Code Lyoko

    Not long ago, I was a huge fan of Code Lyoko. I loved the smooth graphics, especially the Lyoko scenes. So that's why I bought Code Lyoko (the DS game), when I first had my DS.   When I look back, I was half-regretting it. It was good, but not great, and for me, it could have been way better.

    For those who never watched the show, here's a short summary. 4 boarding school students (Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi) opened a supercomputer. In doing so, they unleashed XANA, a computer program who wants to take over the world. So the group virtualize themselves (except Jeremy, who is navigating the team) into Lyoko, the world of the supercomputer, and became (hey, what do ya know?) Lyoko Warriors. In there, they meet Aelita, the sole native of Lyoko (other than XANA) , and she helps too. So it comes down to the group stopping XANA from his attempts of world domination, and to also devirtualize Aelita back to Earth and shutting down the supercomputer and XANA.

    To me, the gameplay is 33% fighting, 33% platforming (first two are in 3D Lyoko levels) , 33% 2D adventures, and the last 1% is racing parts (also in Lyoko). Only 1 of them is good, 2 are OK, and 1 is below average. Here are the individual aspects of the gameplay: 

    To start off, let's begin with the good part, and that's the fighting between you and XANA's minions. The enemies are varied from the small Kankrelat, to the versatile Blok and the all mighty Tarantula. The fighting boils down to using a specific attack (that you buy in checkpoints, which also includes buying other upgrades) to deal with a certain enemy; The enemies are pretty aggressive and they will fire their shots at you without hesitation. Button mashing is not going to work, and I like that because the fighting requires you to think on the fly while you are under a smothering barrage of laser shots. So the fighting is where you will get the most enjoyment. But I have 2 gripes with it. The first is that the enemies appear in only certain spots so you know where the enemies are. The other is the super attacks. Each character can execute this attack by holding the X and waiting for it to charge. You would never want to use it because it makes you an open target, and by the time you launch it, you lose about 50-90% of your health. The only ability I found useful was Yumi's, and it slows down enemies. But if you can ignore these problems, you would find a game that executes their fighting system pretty well.

    The mediocre parts of the game are the platforming and the racing levels. The platforming is very average; Most of the time, you would just be going from one floating platform to another, and it can get really boring if it drags on for too long. The game tries to spice up the platforming by giving abilities to the characters: Ulrich can run super fast, Yumi can use telekinesis, Odd can climb and Aelita can levitate. It fits with the game, but I don't see why they should only be used for specific parts of the stage (ie, with walls to climb, bridges that can tip you off). I ask, "Why not they put the abilities in the fighting too?")   Maybe had they done that, the fighting would be from good to great.   Also, these abilities can only be used by the user, meaning that you might need to backtrack to the last checkpoint. The 3D levels also have switches to step on to deactivate firewalls to proceed, so it's a neat addition. The racing parts feel like they were thrown in, and they are kind of pointless, other than collecting data bits (money to buy upgrades+attacks) and advancing through the level. However, when you are going fast (holding the A button), the sense of speed can feel good. 

    And if you are asking "What is all this for?", here's the answer: In Lyoko, there are these towers that XANA can control to access the real world and cause havoc. So in the 3D world, your job is to get Aelita into the towers so that she can deactivate and stop XANA. But that's not all. Later in the game, you can go into Carthage, the home base of XANA, and you can go in there and can also take some data from Carthage to stop XANA once and for all. So adding this all up, the 3D levels are an above average experience.

    But the worst part of the gameplay is the 2D levels. All you do is going from Point A to Point B, talk to other characters, pick up objects and do actions with those objects. Moving around to an objective can be an issue. You have a map to guide you, but sometimes it doesn't help, and you can run around like a chicken without its head for about 5 minutes until you finally realize where you need to go. Overall, they are just a waste of your time.

    Despite of the near uselessness of the 2D levels, they look decent, and that's a reasonable comment to the game in general. In the 2D world, the sprites look incredibly sharp and they are a mini-treat to the eye. The 3D world of Lyoko is even better. The environments look great and the characters and enemies also look sharp in looks and animation. The music in the CD are knockoffs of the music from the show, but they don't sound as great. You're better off listening to the OST of Code Lyoko on YouTube.

    Now for the two real downers of the game. The first one is the storytelling. The story was wrote in a way that doesn't connect with the player with the story or with the characters, and that's an incredible no-no for any game that is story-driven (like this game). Part of the reason that I loved the show is because I was connected with the characters and the story; I was a huge fan of Ulrich, Yumi was good too, and so was the rest of the gang. I also enjoyed most of the episodes because the plot moves well (after Season 1). Even the fillers I had a good time with. Speaking of fillers, the first half of the game is exactly that. There is no plot development, and the story only starts picking up in the second half of the story, where you bring Aelita back to Earth, and when the team takes serious steps to knock off XANA once and for all. So the story comes out of the gate poorly. Overall, the storytelling is weak, and that's a disappointment, because the material to write a masterpiece narrative is there for the writers.

    And finally, the BARs (Bonuses, Alternatives and Replay Value) is incredibly thin. After you beat the game (taking about 7-8 hours), you unlock some puzzles that can give you codes that you can use on the Code Lyoko website. But after you finish all 50 of those puzzles, the game's content is all used up.

    So overall, Code Lyoko is a game that does have its moments, such as the solid fighting and the graphics, however the 2D levels, lack of extra content, and utterly despicable story-telling ruins the experience. What's worse, the potential of the game is HUGE, but this game looked like the developers weren't even trying to make it look great. Younger players and hardcore Lyoko fans might enjoy this, but for the rest of us, this game is a very mediocre experience (Darn, I'm still disappointed...).

Score: 

Story: 2/5

Gameplay: 3/5

Presentation: 4/5

BARs: 2/5

Overall: 11/20 (2.75 stars, round it up to 3 stars)