Teen Titans for GameCube Reviews by Gamers

Gamers just don't expect much from kiddie titles. And really, there's not much reason to hope for much. If you look at the games aimed at the younger players, you'll notice developers have set the bar pretty low. Not that it's entirely the fault of game designers, of course. Most kid-centric games exist only to cash in on popular licenses. It's no surprise they get little time and funding.





Teen Titans, the videogame adaptation of the popular Warner Bros. cartoon, falls in the same basic trap. Only it doesn't fall as hard as other games. It's actually a decent romp for young fans of the show. Having said that, there's not much here to capture the attention of seasoned players. The action plays out well enough, and there's nothing particularly wrong with any single aspect, but it's just a little dull by genre standards.





One the upside, Teen Titans gives you control of five characters. They all have their unique powers, like on the show, and they each look and sound different. On the downside, these differences don't amount to much at all. During combat, you can switch to different characters for the fun of it, but that's about it. It's rare when you actually need to switch heroes for some strategic purpose or because of obstacles. Sure, it happens a few times, but these instances feel sloppily tacked-on compared to the rest of the game.





You'll spend most of the game running around blasting and punching enemies into oblivion. The combat is relatively straightforward. Each character has three basic attacks: weak, strong and special. For most, the "special" translates to a range energy attack. Cyborg, Raven and Starfire, for instance, all fire beams or shots of energy. So, in effect, they're mostly interchangeable. Thankfully, using these powers provides a bit of entertainment. They may be similar, and it may not matter which character you choose, but at least using them is somewhat fun, even if repetitive.





After every stage, each hero unlocks new abilities and combo attacks. Also, each of their basic attacks grows a little stronger. They don't really change all that much, unfortunately, but they do make smashing through hordes of enemies a lot easier. Most follow a similar pattern of progression, going from damaging a single enemy to a wide-range area effect. They do look cool, particularly the enhanced beam weapons. Unleashing sustained beams of energy toward a group of enemies grants a smidge of visceral satisfaction. As for the combo techniques, they're three-button affairs that work ok and do a decent amount of damage.





In addition to gradual skill progression, every character can find power-ups. Teen Titans includes the basic health and energy supplements, but it also packs cooler items such as 'Speed Up', 'Slow Down' and 'Full Screen Attack.' And while it's cool developers included them in the game, they ultimately don't change the flow of combat in any significant way. Just like most everything in the game, it's fun to use these power-ups even though they could have been implemented in the game world a little better.





For those collectors out there, you'll encounter a bunch of items hidden throughout the game. You can't keep these items specifically, but they do help you unlock characters and stages for use in multiplayer mode. And really, that's a good incentive for those of you who love the show. Plus, collecting for the sake of collecting is never as cool as finding items for an actual reward. So, at the end of every stage, you can see how many points and items you uncovered. You can then head over to multiplayer and "cash in" so to speak.





Perhaps the strongest aspect in Teen Titans is the ability to play with four other players. It helps break the monotony of later stages and lets you perform "team combos" that actually look good and help you deal serious damage.







©2006-05-26, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved