Ah, He-Man, possibly the most testosterone-inspired cartoon character ever to grace our TV screens, yet in the good old days he was more about making the right choices and avoiding conflict rather than laying waste to everything in his path. Oh how I loved that cartoon and the massive range of toys that are packed away somewhere even now (though half of them are without weapons, armour and even arms!) I have no idea if today's He-Man is so morally well-adjusted, but in this game he seems a bit full of himself and eager to flex those huge, manly muscles by killing anything that moves. Of course if there wasn't plenty of action then it wouldn't make for a very exciting game; however, despite the number of enemies to battle your way through, the total lack of ingenuity here turns what could have been a great cartoon conversion into a mediocre and tedious affair.

That's not to say that He-Man: Defender of Grayskull is a terrible game, because it isn't. But it is absolutely average in every way. For starters, the visuals are the kind of thing that might have impressed three years ago, back when the PS2 was just getting started. Rejecting a cartoon-like approach, the 3D rendering is definitely lacking and cannot compete with the big boys like Devil May Cry or Jak & Daxter, to name but two of many. The animation is fine and He-Man, Skeletor, Beast Man, Tri-Clops and the others all look quite good, but the lack of variety and imagination in the minions you face off against is disappointing to say the least; robots, skeletons, robotic skeletons, shadow beasts, annoying little flying robots… it fails to impress. There is also an issue with graphical glitching, as the big enemies like the shadow beasts whack right through you when you're blocking their punches. It's not a big deal but I thought days of characters passing through each other were long behind us.

I also thought days of irritating and avoidable falling to your death were behind us too (except in Sonic games, which we all accept is always going to be there!) But I was wrong, as in He-Man, the dodgy collision detection can cause all manner of instant deaths. In trap-laden corridors with crushing stone blocks, spear traps and jets of flame (yes folks, it's the most cliché ridden corridor of recent memory!) if you get too close while waiting to time your passage through the trap you'll get caught in it and killed. Same with timing your jumps over lava-filled trenches - just one small hiccup and you're toast. Worse yet, how about a level in some barren wastelands with a bunch of floating rocks (why they're floating isn't actually explained!) where you can attack your way off the edge! Yes, hacking at a precariously placed shadow beast can result in you lunging at it as it falls, causing you to plummet to your death along with your foe. This issue isn't a big deal but it's just another factor that makes this game so average.

Anyway, back to the graphics and the scenery is competently put together, with the odd flair of imagination, like the bizarre mechanical towers draining the ancient forests of Eternia of their energy. Yet they never excel and the settings have been done a million times before and better than this at least half the time; the dingy, stony dungeons of Snake Mountain, the slightly less dingy but just as stony corridors of Castle Grayskull, the lush forests of Eternia - each setting is entirely unoriginal but at least looks alright. There's nothing in here that'll make you go wow, though.

The sound effects are equally as average, with very annoying, plodding sounds for He-Man's footsteps and Battlecat's running, some standard sword clangs and appropriate grunts and growls from enemies as you slay them. The voice acting is typically camped up and pitched just right for a cartoon conversion, the script lacking in intelligence but fine for kids. The music is possibly the only slightly outstanding aspect of the game, rousing during action sequences and quietly paced as you explore, occasionally reminiscent of Star Wars (although never rising to those giddy heights of brilliance). Still, it complements the game well and helps you to stop from dozing off.

The reason you might doze off is because of the limited and linear nature of the game. There is next to no exploring to do, with a few collectibles hidden here and there but no alternative routes in sight. He-Man can run, jump, roll and fight, however the combat system is a big letdown. You only have four basic attack moves and while many combo attacks are unlocked as the game progresses, they are all activated by the simultaneous pressing of two buttons at once (and we all know how annoying it is to try and press the X and triangle buttons together!) So there is no skill involved in stringing combos together, the blocking move is delayed just enough to mean you take more hits than you'd like and all the combo moves are powered by a limited energy bar, meaning that you can't even use the good moves that much (you've lost most of your power because Skeletor is harnessing the power of Eternia against the Sorceress of Grayskull).

This problem is compounded by the fact that your limited Grayskull energy can also be converted into health (and vice versa) but there are no health pick-ups at all, so you end up using most of your Grayskull energy to keep yourself alive, because the blocking and attacking system is clunky and you keep taking hits. Enemies like the shadow beasts are particularly annoying, as you must block four or five swift hits just to get one of your own in and if you mindlessly swing at them you'll die pretty promptly.

Although there's initially no penalty for dying (you start in the same place with the enemies you attacked in their weakened state, which makes boss battles far too easy), you only have six lives (I guess you're two thirds cat) and after they're used up, it's back to the last save point. I was working my way through a particularly tedious section of rocky wastelands and down to my last life and drop of energy, so I swallowed my gamer's pride and ran for it, charging past the advancing shadow beasts and down the canyon path faster than you can say "meep meep", genuinely afraid. Not of the monsters of course, but of having to replay that whole area again.

The Battlecat sections of the game are slightly more interesting, simply because they are faster, but still suffer from mostly the same problems as the on-foot action. Battlecat has mounted missile launchers, which are dead handy for wiping out rock-hurling shadow beasts from a distance, he can also leap quite far and swipe with his claws. Again though you can end up leaping off a cliff to your death (when it seemed like the right way to go) and the controls feel a little ropey, the combat is dull and the camera needs more manual adjustment than I'd like. It breaks things up a bit but the gameplay consistently fails to rise above the level of being mildly diverting for a short time.

While I cannot recommend He-Man: Defender of Grayskull, I cannot condemn it either. Everything is competently put together and considering that this is a budget game, it could have been a lot worse. However, I fear that even die-hard fans of the He-Man cartoons, kids and adults alike, may find that the mediocre and utterly predictable gameplay wears as thin as the plot on offer here. Like He-Man at the start of his adventure, this game really doesn't have the power.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).