Review #487: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Oogie's Revenge

 Trick or treat?

That's not a booger.

 If you grew up in the 90s you've surely seen, or at least heard, of The Nightmare Before Christmas a classic Halloween movie. Or is it a Christmas movie? It doesn't matter, what does matter is that about 10 years after its release Disney tasked Capcom with bringing the world of TNBC to the PS2. And if Capcom knows one thing it's fighting games... and action games, which is what this game is: A chapter-based hack-and-slash action game with fixed camera angles. And it kinda works.

 The game takes place one year after the movie, Jack Skellington took a trip to find new ways of making Halloween spookier and in that time Lock, Shock and Barrel, Oogie's underlings, managed to stitch Oogie Boogie back together, and now took over Halloween town. But it's OK, because Jack is now outfitted with the Soul Robber, a green ooze-like-thingie he carries on his right arm which doubles as a whip-blade-mace thingie. The game bring backs a few voice actors from the movie, most notably Jack and Oogie's, and it features remixes with new lyrics from the most popular songs. As far as using the license, Capcom nailed it, everything looks the part and it's amazing seeing TNBC's world in 3-D.... that said, the story does nothing to advance the lore of the franchise, in fact, it reuses many plot devices and situations, which is kinda lame.

The Soul Robber can also take the form of a mace.

 While the game is based on chapters, and each chapter has a goal, the game takes place in a cohesive world, so you can backtrack at almost any time if you so wish it, as a matter of fact, Jack can carry up to four bottles that can heal him, and these can only be refilled on the hub-world's fountain, heck, the witch's hut, the place where you buy upgrades, can only be found in the hub. As much freedom as you're given, the game is pretty linear but exploration will be rewarded, be it with health upgrades, bonus coins or crystal skulls, which can be merged into one of the previously mentioned bottles. Although sometimes it's a bit annoying, for instance, 'Hidden Place 5' must be visited 3 times: First to get a collectible figurine(Bragging rights), then later on in a secret mission to get a herb and then, finally, on chapter 17-18 to get a crystal skull. There's no way to know which 'Hidden Place's hide more than one rewards, or that said reward would change a few chapters later, which is kinda dumb.

 As for combat, Jack can attack with the square button or grab enemies, and then throw them or smack them, with the triangle button. There's also a spin attack, by doing a 360 motion on the analog stick before pressing square that both attacks enemies and draws in coins left by fallen enemies The circle button performs a graceful dodge, which looks so neat it feels good to mash the button. Taunts can be performed with the directional pad, which makes enemies stronger but gives you a free charge attack. While it sounds cool and people usually compare it to Devil May Cry... it's anything but. Jack doesn't get any cool new moves besides the square button combo, which starts at a pathetic two-hit combo until you buy the next two upgrades. and dammit, make it your priority to get these upgrades, as playing with the two-hit combo is very boring. And even after you get them, that's all you'll be doing in the game, because the triangle button rarely is as effective as the square attacks, so get ready to repeat the same, single combo over and over and over again, although, frankly, it sounds worse than it really is.

Capcom managed to capture the world of Halloween Town perfectly.

 About 2-3 hours into the game, Jack is reminded that he is the Pumpkin King, so now he gains access to the Pumpkin King transformation, by pressing L1. I know what you're thinking: Devil Trigger. But it's not, Pumpkin King runs on a limited fire-soul ammunition, and can either spit fire or, well, cause an explosion around him. It's pretty powerful, but it's useless for comboing, which is rather disappointing. I only used the Pumpkin King to burn down barriers... And then, later on, you get the Sandy Claws transformation, by pressing R1, and you'll only use it to defeat concealed enemies, as its uses for comboing are nil.

 Bosses offer an interesting change of pace: As you deal damage they drop musical notes, grab a bunch of them and you'll initiate a dancing mini-game. It's a neat idea, and probably the gameplay element that makes the most sense for The Nightmare Before Christmas, but... you'll be so busy looking at the incoming button prompts that you'll be missing out on the cool animations!

You'll be fighting a lot of skeletons. A lot of them. The Belmonts would be proud.

 While Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Oogie's Revenge is not bad by any means... it's a very by the numbers game, and it's simple to a fault. Honestly, the entire combat system feels like a wasted opportunity to make it more like Devil May Cry and less like a one-button pony. The story was nothing special, and while it feels like a retread of the movie, one that teases players with the other Holiday Worlds but doesn't do anything with them, it's still nice getting to see all the familiar characters from the movie, and kudos for managing to put the ever-important songs into the game.
 6.0 out of 10