Topic: that's SO Raven 2: Supernatural Style Review

[Aussie Ben PGC]

Did you know: "Absolutely Psychic" was the original name of the show?  Oh sorry, I just spoiled one of the unlockables.

Alas, Raven's perfume-spraying antics are over.  In the original game, Raven, "popular" "star" of the "hit" "Disney" "show" was armed to the teeth with Bottled Spring Water, her deflector handbag, and perfume, which she used to spray people in the face with.  It looks like Vicarious Visions got sick of Raven's antics (and honestly, who wouldn't be), as Disney Interactive has passed the development reins over to A2M, creators of the surprisingly good "Kim Possible 2: Drakken's Demise" for GBA.

In that's SO Raven 2: Supernatural Style, A2M has forgone the perfume for pies.  That's right; Raven is now armed with cream pies, complete with the cherry.  The game's subtitle alludes to fashion of a phantasmagorical nature, and this is indeed the case.  In addition to her pernicious pastries, Raven fleeces a flock of frippery -- in other words, she steals clothes.  When Raven switches into the "borrowed" outfit, there is a whirlwind of purple and pink, and voila -- the crime is complete.  Raven has a different outfit for each level (once she swipes it, that is), including:

- A cheerleader's outfit with a pom-pom attack
- Janitor duds which include the ever-so-deadly "slippery when wet" safety sign
- A zookeeper uniform, complete with Gator Chow
- A sci-fi costume that makes Raven look like the female captain from that Star Trek series that no-one liked; and
- A rock star outfit, complete with a talentless singing attack that deafens foes.

The game's main villain is an evil band manager that wants to break up some band that Raven likes.  You don't actually discover that this gentleman even exists until the end of the second to last level - perhaps they were aiming for a plot twist, because his existence certainly surprised me.  He also gives a great Scooby Doo parody involving the words "would have gotten away with it" and "meddling kids" before hastily heading for the nearest exit at the start of the last level.

Supernatural Style also features all of your favourite characters from the show, including Chelsea, Cory, Devon (why the poor guy is named after lunchmeat I'll never understand), and the irksome little brother of Raven's that probably is comic relief and gets all the one liners and flatulence jokes.

Raven's tomfoolery throughout the game once again seems to revolve around her endless amount of vanity, having her concert tickets stolen by a monkey, finding toy robots, and avoiding the Great Wizard Gandalf's Magic Missiles with a 1d20 hit.  Raven also seems to converse with "hip" "street" "talk", peppered with the word "Snap!".  This indicates that either this is her TV show catch phrase, or that Raven has rheumatoid arthritis at a very early age.

The game isn't all bad -- A2M has given players an incentive to explore the ten levels.  There are assorted outfit pieces and colour tints for your outfits, along with special items that can be combined to make super secret outfit pieces (like the turban made from a garden hose and a necklace!).  At the end of each level, you can dress up Raven, and depending on how stylish she is, you can earn even more money.  Sadly, everyone hated my turban.  In addition to the hidden level items, there are coins scattered throughout the levels which can be used to purchase any remaining photos, outfit pieces and character factoids, including this unintentionally hilarious gem:

Raven enjoys jet skiing and painting and has a flare for cooking.

You know, so that she can alert everyone within a fifteen mile radius when the tacos are done.

The game also features a clever photography mini-game.  In this game, the timer is ticking down, and you have to take three photos.  A slider randomly slides left and right at a random speed, focusing and unfocusing the picture as it does so.  Your task is to take three photos as the slider is perfectly in the middle, so that you get a beautifully focused photo every time.

The game still is, quite frankly, atrocious for a couple of reasons.  Raven can only jump half of her height, but this is probably a license-forced limitation, and it's clear that the game hasn't been tested solidly, as there are sound distortion glitches, as well as one unfortunate bug where the screen turned black but the sound kept playing. Nonetheless, it provides about two hours of gameplay if you play it solidly.  There's also the option to go back and search for more outfit pieces and coins to unlock the rest of the extras, although most gamers probably won't do that unless they're fans of the show -- and let's be realistic for a minute, this is the target audience.  Is the game better than the first?  Oh yes.  Is this a good game?  Not by a long shot.

-PROS-
- Photography mini-game is clever and fun
- Raven's resourceful Garden Hose Turban
- It's over very quickly

-CONS-
- A bug that caused the game to display a black screen and play sound but not show any gameplay
- Raven isn't getting any less annoying
- It's over very quickly

GRAPHICS 5
Average graphics with Raven still having the most effeminate walk cycle in video game history.  Visit delightfully bland locations like the school, the mall, the zoo, the sci-fi convention centre that looks like a school, and the backstage concert that kind of looks like the mall.

SOUND 6
Although the game does have the generic R&B/Hip-Hop soundtrack that Raven seems to be associated with (not stereotypical in any way AT ALL), there are also varying themes for the zoo, convention centre and shopping mall, to shake things up.  The mall's elevator muzak is topped only by Earthworm Jim's What the Heck theme, because that included shrieks of terror.

CONTROL 4
Not nearly as clunky as the previous Raven game, but the incredibly restrictive jump height and walking speed doesn't help to make this an easy-to-play game.

GAMEPLAY 3
Raven busybodies her way through her friends' lives, goes to the mall, has her concert tickets stolen by a monkey, and foils an evil manager's plans.  You'd think that the monkey would spice things up, especially as he appears in three different levels, but sadly this is not the case.

LASTABILITY 6
The lastability varies directly on whether you're a fan of Raven or not.  That said, A2M has tried to include a fair amount of unlockables to keep you interested if you like Raven and the show.

FINAL SCORE 4.5
Better than the last game, but only by a smidge.  It's still yet to be proven that Raven is a worthwhile character to make a video game out of.  Please don't try again.