Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Zapper: One Wicked Cricket

Written by Chris Reiter on January 20, 2003

Full Review: To modify a quote from the great Bart Simpson, "It's Crapper-tastic!"

Every year sees a strong dedication to a specific genre type in game related media. Last year was most definitely the one for platform published releases. We saw, we cherished, we came across such epics as Super Mario Sunshine, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, and to a lesser extent the eye-opening Blinx: The Time Sweeper. What platform games hope to prove though is that there isn't always one dish best served hot; you could make the meal any way you want, and it'll turn out expectedly a blast to endure. Infogrames in the wake of the platform rise took the chance to bring gamers a very unique take on the platform experience: a game people know as Zapper.

Zapper isn't your ordinary hero. He's the kind that'd rather stay put at home, flip through the channels on the boob tube arguing with his baby brother Zipper which channel is the better to watch. In fact, that's how this "One Wicked Cricket" starts his adventure. One fateful day after blowing up the TV antenna, Zapper casts Zipper out the window with TV wires attached to his electrical cranium unknowingly that Maggie the Magpie, the sneakiest thieving bird this side of the platform genre, swipes Zipper and leaves a trail of baby Magpie eggs behind. To rescue Zapper's brother, you'll need to embark across hazardous terrain, stop Maggie's babies from growing, and take back what's rightfully yours all in a day's work for a little cricket with a whole lot of attitude.

Not every platform game is more than just a story. That's why Infogrames took the chance to give the gamer more than what they'd expect with a few different gameplay modes and more. Across a story mode, an arcade mode, and a multiplayer mode, Zapper comes to life whether you're playing by yourself or with a few buds. Story mode starts the player off with the operation to rescue Zipper, Zapper's younger cricket brother, from the clutches of Maggie the Magpie in either a Normal or Hard pace. Arcade is where players can practice levels they've already unlocked in the game's story mode, as well as time themselves to see how fast they can finish any level by themselves or against a computer controlled ghost. For those who have a few siblings or friends to hang around with in front of the TV, multiplayer opts for a different amounts of ways to practice your skill in competitive tournaments -- from deathmatch (be the first to destroy every player in the arena) to a last cricket standing mode (whichever player loses all his or her life first, is the first to find "Game Over") there's a variety of ways to play the game with or without another present.

For the most part though, Zapper is strongest in its single player experience. In it, your main objective is item gathering. To accomplish this menial task you'll need to bend over backwards and figure out for yourself what type of treacherous design each level has in store for the insect hero within you; locate and crush a total of six eggs per scenario; and along the way make split second decisions to avoid further torture of readily dying. Zapper faces the player with an overhead 3D camera view. Every move made is one step closer to either completing a stage, or to losing a life, which is liable to happen a lot.

See, Zapper being a tiny insect and all gives him the ability to only jump in a single direction, one baby step at a time. This process in turn does work, but not as smoothly as it may seem. To move Zapper, a tap of the analog stick is required. Sometimes however you'll have to deal with sinking ground tiles, or even a set of places to jump that only appear the second you hop towards on top of an adjacent spot. But you must also have quick reflexes, and it's not always easy to position Zapper, and then press up and X (the jump button) immediately in the ounce of time you're given to make that one leap forward. Besides battling every level's faulty and shifting platforms, there's enemies ahead, and they're not as kindly as the environment itself. What makes the game as annoying as it is, is the fact that touching an enemy one time gets you dead, forcing you to begin the level again from an area quite a way's back. These enemies though usually form from the level's theme, just not entirely. One level for instance has you zipping through a ghost town in the old west where mourning figures in white sheets roam about, miners hack away at the ground, and walking cacti hunt your cricket carcass to its doom. Another area is based inside the skeleton of a raptor dinosaur, where the enemies aren't exactly prehistoric related, but nevertheless are just as deadly in the buzzing bees, slugs, and molten lava they'll throw your way.

