Cartoons are possibly the all time greatest human achievement. You can forget your Great Wall of China, that landing thing on the moon or even the first time man managed flight, all of them even collectively pale into insignificance when compared to the first time cartoons graced our lives. Whether you agree with this statement or not you would have to admit that over the years that cartoons have been aired on TV or the animations experienced at the cinema they have had a profound influence on the young and young at heart. Some of my happiest TV memories are of the early morning cartoons before school or at the weekends, but what I see on the TV these days are in my opinion shadows of their forbears. One of the worst cartoon creations I have witnessed though has been in the game that I have just finished playing, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius vs. Jimmy Negatron.

The storyline is actually quite decent in a science fiction cartoon styled way. In a parallel dimension your evil twin Jimmy Negatron hatches a cunning plan to transport himself to Jimmy Neutron's dimension and take over Retroville. This entire plan revolves around waiting for Neutron to activate one of his many inventions and then using the signal from the invention to target Neutron with a transport beam and simultaneously replace Neutron with Negatron. So it sounds a bit like your physics homework, but it does fit the cartoon nature of the game. Having done this, Negatron leaves one inept and stupid guard to look after Neutron, who of course manages to escape with little or no trouble and then the game proper begins.

First you have to escape Negatron's secret underwater lair by running around and collecting items that can be used by Neutron to invent some kind of tool or weapon to help you on your way. There are a few random bad guys to avoid, outrun or dispatch and once you have done this you can teleport yourself back to Retroville. Negatron manages to intervene and sends you elsewhere first but after a short level you manage to get yourself back. Here you find that three people have been put in jeopardy and you set out to rescue them. Once you have done this you go after Negatron himself and chase him back to his underwater lair and eventually a final showdown. As I said, this is not a bad cartoon script and its not to bad for a game plot either, especially when you include that you will find yourself being teleported to a number of different time periods and locations, that some of the missions will be more of a racing or flying nature than the normal platform run around variety and that all along the way various common objects will be turned by Neutron into some very funky gadgets and inventions. Some of the tasks you need to perform are not out of the realms of believability and fit into the picture of things quite well, but unfortunately this is were I stop being so complementary about this title.

Actually there is one other redeeming feature and that's the graphics. The engine is not the most sophisticated ever made, nor are the worlds the most detailed and beautiful, but there is a certain visual quality to it all. It comes largely because what you will see on you monitor screen isn't that far removed from what you might expect to see on your TV screen. The towns and cities all have that backdrop feel to them and only the items or locations that have any importance are more visually impacting. The use of colour is also well displayed to give the various locations the right feel rather than the right look, which makes the whole cartoon influence more obvious and at the same time makes the settings more enjoyable to play in. There is much to complain about though as many characters look badly drawn or animated and some of the graphical elements of the scenery are less than pleasing to the eye. As this is possibly this title's one positive area I will leave it at that for complaint and rather focus my attention elsewhere.

The sound, although not the most irritating I have encountered or of the poorest quality, was one of the areas that very quickly annoyed me to the point I wished that I could fairly and accurately review this title without having to listen to it. In some areas it is actually quite reasonable, but for the large majority of the time it is very poor. The voice acting is irritating and the script nothing short of dreadful even by cartoon standards, sound effects are limited and rarely do anything to increase the enjoyment or immersion into the game and lastly the musical soundtrack is after only a short time infuriatingly bad to the point you will hate the fact you have to play through the level.

Possibly the worst area of this title is the control system, in fact I would even go as far to say that it's possibly the worst control system I have used. What makes it even worse is that there is no option to alter it in any way whatsoever. Using a combination of the mouse and keyboard, but not necessarily at the same time, it attempts to break up the limited number of operations available to make them quickly accessible and easy to use and to some degree it manages to do this. What really brings the whole thing grinding to a halt is that you never really have that much control over what you do unless it's a specific sub task encounter like using a crane. The basic running, driving or flying around that comprises the vast proportion of the game is so difficult to do well as the control system is so inaccurate and unresponsive that it can take many attempts to do even the smallest of things. If fine control is ever needed for instances like when you need to cross a gap using a narrow plank of wood, then you will soon find yourself becoming frustrated and then very rapidly annoyed, shortly before the yelling and shouting at the screen starts. In all this control set up sucks and is, to use the popular phrase of the generation that might be interested in playing this title, pants.

The lifespan of the title is mercifully short and even a mediocre gamer will be able to play through the levels on offer in an afternoon. There are few challenges or even puzzling areas. Those that could have existed in the form of level exploration have been removed through the use of a robotic pal of Neutron's that guides you step by step through the level, removing all the fun from actually exploring the game. It also seems to be impossible to die as although I managed to in effect kill Neutron the game never ended and believe me I tried a number of ways. It is definitely one of those play, complete and forget games and frankly that's a good thing.

The world of Jimmy Neutron is a full of potential and there is much on show here, but none of it beyond the skin-deep look is delivered upon and that is a shame. Neutron is one of the Nickelodeon characters and that is a house of experience in the creation of cartoon characters and cartoon shows. Their influence is definitely here, but unfortunately Awe Games have not done justice to the original creation. Admittedly this title will appeal a lot more to its target audience of children around the age of 5 to 10, but older than that and even the least game exposed of them will not find lasting enjoyment in this title. Suffering from poor sound, controls and basic gameplay, the only thing I can give this title is a definite thumbs down, a low score and to say if you want cartoon on your computer then stick with the masters and go the Disney route.

Reviewed by AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).