Official US Website

Platform: PlayStation 2, Xbox

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

The popularity of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is still going strong a decade after the film was released. There is merchandise galore for the film; everything from bed sheets and pillow cases to umbrellas, clocks, bathroom sets, and anything else you could possibly think of. Disney has even taken to transforming their popular Haunted Mansion into a Nightmare themed attraction from October through December. Jack and his friends made a video game appearance a couple of years ago in Square-Enix's Disney inspired role-playing game, Kingdom Hears, but now the Nightmare cast has their own game; Oogie's Revenge.

Another Halloween has come and gone in Halloween Town, and as the case has always been, it has been a huge success. Jack Skellington has once again outdone himself, but he wants to do something a little more and bring more thrills, chills and scares to next year's Halloween extravaganza. So, Jack has decided to leave town for a while and see what he can find, but little does he know the evil plot that is about to befall the town. Aware that Jack will be gone, the devious trio of Lock, Shock, and Barrel has decided that this is the perfect time to resurrect Oogie Boogie. The town has now fallen into Oogie's clutches; he's renamed it Oogie Town and Jack returns to find things in disarray, many of the citizen's are missing, have gone into hiding, or even worse, have become slaves of Oogie. Jacks set off to restore Halloween Town to its former state of chaos and disorder.

I'm not really a huge fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas and in fact, I really never have been able to grasp what the fascination is all about, but Oogie's Revenge is probably one of the best movie inspired games I've ever played. It takes everything that fans have loved about Nightmare and brings it to life, or maybe unlife, since this is Nightmare.

As Jack, you will find yourself with a new power or two. As the game begins, Dr. Finklestien gives Jack an item known as the Soul Robber, an elastic creation that Jack uses to combat Oogie's henchmen. Jack has the option to use the Soul Robber as a whip, or he can grab with it, picking up an enemy in the process and slam them into the ground, other enemies, or even toss them. There's a little more to his combat skills though. Spinning the analog stick will cause the Robber to make a cyclone type effect, a very good way to get in more hits and raise your combo or to grab the souls left by fallen enemies. These souls can be used later in the Witches Shop to buy items or upgrade your powers. Jack can also taunt his foes causing them to charge at him and once you've beaten them, you'll get more souls that usual. The Soul Robber can also be used to Soul Jump, and when you see glowing green points, charge up the Robber and then release.

Jack is going to need more than just the Soul Robber however if he's going to defeat Oogie, and as you move further into the game, you will find him with new powers. Two new costumes will present you with new abilities. The Pumpkin King gives Jack the power of fire while Santa Jack has the ability to use frost and cold. Both of these will prove to be useful, not just in taking out Oogie's henchmen, but also get yourself into certain areas of the game. The last power Jack has is the power of dance. During boss battles, you will see musical notes than can be collected. Once you've grabbed enough to charge your dance meter, a Dance Dance Revolution inspired screen will appear where you will need to hit the right buttons at the right time. This will give Jack a powerful attack, depending on how accurate you were.

At the end of each stage you will get your Nightmare Ranking. This will grade you on how long it took to complete the stage, your maximum combo, how much damage you took, and the number of exclamation marks you manage to bring up. These will then be averaged to give you a final score and souls will be awarded based on the results. What you really need to aim for is trying to get A's in all categories as this will unlock a statue for Jack's collection. You can take a look at these at his house as well as view the cut scenes that you've already seen in the game, listen to some of the music, and even take a look at your progress. If you didn't do well the first time, you can replay stages you've passed already and try and get that perfect score.

The game plays a lot like some other Capcom titles like Devil May Cry and Onimusha. You won't have full control over your 3D environment, but what is in the game is incredibly faithful to Tim Burton's film. You will find Zero is here to help you, Sally is essential, Corpse Kid lends a hand from time to time and The Three Hyde's will be following you around so you can save your game. All of the original voice cast members seem to be present in the game, and so is much of the original music, though with some differences. The boss stages will usually feature a song from The Nightmare Before Christmas movie, but with some lyrical changes to reflect the sequence (and I really do like Lock, Shock, and Barrels' new song in the game.)

There are some things I don't like about this game though. At times, while your objective seems clear, it isn't. It wasn't until a number of stages into the game that I found that bringing up the map really gave more information that what I had expected to find. Maybe Zero had mentioned that at one point when he wanted me to hit select to give me some gaming tips, I don't quite remember. The item usage also tends to get frustrating at point. For example, after finishing the Hanging Tree sequence, I received word that I could enter the lab, but pressing X did nothing at the locked gate. Why? Well, I needed to bring up the sub-menu and use the key, so after I went and got the bone biscuits for Igor, I was expecting more of the same. Wrong. Now I just push X and go into a cut scene. Having one option or the other really would have been nice. The game also tends to be a little on the short side, and just a few hours into it I found that I was a little over halfway finished.

Despite a few minor drawbacks though, I really have been enjoying Oogie's Revenge. There are plenty of things to unlock, giving the game some replay value. I may not be a fan of the movies, but Oogie's Revenge does a magnificent job of capturing the magic of The Nightmare Before Christmas and expanding on the story. Will we see another Nightmare game? I'd have to say that the chances of that are extremely high considering the films undying popularity. There's no need to wait for Santa Jack to bring you this, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge is going to put you in a festival holiday spirit, no matter which one you prefer.
 

 -mike-