Going into a Nickelodeon game is always a risk. A risk in that people will sperg on about how I'm supposedly sperging about something pertaining to cartoons, or the fact that there'd be a vocal minority or a stagnant majority who would defend this game with all their might (why else do you think negative reviews of Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase exist?)
Personal Background
When you were a kid in the early-2000s, Nickelodeon was among one of your prime interests, and that interest would extend to video games. Nickelodeon games have been around since the late NES era, from then to the fifth generation of gaming, they were... hell not even okay, but fear not, because one generation later the games got better, and continued well until the end of the 2000s. As a result, many Nickelodeon games have been held in a decent regard with little protest (unless the game was by BigSky Interactive).
I actually got this game when it was new, back when I actually had a GameCube (but past me had no concept of treating shit with care.) I played with it for a while, couldn't get past a level for whatever reason, threw a hissy fit and moved on, only to come back to it and later beat it, and thank goodness for that because now I don't even have it anymore. So... purpose fulfilled I guess.
I actually got this game when it was new, back when I actually had a GameCube (but past me had no concept of treating shit with care.) I played with it for a while, couldn't get past a level for whatever reason, threw a hissy fit and moved on, only to come back to it and later beat it, and thank goodness for that because now I don't even have it anymore. So... purpose fulfilled I guess.
Game Background
Breakin' Da Rules came out in 2003. Keeping with a tradition that has become a standard since around 2001, the game was released to consoles, as well as the PC and Game Boy Advance. Each version is different, but since I mainly used the PC to play flash games and since I didn't have the game for the GBA, I stuck with the console version. The console version was developed by Blitz Games, who's name should be familiar to many of you.
Blitz was behind Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge, a sequel to a Frogger game on the PlayStation which got better reviews than the first. They were also behind Zapper and the third installment in the Pac-Man World series (the quality of those games is entirely up to you.) They're no strangers to Nickelodeon either, for they've went on to produce some SpongeBob games after Heavy Iron Studios dropped out, and they even dabbled in producing games for Burger King (like full-fledged titles for the XBOX 360, how the fuck does that happen?)
Lastly they produced another Fairly Odd Parents game, Shadow Showdown, which for the record improved on the aspects present in this game. You'd think that with a studio like Blitz this game would be able to hold its own... Then you sit down and play the game.
Story
Admittedly, the story keeps with the spirit of the show. Timmy's parents leave and, obviously, Vicky is hired to look after him. Upset that he can't wish his way out the inevitable, Timmy wishes to nullify the Fairly World equivalent to the Bible. Naturally, the book winds up in Vicky's hands and we have the conflict of the day. Cosmo and Wanda are given inferior wands and are ordered to recover Da Rules, page by page and are granted less than fifty hours to find them. Pay no mind to that aspect, because it's never brought up again.
The only affect Vicky's wishes has on Timmy are exclusive to the levels, and no she never catches on to the power she has received. One advantage this game has is that the story at least shares the same atmosphere as a typical FOP episode. It's a lot more faithful than Revenge of the Flying Dutchman.
The only affect Vicky's wishes has on Timmy are exclusive to the levels, and no she never catches on to the power she has received. One advantage this game has is that the story at least shares the same atmosphere as a typical FOP episode. It's a lot more faithful than Revenge of the Flying Dutchman.
Gameplay
Par the course for many Nickelodeon games from this era, it's a 3D platformer. This would typically be a plus for me and potentially other people, exploration is always a nice touch, whether I'd be looking for hidden stuff or imagining my own scenario as I venture around. Why the hell did I say that? Unlike those other Nickeoldeon games, with some very minor exceptions this game is very linear. You don't have a lot of room to explore in the levels, there's typically only one right way to go and the hub world sucks too.
Referring back to the joys of open world exploration, the hub world is a good way for you to take the edge off after a hard level. Here, for most of the game you're limited to Timmy's bedroom, but later you get to explore downstairs and mostly outside. That's it. The only things you could interact with is the level portals and a save area. It's the most basic hub world I know of, and Nickelodeon games are not known for crap hub worlds. You could explore anywhere in Rocket Power Beach Bandits, Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom has ridiculous freedom for exploration, this game not only gives you fuck all to explore outside of levels, but you don't get much of a reward for exploring a level.
Each level has a set objective, just do the objective and you're done. The main goal is to collect wish stars, with five of them enabling you to make a wish. These bastards won't stay still though, for the moment you approach them they'll run away. Unless you lack common sense or holding the analog stick in a certain way is too much for your thumb this shouldn't be that hard.
