Total Game Boy
28th November 1999
Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Crave Entertainment
Machine: Game Boy Color
Published in Total Game Boy Issue 02
You never quite know where the MIBs are at!
Men In Black: The Series
Men In Black was an excellent film. The PlayStation game which followed was... frankly, appalling. Fortunately, this version is a distinct improvement.
Starting off at the MIB headquarters, you take on the role of a black-clad agent who is out to clean the streets of some rather nasty alien scum that are messing up the neighbourhood. This means you've got to make your way through level after level of horizontally scrolling landscape and shoot or avoid pretty much anything that moves.
Men In Black opens with the closest to what the Game Boy Color has ever come to FMV cut sequences and in fact the graphics are impressive throughout. The central character is particularly well-animated and you'll recognise many of the outlandish aliens from the film amongst the rampaging hordes of hostile extraterrestrials.
Game controls are very responsive and they need to be, because angry ETs pop up from all directions and you have to be able to jump or fire at a split-second's notice. The only criticism of the control system is that, due to the excellent animation of the main character, it takes a relatively long time for him to turn around and this - albeit short - delay can result in a grisly death from time to time if you're unlucky. The gameplay in MIB is simple but fun and the in-game cut sequences are impressive, helping to set just the right atmosphere. Reminiscent of the Robocop arcade machine with its horizontally-scrolling gameplay, MIB isn't exactly intellectually taxing but it suits the Game Boy format.
While it's not necessarily an essential purchase, you could do a lot worse than to grab a copy today.