Action Man: Robot Atak

"Action Man delivers action indeed."

Action Man! The name rings a tone, doesn't it? It conjures up images of a man who takes action, precise and swift. Actually, that describes this game a lot; because there are many enemies to battle and your action need to be swift and cunning. Anything less and you're worm food.

Isn't Action Man a television show? When I first picked up the game I was expecting something lame and hastily put together so the game developers can make some dough off the name of some TV show / movie / celebrity. Boy, was I wrong! Not only the graphics for this game is excellent but also the control is smooth and fluid. Not to mention that the fun factory is somewhat higher then average.

Not bad, not bad at all I thought.

So! What is the plot of the game? As far as I can tell there isn't much deep in the plot of the game. So far, there are ‘X-robots' that has invaded an island and you need to get there. That is all. Now, I'm curious, what's so bad about an isolated island invaded by robots? Surely there isn't anyone living there and the robots aren't do any harm. They're just harmless! A better – and less lame plot – would be the robots taking over a city and killing people.

Anyway, let's dive straight into the game play. Basically you play as one of the action men in the game. At the first stage of the game it is kind of like a tutorial stage, teaching you the basics of the game play, not that there is much to the controls. You can shoot things or punch, depending on the character. There is only one attack button in the game. And there is a jump button. Wow! While this sounds very simple and you might construe it as elementary therefore primitive game play, it isn't the case. This game play is simple, yes, however it is very solid.

Ah, so this is a side scrolling platform game, because it requires you to jump from place to place while killing the enemies. Did I mention that most of the enemies in the game are robots with very little variation of it? It doesn't matte since it is fun watching them explode when you punch / shoot them. However, one thing that isn't good about this game is that the enemy doesn't do much. They just rush after you and grapple you if they can, but its too late because you have some projectile weapons most of the time. Not very challenging, huh.

Keep in mind that most of the game is in jungle / forest setting which I don't really mind. Oh yeah, the graphics for this game is very good, one of the most solid graphics I've seen for the GBA! The textures are nice and detailed and there is no lag because of it.

In closing, I think this is a solid game without a doubt; I'm glad the game developers had put their time into this game it make it a solid, fun to play and easy to digest. Nothing revolutionary or innovating here folks! However, if you want a solid game and are a fan of the TV show, then by all means by this game and play as your favorite super hero!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/20/05