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Putting in an appearance at E3 2005, the NAMCO developed  title
showed little enthusiasm for being shoehorned into a Platform game.
Hello Kitty is an astoundingly popular franchise – even
though ninety-percent of the series’ fans have no idea what the
characters actually do, or even who they are. In a very strange
move, Xplosiv have picked up the rights to publish the title in the
UK – what was once a GameCube exclusive in the US is now
available for all three major home consoles here on our shores.
Clearly, because of the often misguided fanbase, Hello
Kitty: Roller Rescue can follow one of two paths in the
UK
– either it’ll sell like hotcakes, or everyone will ignore it
deeming it a “kiddie” title; with which they wouldn’t be too
far wrong but, does that necessarily make it a bad game?
Once again, we see many basic Platform traditions
spawned from Super Mario64 making an occurrence –
Kitty’s house acts as the HUB from which you can Save your game,
select your costume and weapon, view movies, character profiles and
music tracks unlocked and enter the Level Selection Screen.
Scrolling left
or right on the Level Selection Screen will allow you to play any
Level you have unlocked and, as each Level gives you a score
according to your performance, you may wish to replay the
occasional Level for which you failed to receive an “A” or
“S” rank in order to unlock the few bits you miss on first
play.
The gameplay is inherently basic, yet very solid. The Levels
are designed as either simple get-from-one-end-to-the-other linear
runs or very inventive arena-based Boss Fights. Even in it’s most
simple form Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue’s Level design is
almost infallible; with the first two Levels offering an
introduction to how the game works while the third tells you
that you have now entered a new world – a world full of talking
animals, brightly coloured scenery and, erm, aliens in the shape of
square and cylindrical blocks. Many Levels provide a refreshing
alternative to the straight forward Platforming, such as
pinball-esque alleys for Kitty to run through and a stealth Level
based around avoiding rotating search lights. The Boss Fights,
however, are invariably original. There are many Platform games
released recently that have been confident, but lack that Killer
App. – and this is definitely where Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue
shines, maybe some of the big boys should turn and take a look
at what’s happening with budget-development for their
inspiration?
The combat is well structured with the collision detection
being spot-on, however, due to Kitty’s rather slow-paced attacks;
button-mashing becomes common place within every attack performed
– a little annoying at the best of times. Kitty also has two
Special Attacks, restricted by a meter under her health bar, and
executed only when having collected the correct amount of Silver
Stars from felled enemies. Each of these attacks looks stunning,
but invariably changes the current section of combat-based gameplay
from challenging, to finished, with a simple tap of the X Button.
A couple of unusual twists to the traditional Platform
formula have been included, but feel short of being fully
exploited. Firstly, certain Levels will allow you to select a
Partner to take on your travels. At no point can you take control
of your partner, however, each character has a unique ability
(further characters become available once having found them within
the early Levels). In addition to this characters can be
Levelled-Up by finding the specific hidden icons within the Levels.
The other unique element is in that of the  Coin-collecting.
Yes, I heard you, practically every Platform game ever
developed has you collecting Coins or Rings or angry green hippos
for some purpose – but in Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue, each
Coin has a dual use. Not only can you use your amassed Coinage
in-game for health power-ups etc., but also at the HUB; the same
collection is used for buying character profiles, movies and music
- giving you the often taxing decision of either saving your Coins
for the obviously essential unlockables, or using them to restore
those vital two pieces of health you’re probably going to need to
fend off the thirty-odd enemies awaiting your entrance in the next
room.
Graphically, Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue puts in more
effort than any other title released prior with a sub-£30
price-tag. Every character is solid and well animated, the Levels
are bright and colourful, interesting and well detailed and the
special effects are often astounding. The real-time lighting to, is
truly unbelievable for such a sedate release – often comparable
to the GameCube’s stunning remake, Resident Evil – the
title heralded for such effects and still the benchmark for titles
to attempt to surpass some three years after release. All of
these graphical touches seem to be compiled with relative ease –
the low polygon count leaving room for some ripping effects –
which only makes you wonder why many AAA titles have a hard job of
displaying any kind of competing effects, but is still hindered
drastically by loading times that are just plainly inexcusable on
the GameCube.
Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue accomplishes exactly what
it set out to do – a competent platformer with a couple of fresh
ideas. Visually the game sparkles and the variety in the gameplay
will keep you hooked until the end – which is a major downfall
for the title; it’s length. Ranking-in with under  five
hours of gameplay for the average gamer, Hello Kitty: Roller
Rescue let’s itself down by offering a competently created
world to rampage in, then drawing itself to a close before
climaxing. With all the little niggles competing with the
well-received aspects of the title, it’s both hard to knock and
hard to recommend; but Platform, Hello Kitty, or fans of the
games industry will find themselves a well presented taster of the Hello
Kitty world, with high-hopes for a sequel. However, the
non-appearance of Choco Cat is just plainly unforgivable.
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