Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue (GameCube)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.0 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Bob Colayco
• Reviewed on: 08/19/2005
• Released on: 08/16/2005
• Originally published on GameSpot: Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue (GameCube) Review

For those of us who are male, our experience with Sanrio began and ended in junior high, with notes written to us by girls on Keroppi-covered stationery. Well, that's where it ended for most of us, at least. At any rate, if it wasn't abundantly clear already, Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue is not a game aimed at the Halo and Grand Theft Auto crowd. But for the adolescent girls it's targeted at, the game does a fine job at capturing the cuteness of the Sanrio universe in video game form.

Roller Rescue is a single-player, 3D, action adventure game that puts you in the dainty shoes of Sanrio's signature character, Hello Kitty. To put it more precisely, you're actually in roller skates. The plot centers around an invasion of Earth being carried out by the menacing Block-O king. His alien army has overrun Sanriotown, so it's up to our heroine to roller skate around the game's 16 different levels, defeat Block-O troops along the way, and rescue family members and other denizens of the quaint town.

If you're familiar with Sanrio, you'll be sure to recognize many of the characters as you get through the campaign, including Purin the dog, Pochi the alligator, and the Little Twin Stars. Many of them will assist you throughout the levels, and some can even fight alongside you in later missions as your sidekick. It's just unfortunate that the most popular Sanrio characters, such as Badtz-Maru and Pochaco, make only brief cameos. The sidekicks you pick up over the course of the game consist of much-less-popular toons, such as Tabo and Monkichi. Keroppi, arguably the next most-popular Sanrio character after Hello Kitty, appears throughout the game, but only in a detached, advisory capacity.

The core gameplay of Roller Rescue is like a platformer married to a beat-'em-up. Hello Kitty begins the game with a magic wand that she can use to bonk enemies on the head. Repeated thwappings will defeat them and yield coins or stars. By mixing up presses of the attack button with the jump button, you can unleash combo attacks, but for the bulk of the game it will suffice to simply mash the basic attack button. You'll also be able to pick up coins lying about the levels, which can be used in between levels to unlock character profiles, videos, and music. Within a level, you can use the money you collect to buy cakes from special kiosks to restore your health. The stars you collect fill up a separate power meter, which can be filled up two times. Depending on how many times you've filled your star meter, you'll unleash one of two different magical attacks, which make clearing areas full of enemies a snap. The overall gameplay is pretty easy, and you can rely on your radar and large flashing arrows onscreen to tell you exactly where you need to go next. This is nice for keeping smaller children from getting frustrated.

Continue reading