy/Rent?
I don't think in France we can rent games, so for me the problem is solved. For the others, I think you can finish the game during your renting so make your choice. I bought it new for 38€ (almost 38$) and I think it's not too high. Perhaps it'll be best to buy it in occasion or to rent it.

Final words: I LOVE HAM-HAMS !!!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/03