You're not spoiled for choice on collectibles either. You could collect crowns, with one hundred of them granting you an extra life (haven't we done away with this by now? This sounds like something out of a late-90s video game.), but at best they're just a diversion, unless you can't sack up just collect as many as you can.
Admittedly, the game does have an interesting bonus mechanic. There're Crimson Chin cards scattered across every level. For your reward, you're treated to clips from different episodes, particularly scenes from Abra-Catastrophe and everyone's jam Icky Vicky. You could even unlock a full FOP episode if you collect every card, but that only goes for the PlayStation 2 version. Best you'd get on the GameCube version is a music video consisting of moving JPEGs set to one of the game's songs. I'm kinda starting to get an idea on why the GameCube wasn't so fondly remembered.
Essentially, you could get through this game pretty easily as long as you know what you're doing.
Levels
Admittedly, each level has a different structure, but the core is kept the same and again, it's linear as fuck. Nonetheless, that means I could talk about each level individually. Basically each level is modeled after a Fairly Odd Parents episode with some liberties taken here and there. Another plus.
Tutorial
What's a game without a tutorial? To begin, Vicky wishes Timmy was still asleep, done to illustrate the effect she'll hold for the rest of the game. The tutorial does its job, but not as well. You're stopped every time you come to a certain point, and as I'm about to go over in a later section, the cutscene skipping is ridiculous. The tutorial reveals everything there is to this game, basics wise and you should take it all in as deep as you can, because you could never go back to it.
A Badge too Far
This is based on one of the pilot FOP shorts that aired on Oh Yeah! Cartoons. The level title is a pun on a title of one of the main FOP episodes, but I'll see how many of you could get it.
Timmy heads out for a Squirrelly Scouts function. Vicky wishes that she could find a way to assert the superiority of her scouts, the Creme Puffs. This leads to her gaining a multitude of badges, and since they were received through magic, it somehow enables her complete control of the entire Creme Scout troop. If you know Vicky, you could see where she takes them. There's also a very minor subplot about Wanda not coming along to promote some inclusivity shit. So minor that it only warrants the satisfaction of a very brief mention.
The level involves Timmy going to rescue his fellow Squirrelly Scouts before infiltrating the Creme Puff's site. Per wishes, Timmy receives a beaver chainsaw to cut down trees for makeshift bridges, and the last one is a disguise enabling Timmy to enter Camp Creme Puff, and you need this to get in otherwise you'll lose a life. When inside, you also need to interact with four more Squirrelly Scouts to get info on a secret dance you need to do in order to enter the Creme Puff headquarters, and no you're not given a code directly, this just activates a DDR-type game. Ace this and you're almost home. Vicky discovers Timmy taking her badges and a chase ensues. Unless you're a crown-hog, this should be easy. Do that and the level's over.
In a nutshell, imagine Metal Gear Solid if it was a simpler version of MGS3 on European Extreme.
The Vicky Virus
Based on the second segment to the first FOP episode. A day of video games leads to Vicky wishing that Timmy and his friends AJ and Chester were trapped in one of their games. From here this game takes on a more interesting turn. There's a bit of a challenge, where enemies swarm more frequently than in others, there's a bit of a challenge where you have to traverse through a lava-filled room, the works. There's this cheap-o bonus section that seems to be a satire on bonus levels in general. It's a reference to the Ninja Bunnies, a joke in the episode this level is based on. Your reward is a bunch of crowns and a one-up if you pop enough balloons.
Next there's a puzzle section where you have to haul ice blocks into a body of water to not only get to the other side but claim two stars, and an extra life if you're daring enough. This is where one of the wishes comes into play. Get through that and it leads to an interesting bit where you play as AJ after Timmy gets trapped behind a laser barricade. All that comes out of this is a boat section where you have to ride through checkpoints while getting to the end. Did I say linear?
Just when you think it's over, next you play as Chester where you have to save Timmy and AJ from a horde of cyber bees. If you let too many pass, it's over. After traversing a room full of falling data sparks and rolling balls, you get a new wish, which is just your already existing weapon converted to a disc shooter. It all culminates in you fighting the game itself. Just dodge the lasers and hit the exposed weakpoint, par the course for any boss in a kids game. They at least try to make it a bit more difficult where for every hit the lasers get faster, but if you get the pattern it won't matter how fast the lasers go.
