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Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies

Score: 92%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: THQ
Developer: THQ
Media: DVD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Action/ Adventure

Graphics & Sound:

Everyone’s favorite pre-teen 3D genius is in another game, where you will gather parts to build inventions (just like any other Jimmy Neutron game), race rocket packs, and play Neutron-slanted classic games.

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius: Attack of the Twonkies has some fairly good graphics that are almost as good as the CG from the series. Each of the characters and locations are easily recognizable from its TV/movie counterparts. Since this game is based off of a particular episode of the series, I had expected to see scenes of the show throughout the game. This was not the case. All cut-scenes are in-game, and while they still look good, aren’t as good a quality as the show itself.

The voice work and music also comes straight out of the show. They both do a good job of bringing the Jimmy Neutron feel to Attack of the Twonkies.


Gameplay:

Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies is based off of the one-hour episode of the same name, but only in concept. Like in the show, Jimmy visits the comet Twonkus-3 and discovers a new form of life. He accidentally brings home one of the Twonkies, it multiplies and grows (in a manner very similar to the “Gremlins” movies) and chaos ensues. Also like the episode, this change in the Twonkies’ manner is caused by music and certain sounds. But that is pretty much where the common ground ends.

Besides a few lines and actions that are similar to the show, Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies (the game) goes off in a different direction that makes the overall story much more in depth.

Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies’s invention system is great and vast. Just by collecting certain items throughout the levels, you will be able to make dozens of new objects. These objects fall into three categories: Gizmos, inventions, and super inventions.

Most of the objects you will be able to build are Gizmos, and will typically be used only once. These are for particular events. For instance, if you happen to find the right objects at the radio station, you can “MacGyver” together a gizmo that can deflect small discs. Soon afterwards, you’ll find a room where a Stomper is throwing CD’s at you. But you won’t need that gizmo again. Gizmos are made of two items.

Inventions will be used frequently. These are a combination of three objects and are used to make things like the Sheenograph and VDR. The Sheenograph and VDR are Jimmy’s main weapons against the Twonkie invasion. The VDR (or Vacuum Demodulating Reciprocator) will allow you to suck up the small bouncing villains, while the Sheenograph uses Sheen’s horrible singing voice to devolve the Stompers and Gromps back into regular Twonkies.

The super inventions are used in the boss battles. Here you will put four pieces together to drain Lightning Twonkie boss’ energy, radiate light at the Dark Twonkie boss, or shoot fiery explosive pucks at the Ice Twonkie boss. These items will be used in the individual boss battles, as well as the major battle at the end when Jimmy faces off against all three of the bosses combined.

As you progress through the game, you will unlock four different bonus items. One is movies and previews of other games, another is a series of concept art. The third one is a series of classic games with Jimmy Neutron twists (like Space Invaders, where the invaders are the Yokians, or Breakout where you are trying to free lab animals). You unlock this slew of arcade goodies after you get past the retro-land level (after you beat the arcade games themselves). The last bonus is a level that lets you race against Sheen and Carl on jet packs. This one was fun, but it got tedious fast.


Difficulty:

Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies isn’t difficult, but that doesn’t mean you can just run straight through it. Each level is fairly large, and though it is easy to find the bosses’ weaknesses, taking advantage of those faults and getting your timing right will make these battles lengthy and not necessarily the easiest fights you will face.

Game Mechanics:

Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies’s invention system is the highlight of the game. It allows you to make many different inventions with common objects (in a very Neutron way). For instance, if you have a wrench, a calculator, and something to hold them together with, you will be able to use the Retrowrench. Or if you pick up the sneakers, you can combine those with any number of other objects to produce Sticky-sneakers, Squiggly-sneakers, Megaphone-sneakers, and much more. So not only do you get to use odd items to make gizmos and inventions, but you can reuse a lot of the materials to make other inventions. Yet, even though you will end up with a lot of tools in your inventory when you are done with the game, a majority of them will be used only once, and at times, seems like a waste.

Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies is a fun gaming experience. It deviates from the show enough to keep those who’ve watched the hour-long episode entertained, while not leaving those who haven’t seen it completely in the dark.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

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