The Grinch (PSOne)
This reviewer hated The Grinch! The whole Grinchy game,
And if you ask someone else, I bet they'll tell you the same,
It could be that the textures and graphics weren't right,
It could be that the jerky controls weren't too tight,
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that its gameplay was two sizes too small.
WHAT'S NEW:
Trying to find the fun in this game is like trying to find a mini refrigerator filled with lemonade and cucumber sandwiches in the middle of the Sahara desert. What is the reasoning behind why this game is so frustratingly awful? The blame can almost solely lies in the laps of the designers, who in an effort to release this game with the buzz of the movie, they forsook quality and published a product of obviously substandard quality. The graphics are weak, and the animation is jerky. The draw-in is remarkably noticeable and egregious in the fact that its probably has the most -- and the worse -- draw-in of any game on the Playstation to date. Then again, that's the least of my complaints.
The Grinch is a nonviolent, action/adventure game in which players become the Mean One himself. With the perennially useless Max the Dog at his side, The Grinch attempts to disrupt holiday preparations in Whoville by smashing presents, stealing decorations, and setting back the Whoville Christmas clock; The Grinch's evil designs to terrorize the Whos though are thorough to a fault. Grinch is not just satisfied with shooting rotten eggs into 2 or 3 unsuspecting Who residences, he is determined to egg the whole town no matter how long it takes, which amounts to nothing more than aimless searching and mind numbing repetition (If I liked to travel through a city searching for hours I would become a bike messenger).
The Grinch's designers, A2M, must not have realized that not everyone is omniscient enough to know what to do and when to do it. All of Grinch's missions in a level are given to him at one time, therefore, you never know when you are able to complete a mission or when you need to find a new gadget to assist you. What becomes even more frustrating is the repetitiveness of the missions you are given.
BOTTOM LINE:
What could have been a relatively interesting game is nothing more than an abomination of Suessian proportions. This Grinch isn't in it for stealing Christmas, this is The Grinch who stole my time.
SOUND: 7/10
- Cute, Christmassy music, who doesn't like that?
GRAPHICS: 5/10
- Jerky animations and muddy textures, sigh.
CONTROL: 5/10
- The controls are sloppy and unresponsive.
REPLAY VALUE: 4/10
- They could have at least given us a map so maybe we could have a clue of where we have been or where we are going. If you play through the Grinch once, you would have seen enough of Whoville for a lifetime.
FUN: 2.5/10
- Throw in a pinch of bad graphics, and a dash of repetitive gameplay and voila, you get awful game stew.
OVERALL: 4.7/10
