Mischief Makers

Each level roughly sticks to the staple patformer diet of grass, ice , sand ,etc. But the foreground settings are brilliantly imaginative - a bizzare, alien theme park , an underground shrine , a military base - and really improve the more sedate sections of the game,i.e jumping , talking,etc. It certainly makes a refreshing change from Banjo's desert/ice/grass worlds.

The great thing about Mischief Makers is that it keeps you guessing. There's no fixed pattern to the levels, for example; bosses pop up all over the place and one minute you could be running for your life from a volcanic eruption, the next be free-falling down a seemingly-bottomless pit.

Anyone who's played Treasure's previous games knows that they're one of the best at what they do. Mischief Makers, while maybe not their best effort, is certainly proof of this. If you're a Treasure fan, or an N64 owner that's sick of Doom clones, Mischief Makers is the game for you.

One level has you finding kids and returning them to their parents. Another level might just be a race to the end. Yet another level could extend vertically rather than horizontally. Another level has you participating in a festival. This sheer variety keeps the game frantic, fun, and exciting.

For what it is, MM is a solid title, but the terseness of the game and the limited graphics and sound make evident that it could have been so much more, transcending the decent game it is now to become a truly excellent one.

Mischief Makers does not test the graphic prowess of the 64-bit system and probably won't break any new grounds in terms of 2D adventure platforms, but all the same, it is a welcomed addition for fans of the genre, and certainly Treasure fanatics worldwide will love it.

I can see that Treasure and Enix attempted to put something new into platform gaming with this game. In many ways they have succeeded. What Mischief Makers lacks is the instant pick up and play familiarity that makes people comfortable with a game. From what I've seen, this title just doesn't speak to a majority of the population. It's certainly a niche market game.