This is the highpoint of the entire game, not just because of how close it is to the episode it's based on, but the fact that it's ab objectively good level all in all.
Chinless Blunder
For this, Vicky channels her inner crabby anti-fantasy tard and wishes that the Crimson Chin would become a pathetic individual and that Timmy would go into the comic, mostly to get a level out of it. Somehow, the Chin's powers wound up in the hands of the Chin's villains, Country Boy who received the Chin's strength, Spatula Woman who received the Chin's charisma and Gilded Arches, who received the Chin's speed.
You get to make three wishes in total, each when dealing with the aforementioned villains. The Chin Copter is used to pursue Country Boy through the streets of Chincinnati while getting rid of stink gass balloons by cutting the strings. So are the balloons full of the gas or are the things below them full of gas? I hope it's the former because Timmy's doing Country Boy a favor.
The Chinarang is a projectile weapon you mainly use to stun goons and fight Spatula Woman. I gave up at this part long ago because I actually forgot I had this ability. Before you face Spatula Woman though you have to hit three switches to stop a series of whisks within a giant cake batter bowl which the Mayor is dangling over. Yes that does sound twisted.
Lastly you get the grappling punching bag, same effect as the Chinarang but with the added luxury of being able to swing from place to place. When I got here I was confused shitless on what to do until I got lucky. It all culminates in a grappling match where you have to keep a cursor towards the center for a few seconds. Get used to that, because soon it will get tripled.
Right off the bat, this is the game at its laziest. The stars are always in the same place every three times you go to get them. The linearity is also at its worst too, and the only thing that can kill you is bad timing. While I'm on this, this level also feels lazy with its choice of characters. I get Spatula Woman since she actually appeared in the episode this level's based on, but Country Boy is just a fleeting reference who at best was used for a joke. As for Gilded Arches I thought he was just made up for the game, but it turns out that he appeared in a series of webtoons that I never heard of, who knew?
Those aren't the worst offenders though. For the pathetic Crimson Chin, they used the fake Crimson Chin that appeared at the convention Timmy went to in the episode Chin Up. Maybe this was meant to be funny but I could be wrong. What likely isn't meant to be funny is that they have an anchor man who's the exact same person that the Crimson Chin used to be before he got bit on the chin by a man with a radioactive personality. They were definitely not on the chin when it came to this.
Mini Timmy
Once you complete two of the three levels above, a new one opens. You'd think that you could unlock a new level for every one you complete but no, this is the only time a single level opens, whereas a multitude of new levels open right after this one.
Anyway, this was another level I got stuck on, more on that later. Timmy is shrunk down by Vicky who wishes that Timmy would be that size so he could thoroughly clean the tub, and all this happened over Timmy teasing Vicky over a spider. As a former arachnophobe, I call this level just desserts. This is one of the trickier levels, why? No reason, other than the abundance of narrow platforms and the fact that they're the only things keeping you from landing into the water.
You also get to encounter more enemies, with your trusty can of spray you could attack a series of germs and unlike most enemies that disappear when killed or merely get stunned, they remain there, staring at you, internally cursing you for taking their filthy livelihood away without provocation. Among your wishes are a cu-tip that you use to tightrope walk across the water. This seems like it's stressful, but that's because it is. It's doable though, just press the opposite way Timmy's facing while walking until you reach the end.
There's this anti-gravity thing, which amounts to Timmy being able to jump higher by following the float pattern of a bubble. It leads to the next boss battle, a giant germ which you use your third wish, a soap shooter, to destroy.
This level is like bad tasting medicine. The rotten taste you can't avoid, leading to some sensible relief soon after. Do all that and you can cover the remaining ground of the hub world.
Time Warped
Timmy issuing a correction on Vicky's history report leads her to wishing that history would play out her way. This leads to a girl taking Sir Arthur's place as the puller of the magic sword (basically a less painful rendition of America Chavez taking Captain America's place as the one who punched Hitler. It wasn't enough that someone punched the king of the Nazis apparently, and I'll leave it at that, I'm prepping myself for a conflict I could never escape from.
Anyway, that, along with the pyramids being cubic and the Greeks being lazy. The former isn't a dilemma, but I guess Timmy really wanted to drive the point home. The first is King Arthur's time. Cosmo and Wanda warn about being seen which could influence time negatively, but this is never brought up again, and hello, they were talking to Sir Arthur. Maybe they did fuck up the timeline, but whatever, at worst now we just have a book series with a different letter in place of another. It's your job to pull the sword (while under the guise of Arthur for after you get it out) and get it to Arthur. The only wish you get here is a grappling device, rinse and repeat for the punching bag thing, hold the ability to stun enemies. I take it this came before that one.
