ReBoot (video game)
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 "Bob's failure and multiple characters deaths don't seem they should be part of a canon "exclusive" episode." - Adam (Rerez)
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ReBoot is a third-person shooter/platform game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation in 1998. It was based on the animated series of the same name.
Plot
Taking place before the events of the TV series, Megabyte and Hexadecimal form a plan to take over Mainframe, by using unstable system energy, known as tears, to destabilize Mainframe. While everyone is evacuating Mainframe, it's up to Bob to stop the tears and put an end to Megabyte and Hexadecimal's plan.
Why It Doesn't ReBoot
- The story is very lackluster.
- Poor grasp of the source material. For starters, Bob carries a gun, when in the show, Bob's main directive was "to mend and defend" Mainframe, and he never resorted to using firearms except for certain game scenarios.
- Furthermore, the gun (which originates from the episode "The Tiff") shoots real bullets instead of harmless bubbles that trapped enemies.
- Speaking of game scenarios, the Purple Game Cubes, which cause said game scenarios in the show, are nowhere to be seen, making the game somewhat lacking in level variety, as all of them take place exclusively in Mainframe.
- Despite supposedly taking place before the events of the series, some characters show up before Bob canonically met them, like Mike the TV and the Web Creature.
- The controls are terrible. Controlling Bob and his Zipboard is like skateboarding on ice, as he picks up too much momentum. This makes collecting items in later levels very difficult.
- There's no button to stop or slow Bob down, forcing the player to slow him down manually.
- Locking onto tears with the Glitch lock-on tool is very difficult as Bob will not stay still.
- On that note, locking onto enemies is just as hard, as Bob has to directly face the enemies to shoot at them.
- The auto-aiming can be unreliable, as it sometimes causes Bob to target innocent civilians instead of enemies.
- Jumping is really ineffective most of the time, as Bob's jumps on his Zipboard don't go very high.
- Despite the game claiming to be compatible with the Dualshock controller, all it does is map the D-pad movements to the left analog stick, and the right analog stick does absolutely nothing.
- Making things worse is that Bob's Zipboard is his only mode of transportation, and he never explores any of the levels on-foot.
- Almost every level in the game involves mending tears by using Bob's multi-tool Glitch and collecting keycards within the time limit to exit the level. This is easier said than done.
- The time limit is very strict. If the timer runs out, the tears blow up the level, causing Bob to shatter and lose a life.
- Even though the timer stops when all of the tears are mended, there's a hidden, secret timer that still keeps going (more on that later).
- Tears can pull Bob closer like a magnet and hurt him.
- The enemies take forever to kill with the standard gun without upgrades. Weirdly, some enemies which can be destroyed quickly in one level may take way more damage in a later level before getting destroyed.
- The enemies can easily kill Bob and have nearly perfect aiming, as they can even shoot at him through solid objects.
- The level design is quite poor, and can sometimes lead to unfair deaths either due to the aforementioned jumping controls or cheap enemy placements.
- In some levels, the tears are guarded by enemies which deal massive damage to Bob, or, in the case of the Web Creature, kill him instantly.
- There are no checkpoints, meaning if Bob dies, you have to start the level from the beginning all over again.
- There are very few health and weapon upgrade pickups in the levels, and the pickups dropped by dead enemies can disappear very easily.
- The gun upgrades and Glitch run on a limited amount of energy. While this is understandable for weapon upgrades, it makes no sense for Glitch to operate with the same limitations, especially with items like the Grapple.
- Furthermore, the Glitch upgrades, like the Flamethrower, are useless, and when using the Fox Gun to freeze enemies, Bob cannot lock-on to frozen enemies.
- Sometimes, when using the Grapple in the level "Floating Point Park", Glitch might teleport Bob right next to a tear, possibly getting him killed within seconds.
- The FMV cutscenes are very inconsistent. Sometimes, they're presented in the show's CGI animation, but most of the time, the cutscenes use the in-game, low-poly models instead.
- Some cutscenes combine the low-polygon footage with CGI clips animated in the show's style, which looks very jarring.
- When getting a game over, the game may play a cutscene showing the disturbing side effects of Bob failing to save Mainframe. These can range from Mainframe exploding to Bob and Dot's corpses being stuffed and displayed in a glass frame.
- The boss battles, including those against the Web Creature, as well as Hexadecimal, are frustratingly difficult.
- There are multiple endings, but they're terribly executed. Much like Kid Kool, you have to beat the game fast enough in order to get the good ending. Otherwise, you get the bad ending, where the Mainframe is in ruins with multiple casualties, including Enzo.
- Getting the good ending requires you to beat levels as quickly as possible, and is only hinted at during one of the game over cutscenes. This means that, in addition to the standard tears timer, you have to go through the levels without letting the secret timer run out, discouraging you from exploring the levels.
- Even then, the good ending is nothing special, with Dot kissing Bob and Enzo congratulating him.
Redeeming Qualities
- The in-game graphics are decent for a PS1 game, and some of the FMV cutscenes are faithful to the show.
- The voice acting is good, as most of the voice actors reprise their roles from the show.
Videos
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