Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy Review

Nickelodeon games defined the sixth generation of licensed gaming. However you view them, you could see the level of effort they put into it to not only entertain your children for a while, but give them plenty of reasons to return to it. Who didn't like games like Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom growing up? Nickelodeon clearly knew the potential of the gaming industry and treated their property like a traditional game franchise. Hence, those multiple Nickelodeon crossover games.

Personal background

As far as my experience with Nickelodeon crossover games go, I've played Nicktoons Unite on the Game Boy Advance, Nicktoons Globs of Doom, I had a copy of Nicktoons Attack of the Toybots which I couldn't play because my PS2 crapped out and Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy. I have 100%ed 3 out of 4 of them (how could I not, these are kids games) and I do recall revisiting them whenever I had the opportunity. But, I no longer own any of the systems I used to play them on.

On Freeze Frame Frenzy, I don't remember how I got it (possibly a gift, a hand-me-down or it just came with something else I bought years ago). What got me interested in it was the crossover aspect, and, well, gameplay that didn't have me just wandering aimlessly because I was too stupid to follow instructions. The game left a good impression on me when I moved on, deeming it a serviceable game.

...then I looked up a play through and so much has opened up for me.

About the Game

Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy came out in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. It was developed by Altron, who was also behind the GBA port of The Simpsons Road Rage (who's quality depends on your point of view, I just found it as something to kill time). Beyond that, Altron is proof that Japan isn't immune to shovelware cranking (Art Co. Ltd. and D3 Publisher also withstanding).

Plot

Through unknown circumstances, various Nicktoons have been sent to different worlds. To make matters worse, robot duplicates of most of the characters are causing havoc. Jimmy Neutron comes up with a plan to return the Nicktoons to their home worlds, recruiting Spongebob Squarepants, Danny Phantom, Otto Rocket, Timmy Turner and Arnold (a Hey Arnold character, really reaching here) to take pictures. After doing everything, you're off to space where you fight the true culprit, Zim. After saving him and ultimately yourself by repairing the destroyed ship, all ends well.

In comparison to other Nickelodeon games, the premise is a bit lacking. I'm not going to go in on how a camera supposedly helps fix everything, but honestly, there's a lot to be desired. What was with the characters getting sent to other worlds? That's an interesting idea, yes, but where does it all tie together? Were they sent there as a diversion? Did they catch on to Zim's plan? Going by the robot idea, what if these out of place Nicktoons were robots in disguise? That would make the premise more plausible and interesting.

Gameplay

The gameplay is so basic, you don't even need to play the game to know how it works (come on, how could anyone screw up cursor controls?). It goes like this. You take pictures of characters. In order to progress, you need a certain amount of points, and you could get plenty of them by doing objectives. These amount to taking pictures of out of place characters (you'd have to take pictures of them more than once to get the right score BTW), taking pictures of wildlife and other civilians (on their own, they're ten points a piece) as well as take pictures unique to the level. This is doable, you could mess up once or twice on the first few levels, but later on you'll find yourself needing to 100% every level soon after because however many points you get on the first try won't be enough, and these missions become trickier (or duller depending on how you grind for points)

On its own, it's not very challenging, but if you're like me, you know, completionist complex, you'd want to get everything. That alone is challenging because characters leave the screen quicker every level. Something tells me they prefer the newer world, but I could just be reaching.

Graphics

The graphics are a mixed bag, depending on what you like to focus on. The background graphics are good, nice detail, you could really tell what world they're supposed to be, I especially love the summery mood of the All Grown Up levels. The character models look good (though the colors on most of them are a bit off), but Jimmy Neutron has to be the worst offender. He just doesn't look right.

There is a graphical glitch I noticed. In the Danny Phantom stages in the cafeteria, if you get rid of the characters their legs remain behind. Yeah.

Music

Altron games have a discernible quality in their music. They have that muffled quality, better noticed in their sound effects. The music is confident, I could actually call it music, but far from memorable.

Representation of Nickelodeon Characters

Shows featured in the game are Spongebob Squarepants, The Fairly Odd Parents, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Danny Phantom, All Grown Up, Hey Arnold, Rocket Power, Wild Thornberries, My Life as a Teenaged Robot and Invader Zim. Nice handful of shows, great that they went with the most popular (yet relevant at the time) programs, but Hey Arnold and All Grown Up? I could understand the former since Altron produced a game based on Hey Arnold the Movie, but why something as random as All Grown Up? Why not throw in As Told by Ginger while you're at it? Wouldn't look any more out of place (and heck, it could give the game more precious play time, and the show is loaded with characters you could use)

This is the game's biggest flaw. A lot of these characters are poorly represented. Time to bullet-point it.

• The dialogue is generic, and hardly feels unique to the character. You could replace the character saying the dialogue and none would be the wiser.
• Altron clearly shat themselves when putting in characters, so when you get to Danny Phantom's world and the All Grown Up world, be prepared to see a lot of cameos from one-time or background characters.
• No sense of continuity. If you play as Arnold and face the Helga robot, Arnold states outright that he knows the real Helga has a crush on him. This is not a flaw depending on your point of view, but I'd like to imagine that Arnold never caught on to Helga's crush on him. Who knows? Maybe he did know all along.
• When I played the Rocket Power stage the first time, I tried sending Nigel Thornberry back, but I couldn't. Wanna know why? Altron treats the Wild Thornberries and Rocket Power like they're the same show, same with All Grown Up. You could say this is a node to how each are by the same company and thus, the same show in a way. But in the All Grown Up stage, you could get rid of Wild Thornberries and Rocket Power characters. They fucked up. Case closed.
• Some characters just feel like pointless additions. My Life as a Teenage Robot is a good example of this. The characters appear, but we never go into their universe. Same with Hey Arnold. I personally don't mind this, the more characters the merrier, but come on, the options are there.
• Invader Zim has to be the worst offender in all of this. I don't think Altron even did their research on the show at all. So much is wrong here. 

1. First off, Zim is the main antagonist in the game. This might've been a later idea, but Zim usually sides with the hero toons because he's the protagonist in his own series. This is best explained in Nicktoons Globs of Doom, which while it was a later release than this, still makes sense. They also didn't do his personality justice, he just sounds like a generic villain.
2. The Zim characters they did use were also lacking. There're many background characters that could be used to pad out the character length. They just used main characters and three particular kids from the Skool.
3. They didn't even get the names right. Ms. Bitters is referred to as Mr. Bitters, Bill the Paranormal Investigator is referred to as Professor Membrane, and two kids are referred to as Keef, even though one of them is actually called Melvin.

Last thing I'd like to point out is the misplaced character placement. It's random, but I have noticed some patterns. Aside from the kids appearing in the school, I've also seen an influx on old people, and when I took pictures of the Comvee (Wild Thornberries), I've always found Gaz Membrane (Invader Zim) in it. Maybe it's quieter?

The game includes a lot of references to episodes of the shows they've included. This applies to older episodes though, something that's interred into our minds forever, so it's not that amazing.

Now while we're here, people have been bitching about this Cartoon Network game (Cartoon Network Battle Crashers) and one of their biggest criticisms of it was its representation of Steven Universe (seriously). Now, I beseech to you who took that to greater extremes than necessary. Play this game, look up the characters featured in it (while taking into account the flaws I brought up and then bitch about character representation.

Overall

On its own, it's a nice little game, could help kill time before you have something better to do. As a Nickelodeon game, it missed the mark and just felt like a cash-in based on a Japanese video game. It leans closer to traditional shovelware than a decent Nickelodeon game and leaves so much to be desired. We have gotten better Nickelodeon games since then.