By: Visual Concepts

I always like innovative concepts in video games. Sometimes, you get a game that breaks from the usual cookie-cutter game formula, and even if they don't sell as well as some awful games do, well...that's everyone else's loss. I thought at first that Ooga Booga would not be a game that would sustain interest very long. I was right in one respect and wrong in another. But it's undeniable that it brings a brand new perspective to the video game landscape.

Ooga Booga is a game geared towards the multiplayer experience. Hailed as the "Mario Party killer" (by me, no less), this game places you on an island in the Pacific, where you get to choose among different tribal leaders to gain the favour of their god, Ooga Booga. You can choose between Twitchy, Fattie, Hottie and Hoodoo, for starters, but you can unlock many secret characters, among them as Superguy, a dwarf or my favourite, Abe Lincoln. All the characters have different attributes, giving the player some reason to choose differently when they play.

The game has 3 modes of play. In the first mode, everyone is pitted against each other on an island, where the goal is to smack everyone around with various objects and weapons. On top of that, you can also smack up a boar or bird and use them to gain an advantage against your opponents. The player that assaults the most opponents get more points, and thus wins. The second mode is Boar Polo, where you make teams and have to roll a giant molten boulder through the other team's net. Last, there's Rodeo, which is just like the first mode, except that you can only score points if you hit your opponents while riding a boar.

Graphically, this game is pretty cool. Everything is cartoonish in nature and the shading and lighting effects are really good. When a fireball flies across the terrain, beautiful realtime shadows are cast. Overall, the colours are sharp and bright and the characters are nicely crafted. Very well done. The sounds of the game are also very good, from the crack of lightning bolts to the 'boing' sounds when you ram a guy with the boar. Nicely exaggerated cartoon sounds abound. I especially like the 'Survivor'-esque blowing of a horn before the round starts.

As I wrote earlier, the focus of this game is multiplayer. If you play the single-player mode, your interest will quickly dissipate. The only reason it's there is to unlock characters and weapons. But get 3 of your friends, and you have a whole new ball game. The winner of a particular rounds can unleash taunts to his opponents, which gets the competitive spirit flowing. This game is a must-have if you have access to 4 controllers and a solid bunch of buddies. Even if you don't, the online option allows you to link up with people across the continent, via the Dreamcast's built-in 56K modem. The only problem is that you may get stuck with someone with a bad connection, leading to crazy lagtime. But if you're lucky, the lag will be negligeable, and you'll be playing through all hours of the day. My major complaint is that this game should have had more varieties of play, but it's still solid and will lead to much enjoyment. If you own a Dreamcast, Ooga Booga will spin many times in your system for a while to come.

DroopyMcC
Queen