Jannah Theme License is not validated, Go to the theme options page to validate the license, You need a single license for each domain name.
ReviewXBLAXbox 360

BurgerTime World Tour

[gameinfo title=”Game Info” game_name=”” developers=”Monkeypaw Games” publishers=”Konami” platforms=”” genres=”” release_date=”November 2, 2011″]

So, when the original BurgerTime came out for arcades in 1982, unfortunately, I was not alive. In fact, I pretty much missed out on the entire “arcade gaming” generation. By the time I started playing video games in the 90s, arcades were all but eradicated in my hometown and consoles were what you had to have access to if you wanted to play video games. It goes without saying, that I never got a chance to play the original BurgerTime. So, I felt it necessary to go back and play the original before I sat down to play BurgerTime: World Tour. Regrettably, the next generation “remake” of BurgerTime fell short of doing the series justice.

BurgerTime: World Tour marks the return of burger flipping chef Peter Pepper. You join him on his quest to assemble burgers. Chef Pepper doesn’t assemble burgers like a normal chef though. No, Chef Pepper assembles burgers by running around floating platforms and climbing up and down ladders. He then jumps on gigantic ingredients such as beef, lettuce, etc. and sends them down to a giant plate at the bottom of the level. All the while he has to avoid and take out evil food enemies by using his trusty pepper weapon, or a variety of power ups that are new to the series.

Therein is the main problem with this remake, too much change. At the core, World Tour is similar to the original. You play a chef named Peter Pepper. You assemble gargantuan burgers by stomping on them with your dirty shoes. You avoid enemies that can kill you way too easily. Beyond that however, this games veers off way too far to the right in ways that don’t really seem to make a lot of sense. Granted, I didn’t play the original when it came out, so I can’t say how fun it was back in the day. However, I would assume that in doing a remake the developers would want to avoid making super drastic changes that take away from the nostalgia.

For one, in the original you climbed ladders to assemble your burgers in a way that reminded me of the how you climbed the vines in Donkey Kong Jr. (Which could have looked really cool in a full, 3D environment.) Instead, the developers chose to do a rotating 3D, globe style environment. It moved when you ran on it, which gave off a similar (although upright) effect to the rolling log world in the Animal Crossing games. The rotating effect sounds cool in theory, but all it did was make things confusing in this game. Everything was very awkward, and I often found myself running headlong off platforms and getting all mismatched on where it was I had to go to assemble the next burger.

For some reason, the power ups were done very strangely as well. As I mentioned above, you have your default pepper weapon, which makes a return from the original. You also have a bevy of generic power ups such as rockets and speed increasers at your disposal. For some reason though, all of these upgrades were not available at all times. In some levels, I could use a speed increaser to zip about and assemble my burgers at lightening speed, but then for the life of me I couldn’t use it in the next level. This was made even more irritating by the fact that the power ups did barely anything to help you when it came to enemies. They kill your character in one hit. So, if you get too close and aren’t quick enough with your weapon, you’re dead. And you have a limited number of lives available. Good luck not getting frustrated there.

I think the worst part about the game though, was how old it got so quickly. It wasn’t very long before I got absolutely sick of assembling burgers and wanted to do something else. What’s even worse is the fact that so much of this game is different than the original that it doesn’t even have the nostalgia factor working for it. What makes playing remakes of retro games so fun, and thus their main appeal, is that you remember playing them as a child. They evoke good memories. Not here though. World Tour suffers from far too many changes from the original in a terrible way.

I did like the graphics however. They weren’t the best, but the cartoony style was definitely the right choice as it worked well with the gameplay. The ginormous burgers were animated very well in comparison to the original, and the main character’s new look was pulled off well. The amount of stages surprised me as well, in a good way. It took a lot longer than I expected to make it through the campaign.

Score: 5/10

Overall, unless you were super BurgerTime fan number one back in the day, you should avoid this game. Even then, you might not like it considering how little it reflects the original. The premise of the game doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, the enemies are far too strong for their own good, and the stages will make you dizzy with confusion. Use your money instead to buy a better downloadable title..

Christian Miller

Christian is a lover of the three R's: reading, writing, and RPG's. He lives in a historic town in northern Utah where he loves playing video games and trying humorously to become an author. When he isn't spending time with his family or writing, you can probably find him battling Darkspawn, trying to catch em all, or attempting to get a headshot on a Chimera.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button