Car Battler Joe

"Definitely one of the best and most different GBA games out there."

A few months ago, a friend of mine brought home a little game called "Car Battler Joe" home from the store. I laughed at the title and assumed that the game would be some sort of cheesy platformer for children. My friend kept telling me how much fun the game was and how it wasn't going to last forever, so I read some reviews and picked up my own copy.

I must say; It is FAR from being a cheesy platformer for kids.

Car Battler Joe is a unique blend of an RPG and a racing game. You play as a boy named Joe (Or whatever you choose to name him) whose father was a legend at the sport of car battling. However, long ago, your father left home and never came back. Now, you are old enough to get your own car and start battling on your own. When you play as Joe, the game is a typical RPG, from a sort of top-down point of view. You talk to people, you buy things, and you edit the parts of your car in order to improve its performance. Once you start doing jobs, however, the gameplay is entirely different.

Jobs are almost always available from the local shop, and if you choose to do one of these jobs (Which you pretty much have to), the gameplay becomes much more exciting. No longer is the game a simple RPG, it is now a vehicle combat game, where you have to get from point A to point B while shooting whoever ain't you.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

I'm not much of an RPG person, but I did find the setup in this game quite a bit simpler than most other RPGs I have experienced. The driving segments of the game are simply wonderful once you get used to the handling on the car.

STORY: 5/10

You are a boy out to find his lost father. Need I say more? If you play games the way I do, though, this score shouldn't even matter, because it's the gameplay that counts. If you want a good story, read a book.

GRAPHICS: 7/10

The graphics are fairly above-average during the RPG part of the game, but during the driving parts they aren't as rich, which is understandable since this is only GBA. THe important thing, though, is that the graphics get the job done.

CONTROLS: 9/10

The controls are basically perfect. For driving, you hold A to accelerate and press R to fire. Pretty simple. No complaints about the RPG parts, either, it's pretty hard to screw up controls in an RPG.

OVERALL: 8/10

Car Battler Joe is the definition of sleeper hit. It didn't sell 10 million copies, but those who do know it know that it is an incredible game and experience. I'd pick this one up soon, you never know when a game might become rare.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/04