In Ancient Egypt, obviously they forgot about the don't interfere with history deal, for the best when you get down to it, you get a giant hammer which you use to deconstruct square pyramids, though this amounts to you making pathways to progress. You could also use the hammer to stun enemies. Break enough pyramids and this will somehow catch on with the Egyptians as a few abrupt cuts later will show the impact of your historical interference.
Greece is a bit more complicated, you go through an obstacle course, you have to traverse through a steam bath room (again, water kills you) and you need to make it through a path of locked gates by exploiting a stone on a teeter-totter... all to fix a bunch of statues.
The sections become more interesting as the level goes on, admittedly, but it still feels kinda bare. The only offensive aspect is that Wanda appears in near plain sight, speaking aloud in warning Timmy not to cause the previous events to repeat.
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| Vicky's siting on a couch facing the stairway. FYI. |
Only other bit of trivia I could give about this is that for Arthur they use the dorky rendition from Knighty Knight, not played by the same actor FTR.
A Dog's Life
Essentially any of the lesser levels with a different character model. Hey guys I can totally change aspects about this game. Through an implicative wish, Timmy becomes a dog, and the only thing preventing him from returning to normal is that it would interfere with true love (Tootie makes her first and only appearance in this level, guess where this is leading). It's your job to traverse through a shopping mall after escaping a dog pound. Per wishes, you'd get night vision which could help you get to dark areas, a flight power up which is only useful for one section where there're floating floors, and a digging ability that only comes into play at the very end. It's only useful for potted plants. All it takes is getting dirty for Tootie to lose interest in Timmy.
Felt like a chore getting through it, but it was okay.
Crash Landing
Things get interesting again as Vicky wishes for an alien invasion to make the day interesting. You traverse through a wrecked neighborhood, only to get stopped for unstoppable cutscenes where you see destruction occur, enemies getting deployed and a ship continuously firing in one area. These obstacles are avoidable and they only seem to exist as a form of compensation for the enemies. The enemies are nothing once you realize that if you get close and back them into a wall they die immediately.
Your wishes amount to punching gloves you use to break furniture and through walls, but that's really only to get to the stars to bring forth your ultimate wish, the Crash Nebula suit. With it you could shoot pillow projectiles at enemies. You go from the neighborhood into a space ship once you get the suit. You're treated to a number of puzzles which amount to pressing the right button and going the right way. Another wish you activate is a jet pack, and beyond one pissworthy moment where you could get shot by an enemy and fall to your death, this is doable as long as you go knowing you could land on a platform.
There's a moving platform puzzle where you hike up boxes to jump off of cargo vessels. The challenge is the limited hight you could cover. More exploration later and you wind up on Yugopotamia where you go through three challenges based on what Timmy encounters in the episode Spaced Out, but in a major plus, they're turned into actual challenges. You go through a field of flowers while evading venus fly traps and a slippery floor near the end which amounts to nothing. You're then put in a battle with numerous killer teddy bears and it all ends in a challenge within a chocolate river where you press buttons to get to the other side while evading lazy-eyed chocolate dinosaurs who hock the same bubble-type projectiles as the other enemies in the level. Astounded by your bravery, it leads to the conclusion of the level.
One thing I should note is that Mark Chang is not present in the level, though he does appear in the tutorial. Since they become friends much later in the show, I think Mark exists solely to help Timmy become acquainted with the kinds of enemies he'll encounter in the rest of the game. A true friend indeed.
Bad Luck 101
Last of the main levels, and the second to last level overall. Timmy has to go to school on a Saturday due to Vicky having extra classes that day. After the "classic" one getting splashed on by a passing vehicle, Vicky wishes that Timmy had her bad luck for the day, leading to our antagonists for the level, the anti-fairies (and no, Anti-Cosmo/Wanda don't appear in this level, it would be ideal but no, they were starting to kick back at this point).
There's actually plenty to cover here. Timmy's bad luck causes wrecking balls to crash through the halls creating a ridiculous obstacle to overcome, later you encounter evil trashcans that move in a similar pattern to the wrecking balls and you also encounter falling books (the only interesting aspect I could point out for the books is the sound some make when you get too close.) The main objective is to stop Crocker who's also present, and him discovering the anti-fairies would help him prove their existence. Okay, that actually makes sense, maybe that's where they make up for the lazy villain choice on the anti-fairy front.)
