MundoRare

games » it's mr pants » review	mark mazzei

Along with mostly every Rare title since 2000, It’s Mr. Pants has had a long history tracing back many years ago. First unveiled as Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers in 2001, back then was a puzzle game scheduled to be released at the end of the year in the US. Surprisingly, the game disappeared from the radar, and was later revealed in August 2004 as a retooling called It’s Mr. Pants.

For this game, Rare decided to use a style resembling crayon sketches, most notably compared to Nintendo’s Yoshi’s Island. The graphics give you the impression that a grade schooler “drew” the game. While the graphics are not pushing the limits of the GBA, it’s apparent that It’s Mr. Pants is just one of those games that was made for that specific graphical style. It gives the ambiance of a happy go lucky world, which is exactly what Pantsland (Mr. Pants’ native land) is.

Many would think that for such a simple puzzle game, Rare would skimp out on the music and deliver a mediocre soundtrack. This is clearly not the case. Rare has instead delivered on making the, dare this reviewer say, most insane soundtrack to this day. From the menu, which has Mr. Pants singing the theme, through a creepy Halloween theme, to a piece that sounds like it came straight from the original Batman series, Rare has delivered in making a varied soundtrack able to brighten up the darkest of moods. You owe it to yourself to sample some of the music for this game, and luckily for you, Mundo Rare has many songs from the game thanks to Mr. “Aussie” Ben Kosmina.

The game has 4 modes of play: Puzzle Mode, Wipeout Mode, Marathon Mode, and Muddle Mode. Each mode has four levels of difficulty to go along with the modes (with the exception of Muddle): Easy, Medium, Hard, and Special. Puzzle Mode is the standard mode of the game, in which you get specific blocks to clear geometric shapes on the board. Should you need help, an assistant named Helpo will come to your aid to…er…help you. While he may be helpful at times, his AI is limited, telling you to place a specific shape in a specific spot even though there may be more than one solution to the puzzle. With over 300 puzzles to solve, Puzzle Mode will keep you occupied for a while.

Wipeout Mode is a timed mode that gives you two minutes to clear every puzzle piece off the board. While entertaining at first, Wipeout in its earlier stages can prove to be very difficult. Marathon Mode is a mode that gives you five minutes to make shapes to keep the Crayon Snake (originally called the “Pants Snake” until THQ deemed it inappropriate) at bay while gaining points for your effort. Like Wipeout, it starts out easy in the beginning and gets difficult in its later stages.

Last but not least is Muddle Mode. Deemed by those that have played it to be the toughest mode in the game, Muddle Mode consists of Max the Mystical Mouse ordering you to make specific shapes. Should you fail at making a shape, or not having enough room to make a shape, you lose the game and have to start over again.

This shouldn’t stop you from playing the game, however. Sadly, replayability is a double-edged sword with this title. After you finish Puzzle Mode on each difficulty (which can take around 10 hours), you can later take on the Marathon, Wipeout and Muddle modes. Unless you’re a perfectionist, it’s very unlikely that you will want to continue with the game. If Rare had decided to include and Endless Mode, where you could make puzzles for an infinite amount of time, this may have solved the slightly low replayability this game has going for it.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about this game is THQ’s blatant disinterest in shipping the game out to retailers. To this day, very few copies of It’s Mr. Pants can be found in Canada, Europe, and Australia. That being said, if you can afford to buy this game, we suggests you go ahead and make the purchase. If not, you will be missing out on Rare’s most unique game out there and by far, Rare’s best handheld game to date. And as Mr. Pants would say: Smile, Baby.

» second opinion	alberto riol

Based upon Leigh Loveday’s disturbed point of view of the Rare world, It’s Mr Pants represents another unique experiment from the same company that once had the guts to bring us Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Therefore, no Rare fan should lose the opportunity of being delighted while playing inside this crazy universe, with one of the most original art styles ever seen, really catchy musical themes and a wide range of addictive gaming modes with thousands of challenges. And, while it’s safe to say that Rare has succeeded with creating a puzzle title that is not just another clone of Tetris, it’s a pity that the lack of multiplayer options and an everlasting mode clouds the best handheld title developed by the Twycross studio to date.