Action Man: Search for Base X (Game Boy Color)

In case you sleep in on Saturdays, Action Man is a popular CGI animated children's property made by the same folks who brought you ReBoot and Beast Wars. To bring Action Man to the Game Boy Color, THQ has enlisted Natsume to do the honors. The result is a side-scrolling action game that almost re-creates the same level of gameplay and creativity that brought the genre to its heyday in the 16-bit era.

Assuming the role of Alex Mann, the Action Man, your job in Action Man: Search For Base X is to track down and stop the evil Dr. X from unleashing a terrible weapon of mass destruction. As Action Man, your search will take you through a number of harsh environments and require you to perform a number of extreme behaviors, such as mountain climbing, vine jumping, and cave-based SCUBA diving. Along the way, you'll also make use of a variety of spiffy gadgets, including pistols, crossbows, EMP grenades, spy cameras, and disarmament devices. Considering the mountain of robotic weaponry and booby traps Dr. X has placed in your way, you're going to need all the help you can get.

Action Man: Search For Base X may sound like a run-of-the-mill action game, but the beauty of it lies in how Natsume and THQ have fashioned the game together. Each of the game's 15 missions is spread across six main areas. Within each of these areas are two or three mission objectives. The clever twist to all of this is that you don't blandly choose which mission you're to complete from a menu but by your own actions and the equipment you use in the field. For example, a quick run through the jungle level will eventually lead you to destroy a weapons factory, but if you're equipped with the diving suit and flashlight, you can take an alternate route and sabotage a power generator instead. You don't begin the game with a full arsenal of equipment though, so you're required to reexplore every area multiple times to unearth all of the tools you'll need to complete the game's mission objectives. Thankfully, a simplistic password system lets you track your progress.