Video Game Review: Cartoon Network Punch-Time Explosion XL for the Nintendo Wii

If you're like me, you were a fan of cartoons when you were younger.  In fact, I'm pretty sure you were initially skeptical and then giddy with glee when you heard about and watched the Cartoon Network for the first time.  I mean, think about it:  the world's first and only cartoon network.  All cartoons, all the time, no matter what time of day it is.  Unfortunately, that's not the case today as the network has taken extended measures to try and mimic its competition.  I can't go a few seconds without seeing a commercial that resembles another poor attempt at copying a Nickelodeon or a Disney Channel show.  That's why I'm glad I can hearken back to the good, old days, where I would enjoy seeing most of the syndicated cartoons of my youth come onto this network and give me more reason to enjoy life.    What more could you ask for?  Then we were treated to "World Premiere Toons".

World Premiere Toons were new cartoons made by the current crop of artists, directors, and the like working for Hanna Barbera Studios, which had become the property of Turner television.  While some cartoons became long-standing series (Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory), others existed to just be short cartoons to fill up timeslots on the network (O'Rats, Yoink of the Yukon, Yucky Duck, George and Junior).  As time passed, and I got older, the cartoons got less and less appealing, due to redundancy or just lack of originality.  This wasn't just limited to the cartoons of old, oh no.  A whole new crop of toons came out, and for every one or two that were standouts, various others fell into the "mediocre" range.  By then, I was old enough to watch other things, and when I returned to Cartoon Network, it was for heavily censored anime or for Adult Swim, a crop of cartoons from Hanna Barbera that skewed for the older audience and their various ranges forthwith (ex.  stoners, hipsters, night owls, etc).  So, when it came for a video game to come out pertaining to Cartoon Network and the various stars, I was hooked, if not for the fact that a lot of the stars of old were going to be there. 

Initially, Cartoon Network Punch-Time Explosion was released for the Nintendo 3DS, with plans to release it on consoles to come later.  I picked it up, played it, and was saddened by the fact that it was missing a great deal of things that I would want, like more characters, more stages, better graphical representation, and also, the 3D effects were rather paltry.  So, when the game was finally released for the Wii, I sold back the 3DS copy, got this version and completed it.  And now, my thoughts:

Graphics

The graphics for this game are pretty decent for a game that's taking 2-D animations and making fleshed out 3-D sprites for them.  It does look weird when they turn around and you can see the backs of their heads.  But, I guess that's to capture some type of logic in their design.  See, this game plays a lot like, if not a whole lot like, Super Smash Brothers and the games in those series.  More specifically, the game comes off like a poor man's Super Smash Brothers Brawl, but, it gets a pass for, well, being different enough, in some instances, to be original, unlike TMNT: Smash Up, which was made by most of the people who made SSB: Brawl, and comes off like a move-for-move clone, with bad physics, and average gameplay.  That said, the characters in this game are 3-D sprites, platforming on a 2-D plane.  Usually, when that happens, the palette just flips over when characters are facing a certain direction.  In this game, that doesn't happen, as they actually look like they'd look in our eyes if they were facing a certain way.  That's pretty cool.  But other than that, the polygons looks jagged and blocky for some characters, but smooth and rendered for others, probably to separate the art styles of the characters themselves.  Also, sadly, there are more frames to work with in this game than its 3DS counterpart.  However, since the characters resemble that of their cartoon counterparts, some characters will look oversized, while others smaller.  This makes for some difficult hit detection, as you will find yourself missing by a wide or narrow margin, but the cpu-controlled opponents, well, don't.   The backgrounds also fully animate, with various characters from the cartoons in question.  Just don't expect the greatest work of art in the world when you see them.  Again, this is to represent how the cartoon looks, as translated to 3-D.  So, in truth, the graphics aren't horrible, but they aren't ground-breaking. 

Sound

Ok, this is one of the major sticking points with me on this game.  When dealing with music, sound effects and even voice acting, this game falls short.  The main music has a funky, futuristic feel to it, almost to play up the new feel of Cartoon Network for the new generation (nowadays, we refer to Cartoon Network as CN....yea....).  The songs that play for each stage don't come from any of the cartoons.  They are re-orchestrated tracks that have the feel of the cartoons in question.  But, there are no recreated theme songs like for Dexter's Laboratory, or the Powerpuff girls.  When it comes to the sound effects, they are fitting enough, sounding goofy, silly, and rather childish.  However, when these sounds were mapped, someone didn't bother to tell the sound team how to properly synch the sound with the action in question.  At times, you'll hear sound drops, little to no noise, and sound effects out of synch, while trying to keep pace with the other sounds like music and voice acting, along with the characters attacking.  How bad is that, you ask?  My game froze, on 3 to 4 different occasions when this happened.  That's right.  The game froze.  It happened on the 3DS, too.  Did no one bother to see how to fix this?  Is it because Crave Entertainment didn't have enough money, time, or care to try and match the professionalism of HAL Laboratories and SSB: Brawl?  And, on top of all that, the voices representing the characters in the game are a mixed bag of various forms of disappointment.  For some characters (mostly the later cartoons), the voice actors are spot on.  But for the older cartoons, they sound completely different, as a completely different voice actor is covering them.  So, if you're hoping for an authentic Johnny Bravo experience, think again.

