Snoopy vs. the Red Baron
- October 05, 2006 11:59 AM PST
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Snoopy is the ace, Woodstock mans the guns, while Charlie Brown plays the janitor. Tough luck, Chuck!
What is Snoopy dreaming about? He's dreaming he's a WWI flying ace and he's fighting the Red Baron, of course! Snoopy vs. The Red Baron is filled with beloved Peanuts characters as well as all of the basic necessities of an aerial combat game.
The controls are simple and intuitive with the option to turn inverted piloting on or off. At first, it doesn't look like you fly very fast, but the camera will move rapidly on turns, giving the impression of speed and keeping the action fast-paced. The game also tosses in a healthy amount of special actions like turbo, barrel rolls and loops to keep flying interesting.
Snoopy's red doghouse got a little tuneup.
While it is easy to lose health despite a forgiving meter, it's equally easy to regain it with a delicious root beer that will restore you to full strength. That, along with readily available missiles, a machine gun that never runs out of ammo and upgrades that you can buy at the shop, gives you the upper hand and makes the game a stress-free play.
With four or five different objectives that occur in a single stage, you are never without an enemy to blast away at. Peanuts characters will shout directions and hints at you while the radar display plainly indicates your main target as well as other enemies and allies. As you fly around, you will take aim at enemy biplanes, ships, drills, crawlers and of course, the Baron himself as he protects allies and territories, infiltrates bases, races, and more.
Woodstock manning the guns = small servings of terror
Everything you shoot down explodes in a fiery blast and, in typical bloodless cartoon-fashion, the pilot parachutes safely down to the ground. The graphics are a tad underwhleming, especially for a late PS2 release, but they are solid and colorful, and do a passable job of animating the action flying across the screen. Cutscenes are done in simple CG with all your favorite Peanuts pals appearing in various roles such as Marcie as a flight trainer, Linus as a commanding officer and Charlie Brown as the janitor. Good grief! The voice work is a bit affected, but most sound like the original voices that we have come to love from the classic Charlie Brown movies.
Snoopy vs. The Red Baron has a multiplayer mode in which you can battle against the computer or a number of your friends, but being that the Campaign mode is the main focus of the game, the multiplayer comes off as a bit second tier.
The game is an interesting mix of children's cartoon and involved, complex gameplay, tough enough that young children will find it amply difficult. But with an E10+ rating, it's obviously targeted for slightly older kids. However, with today's youth expecting bigger, better and more detailed graphics in their video games, it's hard to say whether many will be impressed with this game. Nonetheless, Fans of Peanuts, or even just those looking for some nostalgic fun may enjoy taking a dive into Snoopy's dream world.
