PlayStation

Johnny Bazookatone

Johnny Bazookatone is a very cool game. What seems like a basic platformer at first has much bigger aspirations, as you'll find some pretty deep gameplay here. Add to that excellent rendered graphics and some inspired tunes and you've got yourself...surprise! A 2-D platformer on a next-gen system worth owning. I still need more.

This is one of the most unique side-scrollers I have seen in a long time. The most impressive aspects of JB are the colorful and imaginative SGI graphics that are sharp as well as the great music and large levels. The control took a while to get used to because of the many buttons you need to use simultaneously. Don't expect to fly through the levels though, because they can become quite difficult. If you are looking for a great side-scrolling game, Johnny B. is your man!

The graphics are Donkey Kong and Earthworm Jim and the outstanding sounds feature funky house jams and sluggish controls are the biggest concern; you character doesn't always respond precisely. Johnny's a looker.

Unfortunately, the difficulty is tuned to such a level that the game will be nearly impossible to all but the hardest of the hard core action/platforming fans. It really is a shame as Johnny is a gorgeous game that shouldn't be missed. If you can find it cheap or at a local rental outlet, by all means, check it out.

Johnny Bazookatone is your basic side-scroller. Sure the characters are well designed and the backgrounds are nice and colorful, but what it all comes down to is that this has been loads of times before, and ten times better. Add to that an unfairly high level of difficulty and you've got yourself a frustrating little game.

It's not that there's anything wrong with this idea as such, it's more that the way it has been put together is absolutely dreadful. All of the sprites are really blurry and fuzzy and they're not much fun to look at either. Plus, there doesn't seem to be any detail on the characters and they're all on the dark side. Kind of excusable on a 16-bit machine, but how on earth did this happen on the Playstation? Surely the programmers could have made Johnny B a bit bigger too? No? Oh well. Still, this wouldn't be too awful if the rest of the game was packed with sumptuous backdrops and thumb-blistering gameplay. But it isn't. Sad.