Features
- 7 levels plus secret areas
- Three playable characters
- Gamecube connectivity with Butt Ugly Martians: Zoom or Doom
- Password save
- Only for Game Boy Advance
The first thing you'll notice when you begin playing the game, is that you're not actually playing it. Before the first level, you're subjected to about a minute and a half of pretty redundant tutorial screens. (Wait a minute here, you mean grabbing the key-shaped object opens a door? How can that be!) And while 90 seconds doesn't seem like a long wait, it's an un-bypassable eternity when you're ready to kick some intergalactic butt.
If you've seen the character-based show, you'll probably wonder why a game based on it has you shooting robots in maroon caverns. It's because what this game feels like is a pretty decent little shooter that has nothing to do with the cartoon it's based on. So as long as you're buying this title for some blasting fun and not for jokes and character depth, you won't be too disappointed. You control a tiny, floating mech (it's actually one of the three Martians in a suit) blasting away enemies as you travel around a cavernous maze. Find several keys spaced aggravatingly far from each other to unlock each door, which leads to the next door and more keys, before reaching the end of the level and, occasionally, a boss who looks identical to the last boss. The bosses also tend to just float up and down and shoot constantly, so I guess they're more like gun-toting blimps, really. In fact, almost none of the enemies in the game have impressive AI -- they're so predictable that if you're patient and follow their patterns you can make it through most of the game unscratched. Maybe robot soldiers aren't such a good idea for an invasion, when they have no preference between shooting their enemies and shooting a wall.
The game does sport some creativity, though. Your mech is stuck facing either right or left, and pressing the B button will 'flip' you -- this allows for an easy retreat while still blasting enemies (ala Smash TV). But it also has some gaping omissions (9 power-ups and not a single 'big bomb' attack). Your enemies also get up to 8-directional attacks while you get 1-direction (now that's a cheap shot) and the L button is used only for launching a memory-erasing device at Stoat, an antagonizing astronaut tracking you down. But you use this attack only once per level, and only when a little icon pops up telling you to 'Press L'. So what's the point?
What the game boils down to is a Poor Man's Bangai-O. It's incredibly similar to the classic Dreamcast shooter, but while that game taught you to time your attacks and react fast to proceed through each level, all this game takes to beat is two thumbs and an hour.
So how's the art and music? Surprisingly solid. The sound effects are standard shooter fodder, but the music is a choice selection of some of the best techno beats I've heard on the handheld. The presentation is polished, too, with energetic menus and incredibly crisp stills from the show. No save function is here, but that's pretty common on GBA and the passwords are manageable. The in-game art, while a little generic, has solid color and detailing throughout. There could have been a little more sprite animation, but then again even the best shooters have usually been pretty sparse in that area.
Verdict
There's not much sense of accomplishment to beating Butt Ugly Martians because of the repetition of enemies and the way each level ends suddenly. But the game is enjoyable enough for anyone who has a few free minutes and wants to blow some things up. Just make sure you use a password, or else you might fall asleep actually waiting for the game to begin.
