GENRE
	Sennari Interactive
	DEVELOPER
	BAM! Entertainment
	PUBLISHER
	1-3
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	no
	CONNECTIVITY
	no
	BUY NOW AT

I must admit, I wasn't entirely familiar with the adventures of Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles before I had the chance to play Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go. The heroic triptych and their unique style had always eluded me on the Cartoon Network, and I feared for my masculinity too much to tape an episode. I still have yet to rush out and buy all the Powerpuff DVDs I can get my hands on, but I have had a fair bit of fun with this Game Boy Advance title.

visuals

All too often, when cartoons are translated to the Game Boy Advance screen, they go through a unique process of mangling in which the characters go through a fax machine, scanner, printer, fax machine again, have a sheet of wax paper placed over them, and are then inserted directly into the game. Thankfully, this is not the case with Powerpuff Girls. The characters look identical to the cartoons and move with smooth fluidity that might look better than their TV counterparts.

The multi-level background scrolling in this title was awesome to look at. You really get the feeling you're flying through a huge cartoon city with many layers of depth, despite only playing on a single plane. One of the nice things about how the levels are laid out is that you can spot landmarks with your eyes because the backgrounds don't constantly repeat the same four objects. This isn't Hanna-Barbera! It's great to see a shooter on the Game Boy Advance where you can actually use some strategy with your current location in the level in mind.

I was particularly impressed by the still cutscenes in Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go. They look like they're straight from the cartoon, with great attention to detail and color depth. It's obvious a good deal of time was spent integrating these pieces of art into the plot, and it really helps move the story along when you're given something to look at. Good job all around.

audio

I was quite surprised when I first popped in this cartridge to find a narrator filling in bits of the story. The voices are clean, pleasing, and most importantly, audible. Obviously, space limitations prevented the use of most potential audio clips like these, but it's nice to see the effort put into details like this to make the game seem more like a cartoon.

The action music for Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go is excellent. It's exciting and enthusiastic, but doesn't get on your nerves or make you want to turn it off. The Powerpuff Girls theme is one of the many tracks you'll experience throughout the levels that have you wishing the Game Boy Advance could produce some real bass.

gameplay

Generally, Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go sticks to the classic side-scrolling shooter formula of going from one side of the level to the other, while making a wide variety of enemies go boom, and collecting the occasional powerup. It does, however, add some new elements to help invigorate the gameplay and keep players interested.

For instance, players always control one Powerpuff girl while the other two follow closely behind her. Pressing the L button flips the girl you are controlling to the background and brings up the next girl in line to continue fighting without skipping a beat. Strategy plays a big role in choosing when you flip to another girl, as you must keep all three girls alive in order to utilize the powerful Super Attacks (by pressing R) that will help you cream Mojo Jojo. Super Attacks can only be used when the star icon is found in a level, and your attacks will vary depending on the active girl and the presence of a boss.

Each girl has two basic attacks they can use to hurt enemies. The A button unleashes a punch, which can be used in conjunction with one of four upgrades scattered through the levels. The B button is used for firing lasers from the lead girl's eyes, again with four powerups available. These upgrades are vital to the survival of the lead girl, because you'll be overwhelmed quickly without them.

There are 6 different levels in this game pak, and each one offers up a slightly different playing experience. Gems must be collected in each level to progress in the game. This can be a tough challenge. I've had to go back through many levels collecting them.

That said, one thing I wish Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go had is more variety. While there are a fair bit of enemies and the game is reasonably challenging (particularly for the demographic this game targets), there's no real inspiration to go through and play again once you've beaten it. It's a reasonably fun experience the first time through, but gets tedious quickly.

multiplayer

Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go allows up to three players to play linked games, but unfortunately, each gamer needs their own game pak. I didn't have the chance to try this mode out, because none of my friends have this game, or wouldn't admit it even if they did. This shouldn't be as a big of a problem for younger kids whose friends may have more similar tastes, but it's going to be a major pain for older gamers. Regardless, it's very nice to see the inclusion of any sort of multiplayer mode.

overall

Younger kids, particularly fans of the series, will get a good kick out of Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go. Older gamers will want to shy away from this one unless they're big Powerpuff fanboys. A little more variety and some replay value could have put this game at the top of the heap of shooters on the Game Boy Advance, but as it stands, it's okay for a little while.

Shooter/10