Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue for GameCube Reviews by Gamers

To start, Hello Kitty Roller Rescue won't appeal to the masses. The reason, apart from the sickly-sweet protagonist, is that X-Pec designed Roller Rescue with girls in mind. And not just any girls mind you, but girls under the age of ten. Developer X-pec crammed Roller Rescue with a relentless sense of cute. So much in fact, the game's level of sweetness could rot a gamer's teeth almost immediately. It happened to some guy the other day as he passed by the game at a local store. Honestly.

So what would a young female gamer do in Roller Rescue? Bake 3,000 cakes and feed them to the homeless? Nope. Knit socks and scarves and give them to chilly hobos? Not exactly. How about repelling an alien invasion by committing xenocide against a race of space-faring intruders? Ah, that's the one. And I'm not joking. As Hello Kitty, you actively seek and eradicate an alien force bent on murdering the denizens of your world. The only thing cute about systemically eliminating a race of intelligent creatures in Roller Rescue is the fact that your weapon of choice is a pink wand. Which, of course, is just a molecular destabilzer in disguise.

Roller Rescue is an action-adventure game, so there's a mix of action sequences, platform jumping and a few puzzles. You progress through the game's 16 levels in linear fashion, collecting stuff and killing aliens as you go. It's a pretty basic setup. Fitting, actually, since the game itself is also very straightforward. Roller Rescue doesn't add anything new to the action-adventure genre, but it succeeds somewhat at what it tries to do. Obviously, the game is geared toward younger, female gamers. Now, a male game critic in his mid-twenties can't really appreciate Roller Rescue for all it's worth. Having said that, Roller Rescue should do a decent job of entertaining its intended audience.

To start, it features a ton of Sanrio characters, including: Badtz-Maru, Pochaco, Keroppi and Pochi. Some of these characters make cameos, while others play hefty roles in the adventure. Still, the biggest star is Hello Kitty and her family. Between levels, you can visit the Kitty household and chat with family members you have rescued during the game. This is also where you can don new Kitty outfits, read email and unlock bonuses such as outfits, Sanrio character profiles, new weapons (such as hammers) and cinematics. It lends the game a certain degree of customization and motivation (for fans) to finish the game.

The action in Roller Rescue is pretty decent and easy to pick up. Hello Kitty has at her disposal the aforementioned molecular destabilizer wand, which you can use to bash enemy aliens. Bashing alien craniums is fun and all, but Hello Kitty can also use simple combos and even aerial attacks by repeatedly hitting things or jumping whilst attacking. Every enemy eliminated yields stars that fill up a power meter located at the top of the screen. The power meter lets you perform two special attacks depending on how much star power you've collected - more stars equals a stronger attack.

Enemies aren't very bright, but they do act differently depending on class. Certain enemies will die from a single blow to the forehead, while others require jump attacks or several hits to destroy. In addition to regular enemies, Roller Rescue throws a number of boss encounters at you. The first such encounter sees you dodging kitten-roasting lasers from an alien tank. It also throws explosives at you, which you need to catch and throw back at the xenomorph driving the tank.

You can use nearby obstructions for cover, but once you've thrown a handful of alien grenades at the driver's face, he's as good as dead. And dead, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly how cute kitties like alien invaders. Another encounter sees you fighting a villainous train hell-bent on ending your life. Luckily, players can operate a series of jumbo cannons littered about the stage. The objective is to dodge enemies on foot while launching explosive rounds at the train…all while trying to avoid being blown to smithereens yourself.

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