Control

The controls of this game allow you to use the Wiimote and Nunchuk, the Classic Controller, or the Gamecube controller, just like Brawl.  No problem there, right?  Well, no, until you get to the controls themselves.  You can attack; use a special movie, jump, block, grab, throw, and the like with the buttons given.  But, don't expect this to be a game that takes all of its cues from Smash Brothers, oh no.  See, instead of giving you the option to jump with the control stick, you can only jump with the jump button.  No matter what configuration you choose, you are stuck jumping with a button.  Yes.  I'm not kidding.  To me, this was a severe failure on the developer's part.  The lack of an option only makes the game more cumbersome as you will find yourself fumbling around for a jump button in the heat of battle, when using a control stick would be much more viable as an option.  Other control issues include combining attacks with directions.  At times, they will respond properly, but most of the time, they won't.  You'll find yourself doing the forward special move instead of the upward special move.  So much for saving you from certain death.  Also, you have to grab items, power ups, and even opponents with the grab button.  If you're looking for a directional combination to allow you to do that, don't bother.  It seems, in order to either make this game very different from any Smash Brothers game, they removed certain control options out, making the game more challenging, and hampering in the process.  It's like playing Sega Superstar Tennis only to find out that it's not as forgiving or reflexive as Mario Power Tennis, hence making it a more challenging arcade experience instead of a fun, pick-up-and-play experience. 

Etc. 

Ok, here's how the story goes:  The narrator, Space Ghost (yes, it's him), is watching television episodes of various shows like Ben 10, Chowder, Dexter's Laboratory, and the like, when suddenly, his remote disappears, and the villains of certain shows start appearing on other shows that don't match with theirs.  All the while, the scenery gets distorted and static-filled, with various scenes disappearing.  As it turns out, it's a massive plot including the villains of these shows destroying the shows in question in order to destroy their nemeses.  So, it's up to a ragtag bunch of heroes and stars to band together, and go from world to world, fighting off the forces of evil and salvaging the cartoon universe.  Yes, it does resemble, if not, blatantly rip off the story behind The Subspace Emissary of SSB: Brawl, but what did you expect: originality in a poor clone of a better game?  Of course not. You play through story mode to see how this story plays out.  While doing so, you unlock the heroes that you battle and join you in your quest to stop evil.  As for the other hidden stars, that's where the extras come into play.  In the shop area, you can buy these other stars to unlock, based on the points you get in story mode and arcade mode.  As for arcade mode, you fight through a slew of cartoon stars, reminiscent to Smash Brothers, and when you start and finish, you see what became of the stars during story mode, in certain side stories leading up to their inclusion on the team.  Other extras to unlock include new stages, alternate starting outfits, and even scenes from various cartoons in question.  Unlike the 3DS version, there's a training mode to allow you to practice your moves.  The multiplayer mode is also pretty straightforward, either in free-for-all mode or team mode.  Sadly, "friendly fire" is on regardless of what mode you chose, so be careful who you are fighting and teaming with.  You can make changes to the various options, allowing for an easier experience when it comes to difficulty, among other things like sound and control and match time.  You can't remove the items, sadly, for you fans of straight fighting, but you can affect how often they show up.  Story mode also has the option to take part in singular episodes or to go through the entire mode if you choose to.  And, now, we get to the most fun parts of the game, in my opinion: the punch-time explosions and the CN assist items.  The assist items appear during battles, and have to be grabbed to be activated.  Once grabbed, a random cartoon star comes out and assists you, like the assist trophies in SSB: Brawl.  While some attack other characters, others drop useful items like food.  But, be careful: some characters attack everyone and anyone on the screen.  This usually happens when you get a villain like Fuzzy Lumpkins.  But, how's this for interesting:  when you pick up a trophy, you can randomly get a team-up maneuver between your character and the assist character.  This is known as a Synergy attack.  It makes for a good cinema and another very powerful attack next to the punch-time explosion itself.  As for the punch-time explosion, all you have to do is fight your opponent and pick up the little orbs they drop.  Once you pick up enough, the PTE meter will glow wildly.  Then, you can activate your punch-time explosion, which varies per character.  It's interesting to see what each character does, and the hilarious effects they have. Sadly, controlling your character once the explosion is activated is somewhat challenging, sometimes leaving you all powered up with no one to attack.

Final Verdict

Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL is a much more fleshed out 3DS port for all the consoles, adding various extras, characters, stages, and much more forgiving control than just your 3DS buttons.  For a clone of Super Smash Brothers, it's a pretty average, if not below average game.  The main selling points of this game lie in the funny commentary from the narrator, the plethora of Cartoon Network characters, and above all, your nostalgia factor when considering these characters.  If you have a little one at home that knows his or her way about the Cartoon Network stars, this is definitely for them.  In fact, it's for the fan in you, too.  But, putting aside the fandom, the game is riddled with cumbersome controls that aren't as useful as one would think, as well as sound issues that can lock up your game, if you aren't careful.  Throw in an almost completely unoriginal storyline, and you have the game in a nutshell.  The sad truth is that the game had a lot of potential.  However, having potential to be a decent clone can only take you so far.  It's worth a rental if you have a free weekend or so, but only a keeper if you can stomach the issues and enjoy your Cartoon Network stars.  Otherwise, don't equate your time with Punch Time....but maybe Adventure Time......