Guiding this cricket into danger and death at least is laid out in a simple manner. Zapper is equipped with two paths in movement: directional and upward. Moving up, down, left, or right is easy, albeit the controls aren't exactly the most responsive right away. These movements come in handy for getting around the levels while avoiding enemies that circle around in clockwise and counterclockwise motions, back and forth in front and behind you, or to the side. At other times there won't always be a space to jump to; you'll find gaps in the ground or overhead walls that there's no possibility of reaching without Zapper's super jump ability. By holding down on the X button, Zapper can reach far away places like no other cricket can. Tapping either of the L1 or R1 buttons rotates Zapper in a circle to face the direction he'll be able to move towards. Without powers, a hero would be useless -- therefore Zapper can deal blows of electrical charges by way of the circle button. Facing Zapper straight at any enemy or breakable crate, players can kill or bust open boxes that would otherwise get in the way, usually leaving in their fallen path a collectible power orb. Power orbs gathering, while not necessary, adds to the amount of "super zap" you'll have later on in the level or any level after that. These "super zaps" consist of fireflies that now give you the power to not just zap an enemy right in front of you, but ones that have greater protection, or special crates that couldn't be accessed otherwise. And at times when the egg hunting gets tough, the tough have the option to press down on the square button, pointing Zapper's antenna's in the nearest possible direction of any uncooked produce.

Even though Zapper may be looked upon in an overheard, isometric perspective, that doesn't mean its visuals have to suffer for the lack of a full 3D experience. Mostly, they don't. You'll find a diverse selection of worlds in which to explore amidst 20 areas of play: from an Amazonian temple, a ghoulish train ride, and even in the depths of a swamp, there's plenty of variable sights to see. Though not really a turn off, the game's levels don't exactly push the limits in what a platform game such as this one could offer in their simplified cartoon status. Character models are decently modeled as well -- just not enough to warrant a "must see" purchase. They'll move around in their attribute of animations -- whether it's a bee that swarms back and forth; a vacuum that looks as though it'd "suck" your gaming life away; a huge monster that steps around like a huge monster would; or a ghost that wriggles from place to place, there's sure to be always something different to see. Zapper's death animations and character movements are always a joy to watch as well. He'll flatten like a pancake; he'll toast like a marshmallow; he'll even get split in half if a flying dart cuts right through him. If only the enemy models weren't so repetitively predictable, the game's substance wouldn't be so slim.

Certain effects however are what provide the most of Zapper's adventure onward. Zapper being a "zapper" of sorts proves to be one of the greater key elements to making the game work. After blasting an enemy with Zapper's two electrifying antennas, they'll either jump in shock or fry like a sizzling slice of butter over a heated pan. And at times the game will stray off the path of its color filled world and into one of darkness, where Zapper's glowing antennas affect the lights and the shadows of the environment in an astonishing way. The little bit of hue from this one insect and any other light source around him (i.e., power orbs) allows for some pretty neat looking bright and dim outcomes.

Most people are aware that during a summer's nights that the only noises to be heard outside are that of what sounds like hundreds of chirping crickets. To save you the trouble of attempting to recreate the memory, I'll just say that Zapper's sound system isn't as annoying (but close). Right on the dot every time, Zapper's leaps and bounds across surface structures, the zapping of an enemy or box and the destructive noise that follows, or the way in which the world of play acts around him from bubbling lava to grinding gears, the audio effects are evenly placed and really work. Only, since there's no voice acting, Zapper as well as enemies both can emit some pretty awkward noises -- made up of Zapper's high pitched Ahhh!'s to the nerve-racking moans of a ghoul, both areas can be a pain in the head rather than a pleasant soothe through and through. Even as music throughout the game matches its viable level themes, as a western tune fills in for the desert lands, and jungle-like music stands in for the tropical parts of the game, the songs themselves are really nothing memorable to say the least, becoming just a forgotten tidbit after surpassing their respective environment placements.