A decent Cartoon Network franchise game?
Developer: Virtuos
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: November 1st, 2011
Score: 2.4 / 5
Reviewer note: I’ve never heard of Generator Rex and the fact it was a cartoon previous to this review, aside from a few brief press releases. Please keep this in mind while reading the review.
In Generator Rex, you play as Rex Salazar who has the ability to transform his limbs into different weapons. This is done with the nanites Rex was infected with which make him an E.V.O. or “Exponentially Variegated Organism.” Most living beings that come into contact with the nanites become deformed and also make up the enemies in the game. He also belongs to an organization known as Providence who tries to stop and cure the EVOs. Rex’s direct boss, Agent Six plays a cool, calm boss that seems to be no frills and business only. Other supporting cast includes Dr. Rebecca Holiday who’s the lead scientist for the organization and a talking chimp by the name of Bobo Haha. Trying to thwart Providence is Van Kleiss, an EVO that is similar to Rex, but has other motives.
When starting the game, you’re thrust into a mission in which you need to navigate away from objects as you descend from the sky, free falling. Once you land, you’re shown the first of many of Rex’s arsenal, the Smack Hands. These do decent damage, but can be a bit slow. Next up is the Big Fat Sword or BFS for short. This is the main staple of the weapon selection throughout the game. Other weapons include the Punk Busters, and the Slam Cannon. Special weapons that consume a special blue bar above your health, which is shown in green, are the Bad Axes, Funchucks, and Blast Caster. Although not necessary, these weapons can clear an area quickly. Each weapon, aside from the Omega weapons, has a special ability to use by pressing the R button. Not all offer attacks, like the Smack Hands, which block attacks when the button is pressed, so there’s a bit of variety to be had. The game does a decent job of introducing different weapons, but aside from a select few, they are worthless. Sure, it can be challenging to try to defeat different bosses with weapons that aren’t optimal for the fight, but it becomes pointless and aggravating after a while.
Not only does Rex have an array of weapons, he also can upgrade each one of them along with health and energy. At first, orange nanites are difficult to obtain in quantity, except if you try the level again in the challenge mode. Once you do have enough to upgrade most of your arsenal, it’s near the end of the game and mostly pointless. Still, the upgrades add more power to the weapons and you’re not forced into picking one in particular.
Wandering through levels, you’ll find various enemy EVOs that you’ll need to beat up. How you do it is mostly up to you, aside from boss battles. The variety in enemies leading up to the boss fights though, leaves a lot to be desired. The creatures themselves for the most part are generic and dull. Most attack in much the same way and the only challenge seems to be a mob of foes from both sides. Even then, pulling out an Omega weapon dispatches the threat quickly. When it comes to the levels themselves, they tend to be drab and at times tedious. One level for example has a moving platform and wants the player to jump to another, however the jump and run is extremely unforgiving, with the result being Rex’s untimely demise. Adding to this aggravation is the fact the game auto-saves after certain points, so you have no control on where you’ll pick back up in a level. Once you get to the boss battles themselves, they are formulaic and boring for all except one or two. Each boss follows a simple pattern that’s quite easy to discern with a tad bit of studying. Timing your attacks to defeat these enemies is a real key to victory.
Other challenges in the game include timed runs of previous missions you’ve completed and collecting DNA strains of enemies. While the collecting can be enjoyable, yet random, since not all attackers drop the item, the challenge mode is unforgivable. For each challenge level, there is a set time you must complete it in. It leaves no room for many errors or much collecting of DNA or upgrade points. Collecting the DNA strands isn’t required and may be for the completist gamer.
I’m not sure why this was put on the Nintendo 3DS. The effort feels as if the developer took the Nintendo DS version of the game and added the stereoscopic effect simply so they could package it in a 3DS game box. There is indeed depth, but it’s poor and doesn’t add anything of substance. Even the animated cut scenes in the game are a phone-in effort. Each character bobs up and down akin to paper dolls in front of a camera. There’s also noticeable artifacting throughout the scenes and occasionally the characters look cut-out due to the quality. The music in the game however is quite fitting for the majority of the time. When wandering around Providence HQ, a fun rock song plays as you decide what your next step is going to be. The only downside to the music is during actual levels where it changes abruptly when fighting and finishing enemies.
It took a while to judge how I truly felt about this game. On one hand it was fun to switch weapons and beat up enemies in random ways. However, on the other side of the coin is the fact it’s repetitive and doesn’t offer much in the way of diverse action for said weapons. This might be good for fans, but others should either look elsewhere for an action game, or consider the Nintendo DS version instead of paying the 3DS tax.
Thanks to Activision for providing a copy for review.
