Super Magnetic Neo

I really wanted to like this game. I really did. As I fought through the first few levels. Magnetic Neo seemed to have everything going for it: interesting, colorful graphics, plenty of levels, and a rather, erm, original character. I mean, how could you possibly not like the game's endearing lead character who looks like a cross between a smurf and a magnet? His animal magnetism isn't just window dressing, either. The best parts of this game involve using Neo's magnetic fields to attract or repulse him to various things scattered throughout the levels. But the novelty wears off once the levels get mind-numbingly difficult. In a platform game a certain number of dying is to be expected, but in Magnetic Neo just about every misstep results in a loss of a life. Cheap, cheap deaths. What makes it worse are the imprecise controls and large number of precarious jumps early in the game, which just keep getting worse. Adding more frustration are the oodles of stressfully narrow platforms that you must carefully walk across--a feat made more difficult by annoying camera angles. And let's not forget the enemies, most of which can kill your character by only touching him once. If Magnetic Neo had a better learning curve and was a little more forgiving, this could have been a classy platform game for the Dreamcast. But as it stands now, only hardcore gamers with nerves of steel should bother.

I have so many problems with this game. Where to start...one-hit kills. One hit, you're dead, back to the checkpoint, repeat. There are invulnerability capsules, but they only protect for one hit from enemies, (not falling). In Crash Bandicoot, the camera was pretty well fixed behind you or to the side. In Neo, it pans around while you're moving, making it extremely difficult to judge distances. I wished there was a button that'd get the damn camera behind me. Alas, there isn't. The graphics are good, don't get me wrong--this is a nice-looking game with an excellent style. But with all the camera and control problems, this is too hard to be any fun.

Better known for Tokyo Highway Battle and Jade Cocoon, Genki isn't the first name you think of when you think of traditional character-based platform games. Well that's exactly what Super Magnetic Neo is: an old-school action-platformer, with a magnetic twist. By shifting Neo's polarities, you can push or pull objects and enemies depending on their magnetic properties. The visual/gameplay mix of Silhouette Mirage and Crash Bandicoot is cool, with a wacky day-glo world reminiscent of Ren & Stimpy, but the big problem is that the game is so difficult. In less you're into tough games, you may want to rent before you buy this one.