Voodoo Vince (Xbox)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.8 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Jeff Gerstmann
• Reviewed on: 09/22/2003
• Released on: 09/23/2003
• Originally published on GameSpot: Voodoo Vince (Xbox) Review

When the 3D platformer was popularized by Super Mario 64, simply translating the standard 2D platform game experience into the 3D world was enough to excite most players. Over time, the genre has grown up. Banjo-Kazooie made it cool to put a million different types of collectible items in a platform game. Eventually the genre grew out of this and moved on to other twists, like Ratchet & Clank's weapon-based gameplay, Super Mario Sunshine's versatile water pack, and Blinx's ability to warp time. Microsoft's latest platform game, Voodoo Vince, puts its own unique stamp on the genre by trading in most of the jumping and timing-based action for a lot of nicely done puzzle-solving. For good measure, this is a great-looking and fantastic-sounding game, though, unfortunately, it's on the short side.

You play as Vince, a third-rate voodoo doll owned by Madame Charmaine. In the game's opening, Charmaine is kidnapped by thugs in the employ of one Kosmo the Inscrutable, an evildoer who wants Charmaine's special zombie dust. His lackeys get the dust, but they also spill quite a bit of it as they make their escape. The dust warps reality, bringing Vince to life while also filling the world with evil monsters. Charmaine communicates with Vince via a telepathic link, leading the little doll from level to level as he works to clean up the mess caused by the spilled dust, while also hunting down his boss's abductors. The game's story is well told via in-engine cutscenes, but it's over pretty quickly. Unless you get hung up on a puzzle or boss fight, Voodoo Vince can be completed well under the 10-hour mark. It'll take longer if you're bent on collecting all of the game's optional items, but that doesn't really add too much to the game. The game's densely packed levels do offset a bit of the short length, though, because you really get to see and do a lot along the way.

Vince has a pretty standard repertoire of moves for a platform-jumping hero. He can double-jump, punch enemies, perform a spin attack (that looks and sounds like it was taken directly from a Crash Bandicoot game), and execute a headfirst dive attack that serves as Vince's take on the now-standard butt-stomp. When Vince is in the air, you can slow his descent by hitting the left trigger. Eventually you gain moves, like a target-based grappling hook swing that works and looks quite a bit like the one found in the recent Rayman games. Vince can also unleash a super voodoo attack that eliminates nearby enemies. This attack is usually pretty funny because, as a voodoo doll, Vince's most effective method of attack is to simply hurt himself. So you'll see drills boring into Vince's head, UFOs flying up and blasting him, trucks running Vince down, and all sorts of other neat little animations. Vince's moves aren't what make Voodoo Vince such an interesting game though.

The fun part of Voodoo Vince comes from its puzzle-solving. Some of the game's levels are incredibly small and simply ask you to solve a basic puzzle--like finding a way to distract a dog that guards the front door of a mansion--to proceed. Other levels get far more elaborate. One area requires you to get a trumpet so that you can play a little jazz with a skeleton doorman, convincing him to let you pass. The trumpet is in the pawn shop, however, so you can't get it without money. A nearby costume contest can earn you some money, but first you have to find a costume. Did we mention that once you secure the trumpet, you still have to go to a jazz club to learn how to play it? Did we mention that all the stores are open at different hours of the day, which means you have to get up to the clock at the top of the level and manipulate time to open and close the different businesses? In practice, this specific puzzle is a lot less complicated than it sounds, but it's a good example of some of the game's multistep puzzle-solving. In the event that you get stuck, the game is usually pretty good at cluing you in on how to proceed.

Even the game's boss battles are usually focused more on being tricky than simply having good reflexes. As a voodoo doll, you usually have to find a way to hurt yourself in a major way to take out the game's bosses. That means you'll be getting sandwiched by colliding trains, diving headfirst into pits of spikes, making rocks fall on your head, and more.

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