Antz (Game Boy Color)

CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
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Overall score: 6.9 (3.0 stars)
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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Lauren Fielder
• Reviewed on: 01/28/2000
• Updated on:04/28/2000
• Released on: 08/31/1999

Whether we're talking about a major console title or a Game Boy game, it's unfortunately all too common for a licensed product to become some feeble effort to use an identifiable name or character in familiar situations to bring in a large amount of cash, with little payoff for the player. And the Game Boy tends to be somewhat of a lint trap for such games, as it's an easy (and inexpensive) platform to develop for.

Dreamworks Interactives' animated film Antz inspired the same-named GBC game. It's generally a pretty typical Game Boy platform game: You jump, crawl, swing, shoot, and stomp things. The game gives you a singular task at the beginning of each level, so as to give the appearance of being mission-driven, but the end goal is usually there waiting for you, provided you simply make it through all the preliminary 2D platform-game trappings earlier in the round.

What's redeeming about this game, though, is that new ideas and challenges are introduced early. In the first level, for example, you're already swinging from one hook to the next, avoiding sharp objects below. You don't just swing from one as a trial, before encountering the spikes later on. You also figure out how to shoot blocks from the ceiling to form a walkway, all within the first few seconds of play. This may still sound remedial, but rest assured, far too may GB platformers wait until halfway through the game before pulling the better rabbits out of their hats.

While the order of the day is pretty much lots of hoisting and jumping and stacking Antz so you can climb over them and out of the room, the later levels provide some pretty funny "from the eyes of the insect world" tasks that involve escaping ridiculous situations and taking on other creatures in the plentiful bug universe. Essentially, the game controls well, and it's moderately enjoyable and varied. Perhaps the largest gripe is another common one in this type of game: If you die, you go back to the beginning of the level. But that's what ten-second continue options are for.

If you liked the movie, Infogrames wants you to believe you'll want to relive the experience with this game. But in all actuality, the movie and the game really have little in common, so base your judgement on gameplay rather than on the fact that it's a licensed movie product. Antz on the GBC is another platform game that will amuse those who find the genre enjoyable in small scale 8-bit.

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