Game Details
Name: Chiki Chiki Boys
Format: Mega Drive
Genre: Platform Hack 'n' Slash
Region Reviewed: PAL
Year of Release: 1992 (UK)
Reviewer: Megatron's_Fury
This is a conversion of an arcade game called MEGA TWINS in which the land of Alurea has been invaded by some evil douchebag clown and his sidekicks, why have they taken over the land? Who knows but as is the case with most douchebag's its probably because they are poor, stupid and nobody will have sex with them, as they have a rubbish life so must everyone else...Sigh!!
Now the King and Queen have put in motion a plan to save the day, the twins the Queen had are a couple of bad-ass warriors and so they set off to free the land, bring order to chaos and very possibly start a boy band afterwards (maybe that last part was a lie....maybe)
The adventure begins...
Ok so after the initial start up sequence you get to do what a few games during this period allowed you to do, you can pick the first level out of 3 that you want to play, I love this idea as it gives you a bit of freedom and if one level is too hard then try another to ease into it all, very clever game design this. The first 3 levels all have a different theme ie woods/clouds etc and each level has a mid boss and an end of level boss, again a lovely idea.
Gameplay is made up of standard run and jump side scrolling platform action but you get to stab evil monsters with a sword wonderboy style, it even has a collect coin reward system and best of all an end of level SHOP...YES! The even better news here is that sometimes the action goes from top to bottom or vice versa which superbly breaks up the action and completely stops boredom setting in. Also you have complete control over your power ups as in you can choose which direction they fire in, all games should have done this.
After you finish off the end of level boss you get to do a small bonus round where you collect coins on a constantly moving level, if you collect them all you get a special prize... Wohoooo. This is yet another example of how you break up the flow of a game in a positive way, keeping the gamer entertained is what it's all about after all.
After the first 3 levels are done you move into the main crux of the game, from here on in levels are done in a set order whilst still sticking to the formula of mid bosses and end of area fights, its all great fun, theres short cut sequences between each level to tell you more about the story as well so your never not sure of what is going on, it all makes sense and simply makes the whole game feel complete and full.
It's not massively long as a game or even that difficult which is a down side, however it is a lot of fun whilst it lasts, the graphics and especially the characters are superb and for once all the bosses are very different from the last one, no huge amounts of cut & paste here (i'm looking at you Dynamite Dux, Grrr)
One other slight drawback is that there's no 2 player option which the arcade had, in that as well as fighting monsters you rushed around for the coins as well, it made it a lot more frantic and with a small amount of tactics involved. Had this version included the option to have a friend join the fray it's very possible this could have been a real classic of it's time.
Music Wise this game blew me away, the soundtrack is both high quality, memorable and sets the mood perfectly, the boss music is nearly identical every time though which sucks but i'm picking at straws there if im honest.
Ok well it's time for the scores I guess...
RGG Scores
Graphics
Sound
Playability
Lastability
Overall Score:
9
9
8
6
8
Verdict:- The only thing that lets this game down is that at some point it ends, whilst your in the land of Alurea your treated to wonderful enemies, interesting locations and some lovely boss fights.
Your ears will be treated to some stunning tunes and when its done the chances are at some point you will gladly do it all over again with a massive smile on your face. A 2 player mode and double the levels and this game would be a classic in the same way as a Psycho Fox or Wonderboy in Monsterland is.
Second Opinion:- Some of the Megadrive games that started out as Arcade Hall cabinets got superb conversions, the mighty Mercs stands out as one such game but unfortunately this one is not of the same quality.
It looks lovely, it sounds amazing and it's full of character and charm but all of that is lost to how fast it is to complete and how it seriously lacks that two player mode. This really could have been one of the greats. It's good but that's as far as I go!
Transbot Scores:- 7 out of 10
