'Stretch Panic' (PS2) Review

Overall Rating

Treasure brings gaming to a new level.

By Eugene Baldovino
September 14, 2001


When master game-creator Miyamoto first introduced the Nintendo GameCube controller, it shocked everyone because it had one huge blue button that stuck out like a black eye on Freshman Friday. The man wanted to design games that only needed one action button. Most gamers probably thought that the cheese had finally slipped off his cracker. It's not fun controlling "Mario" or "Rayman" in a 3D platform game with one move; what next-generation game could you possibly design that uses a single button?

Well, Treasure's "Stretch Panic" is that game. It breaks the tradition of platform game design and would make the master proud, but innovation does not always equal "fun."


Innovation


Treasure had its start at Konami. Remember "Contra" on the NES? Another popular game Treasure created was "Gunstar Heroes" on the Genesis. "Stretch Panic" is its first venture from 2D to 3D.


Most platform games involve puzzle solving. A simple problem in "Tomb Raider," for example, might be trying to get onto a high ledge. But just hitting the jump button to get up there is pretty lame. A real puzzle would involve grabbing a wooden crate and pushing it up to the ledge, then climbing on top of that to finally jump up to the ledge. Now visualize all the buttons you would need to press to execute that sequence. More button combos would create tougher puzzles.


With "Stretch Panic" you have one action button: grabbing. The triangle, circle, X, and square buttons aren't even used in the game. If you want to get onto a high ledge, you must grab a tree sitting above and stretch it until it throws you forward like a slingshot. You use your environment to solve puzzles rather than a combination of game skills. Treasure calls this game feature "Stretchtisity." That's where "Stretch Panic" is innovative.


The ability to grab comes with a subset of techniques. Besides slinging across long distances, you can lift the ground in front of you to create a shield and throw small objects that you grab.


Fun?


You play Linda, who is one of 13 sisters. You happen to be the ugly one who wears the same scarf everyday, but that's a good thing, because everyone else gets abducted by the Demons of Vanity and are transformed into exaggerations of their inner beauty. The demons messed up and instead of possessing Linda, they possessed her scarf. Now she has the power of deformation. The time has come for you to stretch some asphalt.


It takes a while to get used to the controls in "Stretch Panic," because you're really controlling two characters at the same time. You've got Linda on the left analog stick and her demon scarf with the right analog stick. It's like mastering "Unreal Tournament" on the PC and then switching to the PS2 version for the first time -- except harder. The camera angle often places you in wacky situations, but fortunately you can lock the camera angles with the left shoulder buttons. Mastering Linda's movements as well as the camera angles are a lot of work, but it is necessary if you want to get any enjoyment out of the game.


In "Stretch Panic" the emphasis is on the bosses, not level exploration. Treasure describes it as a boss battle game rather than an adventure. I think it's the company's way of saying that it didn't want to invest time in designing levels for a game so revolutionary that gamers might not even touch it. As a result, the game consists of two kinds of areas: the boss areas, and the EX (exterior) worlds.


In order to bust into the boss areas you need to have a certain number of points. You gain these points in the EX worlds. These levels are inhabited with zakos, which are girls with disturbingly big breasts. It's so in your face that I wouldn't recommend a child play it without adult supervision. In the EX worlds, you gain points by stretching zakos until they explode.


So basically, you need to kick butt in the EX worlds to earn entrance into the boss levels. This aspect of the game is boring. It seems like a step backwards in game design. You're thrown back into the ancient days of role playing games like "Dragon Warrior" on the NES, where you march around the world map to kill bad guys in order to build up your experience levels, which allows you to enter tougher areas.


There are no special items or power-ups that add depth to the game, only points. But points are necessary for executing one of Linda's techniques against a boss. Before you can defeat one of your deformed sisters, you need to exorcise the demon that possesses her. You do this by using Linda's scarf bomb. It will cost you five points each use. Exorcising the demons is harder than it sounds, because you need to execute the technique at the right moment, which is different for each boss.


Attention!


The boss areas require some serious attention skills. What happens when you stretch a particular boss' leg instead of her arm? Or what does a boss do when she screams out the words "look out" instead of "come here"?


My favorite boss was Demonica. She is the sister obsessed with horror. You are thrown into an empty circular room with a dozen bolted doors and grates on the floors. The boss runs around the outside and tries to break in. Your job is to keep Demonica outside. The only way to tell where she is hiding is by paying attention to specific sound effects that her footsteps make and by her silhouette that appears when lightning strikes. And that's just the easy part. The difficult part of this puzzle is figuring out how to exorcise the demon from the boss when the boss isn't even in the room.


Each of the 12 boss areas has a specific theme. Demonica's stage looks and sounds like it came out of a "Scooby Doo" cartoon. Mirage, the sister with a passion for Egyptian culture, has her stage on a vast desert. The sister who is a computer nerd, Anne Droid V2.1, has her stage on a small planet in outer space.


The music is quirky and fits the style of the game. The music in the EX worlds will make you feel like chillin', while the music in the boss stages gets you in a serious mood. The sound effects and voice samples are excellent. It is good to note that the sound plays an important role in defeating bosses -- as seen with the Demonica boss.


Is it worth it?


Playing with the bosses in "Stretch Panic" is fun, but gaining points is boring. Some games are easy to pick up, but hard to master; this game is hard to pick up, which in turn makes it hard to master. And it is a very short game, because all you do is fight bosses.


What "Tomb Raider" is to Hollywood movies, "Stretch Panic" is to experimental films. It's not worth spending your hard-earned cash on, but it's worth renting just to see what all the hype is about. You have to give Treasure mad props for being innovative by challenging the current rules of 3D platform game design.


Stretch Panic
Platform: PS2
Developer: Treasure
Publisher: Conspiracy Entertainment
ESRB Rating: Teen

Ratings
Graphics: 5
Sound: 5
Playability: 3
Gameplay: 2
Overall: 3