Your first wish leads to your prime mechanism of capturing anti-fairies. Remember that final aspect of the last segment in Chinless Blunder? It's back with a vengeance. You have to keep the cursor in the center for a certain amount of time before the clock runs out. Three times, one for each anti-fairy. This isn't hard, and I can't call this tedious since these are spaced far out. Later you encounter Crocker, first while you round up more wish stars with him walking around. You get your next wish, springy shoes which are exclusive to a certain segment in the level.
Your next encounter with Crocker leads to you having to stand in the right place at the right time as he pops out from whatever's against the wall. This leads to your next wish, rocket boots, which are used even less than the spring shoes. It all leads up to one more explorative section where you catch the last anti-fairy, but we're not done yet.
You later find Crocker's lair and while you try to find a way out, you put the anti-fairies into Crocker's fairy hunting van, then you round it off by sending the fairies to Vicky.
Interestingly, characters that didn't make the cut are displayed in portraits throughout the school. Principal Waxoplax, that other teacher that appeared in Crocker's first appearance, the bus driver and the lunch lady.
The "Ultimate" Challenge
The home stretch. You had rounded up all of the missing pages of Da Rules, except for one, the table of contents, which allows Vicky a shred of power for influence. She is turned into a dragon for a pointless sense of challenge. So what do you do here? Wait for a moment until she strikes a certain area? Shoot at her at the right moment? No, you wait on a tile as she flies toward you and then you get out of the way so she could hit it. The point is that you need to hit a series of tiles in a right order to get Vicky to wish she never took Da Rules from Timmy. Points for making sense and going with a similar method of resolution in other episodes, but this holds the same level of quality as the other levels, as in the super-linear ones. How bad could this be? Beyond the wrong sequence, there're only two wrong tiles, and common sense will help lead you away from those.
So what's your prize for winning? Just a traditional FOP ending. Suitable for the show, and fitting for an otherwise bland game.
Graphics
So as you could gather, the gameplay isn't very good. But there was one aspect that proved to be objectively good, and that's the graphics. The game utilizes cel-shaded graphics and backgrounds that hold the same visual style as what's used on the show. This allowed Blitz Games to win an award at a technology festival in their native country. While the graphics capture the show, the animation is hit or miss for me. Sometimes the characters hold the wrong expression due to them using a preset one. Other times, characters rarely change their expression, Vicky, Jorgen Von Strangle, the Judge and Tootie and the Squirrelly Scouts are the most notable offenders. Pay close attention to the dialogue and tone of voice and you'll understand why.
Music
The music is identical to what you may hear on the show, and it certainly fits the theme of the levels they're played in. But at the same time it isn't that memorable. It's really up to you what tracks you'd prefer if you played this growing up. Personally, the tutorial level's music is the best track in the game.
Sound Quality
Had to give this its own section because it warrants it. For some reason, the sound quality isn't very good. It sounds a bit muffled for some reason. Maybe this was an oversight on Blitz's part?
Overall
All this game had was its immense faithfulness to the show, and it's clear that it either took heavy precedence over making an above average game, or they just snagged the license to make a quick buck. It's like they wanted to make a bunch of interactive Fairly Odd Parents episodes, but it takes so long for stuff to happen that it would've been better to just wing it. It worked well for other Nickelodeon games.
Once Shadow Showdown hit the scene, this game was rendered obsolete since that game improved on this one in all the key aspects. For one, you could skip cutscenes easily by pausing and clicking the option saying to do so, you have more abilities pre-wishing, once you unlock the wishes you could pick any one of them you want. There's a greater reward for exploration since there're lots of extras you could unlock, you could go back to older areas with different wishes to get whatever you missed, there's more effort put into the animation and expressions, even the bosses are a bit more challenging, there's a boss for every level, the hud still sucks but it doesn't give a false sense of hope for exploration, the story is a bit more interesting- HOLY SHIT THIS GAME IS BETTER THAN BRREAKIN' DA RULES IN EVERY ASPECT!
The point is, Blitz sacked up and made much better Nickelodeon games, pre-Kinnect era though, so perhaps this game was merely a test to see how well they could recreate the design of Fairly Odd Parents in 3D, and honestly, that worked pretty well. Only problem is that they promised a game, and the rest is history.
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