N-Philes

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King

Posted January 25th 2006 by DC Garcia.

Gothy gamers and Burton fans rejoice! Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King himself, is back! In a prequel to the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, the vile Oogie Boogie, after having failed to create his own holiday, decides to take advantage of Jack's short absence to rule over Halloween. When Jack's away, the bugs shall play... the bugs that Oogie Boogie unleashes onto Halloweentown, that is. With the help of Lock, Shock, and Barrel, Oogie Boogie frightens all of Halloween town's residents into hiding, capturing many with the aid of the nasty bugs doing his bidding. Jack Skellington returns to find the mayor scared to his wit's end, babbling about bugs and Oogie, and it's up to Jack to get down to the bottom of things and not only save his holiday, but save his king and country. Or his Town & Country? Save his friends.

To save said friends, Jack sets off in search of treasured items that the residents of Halloweentown were able to hide before they were overrun with the bugs; items that they didn't want Oogie or the bugs to get a hold of. And Jack isn't completely alone in his adventure! Jack's beloved yet departed dog can be found (unlocked) within the first level and helps out Jack along the game, daring to tunnel through chimneys and other tight spots that Jack himself can't crawl through. Playing as Zero also makes for some of the fastest action in the game, as he has to dodge jack-o-lanterns and other obstacles as he speeds on without stopping. In normal play (as Jack), Zero he simple floats beside Jack and warns him if an enemy is close by: his nose glows red, like some weird hybrid of Rudolph and Bilbo's dagger, Sting.

Also adding to the varied gameplay are three mini-games throughout that can be unlocked: The Bone Breaker, Whack Hammer, and Skullduggery. Once the minigames are unlocked, they can be played at any time by either pressing start in the middle of a game or at the beginning when you first turn the game on. They're not going to steal hours from your life like some of the minigames in Super Mario 64 DS, but they are certainly effective in adding more fun and charm to a game that already makes a grand effort in both aspects.

There are four weapons Jack can find throughout the game, either given to him by brave Halloweentown residents or stumbled across haphazardly. The Frog Gun blasts noxious frog gas at enemies, either subduing them or eliminating them altogether, depending on the strength of the bug. The Bat Boomerang is somewhat lacking as an actual boomerang since it doesn't actually return to you, but it still works in vanquishing enemies and hitting hard-to-reach switches on the walls. It also features some of the most fluid animation in the game as Jack enters a kind of dance in his flinging of one bat after another. It's very stylish and helps to keep the action from being repetitive. Taking a page from the Osborne family, Jack makes use of some Pumpkin Bombs to either obliterate enemies or break through specially-marked barriers. And last, but certainly not least, there is the Pumpkin King ability, a technique which engulfs Jack in flames and makes him invulnerable for a short time. You can perform flame attacks with this weapon through various movements of the control pad, which will go directly through any barriers, be it bugs or "brick" walls.

Three special abilities or skills will be granted upon Jack upon completion of certain tasks. Gum Shoes will allow Jack to walk up reddish purplish sticky walls to reach areas far beyond his jumping abilities. The Stretchy Ghost will carry Jack to the ceiling where he can climb across monkey bar-like tendrils to reach various platforms. The Acid Bath, a gift given by the leeches of Halloweentown, is a puddle of mucky acid that melts Jack so that he may crawl through very low spaces. Don't worry, he returns to his usual bony self at the touch of a button.

Fishbones act as Jack's prime source of nourishment, which I thought was creative enough, and you can raise your overall standard health by collecting Shrunken heads throughout the game, akin to Samus' gathering of energy tanks. And also akin to the Metroid series is that while some enemies will only knock you down one or two points of health, others will take away an entire bar of life, so collecting these pickups is vital. It's these creative themed pickups that show the game had some work and some thought put into it, because never in the game do the developers take the easy route and use a standard of the video game industry. The health bar is a twisted grouping of individual health pellets that don't look at all out of place with the rest of the Burtonesque scenery. Jack hops into an electric chair and gives himself a shock to refill his energy and weapons; he chats with a scarecrow to save his game. It's just the subtle touches that make this title shine a little more than it otherwise would.

I must say that the graphics and sound really impressed me on this game. The music is all from The Nightmare Before Christmas movie, so Danny Elfman fans will be quite pleased. It's hard not to sing or hum along if you know the songs and the music perfectly sets the mood of each scene, which goes a long way to compliment the entire game. The graphics are better than most Game Boy Advance games that I've played and Jack's movements are very graceful, despite his lanky, skeletal body. When I first received the game, the screenshots on the back of the box and even in the instruction booklet just about turned me off to even playing the game, but once I turned the game on I was pleasantly surprised at how good everything looked in motion. I wondered why they picked such terrible graphics to show the game off in packaging, although I must admit that the hologram cover of Jack Skellington turning into the fiery Pumpkin King is by far my all time favorite boxart. I received this right around Halloween, so it was the perfect compliment to the season.

This game gets an N-Philes score of B.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King is a solid platformer with enough variety and fun to keep you going. However, it's a bit more difficult than the usual Buena Vista fodder, which was a relief. I had to go through the bosses quite a few times to figure out exactly how to kill each one, since there are no hints as to how to get through the levels. There were times that I'd get so frustrated that I wanted to slam my DS against the wall, which reminded me of just how many NES controllers I went through back in the day when I couldn't figure how to get past something in a game and wasn't spoon-fed instructions. It's not that the game is insanely difficult, it is just extremely irritating at times. It's a good thinking game, but it can be frustrating as you try to navigate through the maze of each level using a map that doesn't always help on how to get to a certain shaded area, (shaded areas are places you haven't yet been to). I found myself going in circles quite a few times as I tried to figure out how to make it to an undiscovered part of the map, but the game certainly earns exploration points in this respect. And on a side note, Jack's death is probably the best "game over" I've ever witnessed. It's dramatic and overdone in typical Burton style. You can continue where you last saved or simply quit, but I'd recommend letting Jack die at least once just so that you can witness how cool it looks. All in all, I'd say that The Pumpkin King is definitely worth a shot, especially if you're already a fan of the movie.

Posted in: Reviews

Comments (0) | Permalink | Digg | Reddit