Gaming Target - Xbox: Freaky Flyers

Written by Leigh Culpin on September 12, 2003

Full Review: Banditos!!

Midway's latest attempt at a cartoon game is an interesting mix of well designed elements and some disappointing let downs, along with a small side order of pretty much completely missing the target audience. Having said that, it's not that there's a whole lot wrong with the game, there's just not enough right with it to make it the best party game or a good game for youngins, which means it generally isn't what it aimed to be.

On the other hand, it can be a lot of fun regardless - the most restricting part of this game is really the difficulty. Now I'm not exactly a hardcore Kart racer, but I have played my fair share and I must say this is one of the harder of the genre out there. It gets to the point where to continue on through the single player campaign you HAVE to finish first, which, needless to say, can be a little frustrating. To complicate matters more each level has six УgoalsФ which have to be completely as you fly through the level, and generally completing more than a couple of these means you aren't going to finish the race in the top 3. Why complete the goals in the first place? They unlock new characters to play through the game with.

Which brings us to another issue - each character has their own characteristics and personality, as one would expect: some flyers are faster than others, some more maneuverable, and kudos to the designers for having one of the most varied yet thematic visual styles seen in a long time. However, as each character has their own attributes, they also have their own journey through story mode - that is, if you get 75% through the single player game with one racer and wish to switch, you'll have to start all over again with the new racer. Your progress with the original will remain, but each character progresses through the game on their own and isn't interchangeable with any other, meaning that if you want to get all the levels with all the characters you're going to have to play through the game quite a few times.

Now that is both a good an bad thing - bad in that you're forced to do so, but good in that the game is actually pretty well done: the level design is easily some of the best ever experienced in a kart racer, with extremely open-ended levels and graphical style oozing out at the joints. The detail is most impressive and it's easy to see that a lot of time and effort was put into these levels, which makes playing through them over and over significantly more bearable.

Now if anyone's seen or heard anything about this game they're going to know that it's very cartoonish. It's no XIII, but then again it seems to have been designed more as a kid's game both graphically and audibly, with wacky voiceovers for the characters (which are all pretty well done) and a somewhat humorous announcer. Personally I didn't find any of the jokes of cut scenes laugh out loud funny, but there certainly wasn't a shortage of mildly humorous content and it was certainly present enough to add to the gameplay experience, even giving you more incentive to play on just to see the next cut scene.

There are also minigame levels dispersed throughout the story mode, which are generally pretty interesting, but the first is the best - hordes of Banditos come filing out of destructible bases to destroy your fort, which needs your protectionЕ maybe not the most exciting concept in the world, but the music is amazing (here and throughout, but this level's soundtrack is by far the most amusing and addicting) and the execution is extraordinary.

The multiplayer's decent but isn't going to be all the rage at any gaming parties by any stretch of the imagination - while it is fun, you can't have enough players going at once to really have a blast, which is a shame considering the fairly wide variety of weapons and items along with the ability to shoot at whoever's behind you as you fly towards your goal. Nonetheless, your time could certainly be worse spent playing other games and I can say that while it may not be Mario Kart, it can be pretty darned fun.

The developers did a good job of bringing out my inner child by mixing fairly intelligent commentary (well, comically intelligent anyways) with some really goofy graphics and characters designsЕ a genetic German experiment, a man who flies around on a carpet and various other wacky characters are all present and while each has his or her own style, they all seem to fit together quite nicely while blowing each other out of the sky.