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Common Sense Note

Parents should know that this game continues the action from the animated movie. The game is set in a haunted world full of familiar monsters like skeletons and witches, many of whom are friendly and sweet rather than scary. Players will fight hundreds of creatures, but the battles are bloodless and cartoonish.

Families who buy this game might want to talk about the marketing of games tied to movies. How are movies used to sell other products like video games to children (and vice versa)? Are you more likely to want a game just because it has a character they know from a film? Do these games live up to your expectations?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Chris Jozefowicz

Although experienced players might find the action a bit simple, this video game sequel to the movie provides a satisfying adventure in a delightfully macabre world.

Like the movie on which it was based, TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS: OOGIE'S REVENGE tells the tale of Jack Skellington, hero of Halloween Town. While Jack has been off finding new, improved thrills and chills to make Halloween better, the film's villain, Oogie Boogie, has been resurrected in Halloween Town. When Jack returns, he finds that the formerly frightening-yet-fun town has turned menacing, filled with traps and dangerous ghouls.

Players assume the role of Jack, embarking on a relatively long and action packed single-player adventure. Their job: Fight to restore Halloween Town to its former silly-scary status, and stop Oogie from taking over the other holidays.

The game provides plenty of opportunities for fighting through more than 25 levels. Since the action of the movie, mad scientist Doctor Finkelstein has armed Jack with an elastic tentacle called the Soul Grabber. Jack uses it to snap and lasso enemies, and as a grappling hook to swing and climb. Players earn special abilities as they progresses, becoming the flame-throwing Pumpkin King and the present-tossing Christmas Jack. The game's boss battles are frequently livened up with unique song-and-dance interludes that involve damage-dealing rhythm games in which players must hit buttons in time to the music.

Most impressively, the game captures the sweetly morbid mood of the movie. The graphics are perfect for representing the cartoonish, almost toy-like nature of the characters and settings. Yes, Jack is fighting his way through legions of skeletons, ghosts, and trolls, but the undead manage to seem more cuddly than creepy: Skeletons dangling from nooses casually read books as they hang; Jack rides a sleigh made from a coffin pulled by reindeer skeletons. And how scary can a world be when even the baddest of the bad feel the need to express themselves in song?

There are some problems. The game's camera sometimes provides poor angles from which to view the battles. The fighting can get a bit tiresome as Jack whip, whip, whips his way through hordes of rather weak enemies. And some songs play too frequently. But even the most tedious sequences are beautiful to behold.

Oogie's Revenge is definitely one of the better examples from the ever-growing genre of movie-inspired video games. Anyone who is a fan of the movie will almost certainly enjoy the game, as will anyone who just has a soft spot in their heart for spiders, graveyards, and a superhero skeleton with serious Santa envy.

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