Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg Review

Developer	Sonic Team
Publisher	Sega
Genre	Platformer

Over the past twelve months, the platform genre has undergone a sort of renaissance period. Mario and Sonic have both made appearances, and new games and characters have exploded onto the scene, giving these tried and true mascots a run for their money. Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank have not only hit in big ways with their debut games, but all are primed up for hit sequels. With that in mind, Sonic Team has hatched perhaps the kookiest new character of all with Billy Hatcher. Unfortunately, the kookiness of a little boy running around in a chicken suit doesn’t make up for uninspired gameplay. And while there isn’t necessarily anything fundamentally wrong with Billy Hatcher, there really isn’t anything special about either.

Gameplay - Like the gameplay, the story behind Billy Hatcher’s adventure is a relatively simple one. Dark Raven, king of the crows, has placed a blanket of darkness over Morning Land by encasing the Chicken Elders within golden eggs. It’s Billy Hatcher’s quest to not only save each of the Elders, but to also rid Morning Land of the nefarious crows and their leader.

The primary game mechanic that drives the game is Billy’s ability to roll eggs around Morning Land, which allows him to defeat enemies, hatch sidekicks with special abilities, and solve various puzzles. Without an egg accompanying him, Billy’s abilities are next to nothing, being able only to run, jump, and hang from ledges. However, with an egg, Billy’s a crow stomping, puzzle solving machine.

The process of rolling the eggs is surprisingly easy, thanks to the design implemented by Sonic Team. The only problems one encounters are the occasional need to roll your egg in very precise directions. Oftentimes, the egg is too bulky to make sharp corners or run over small objects without a second attempt. Again, this is merely a minor irritation and nothing that hampers the game.

The challenges themselves range from the shallow and yawn inducing, to somewhat satisfying. The most common puzzles involve the aforementioned sidekick hatching. When Billy hatches certain eggs, an animal with different abilities such as water, fire, or ice, will allow Billy to obtain items, get through obstacles, and more.

The problem with Billy Hatcher’s single player mode is that it really does nothing to inspire. The levels in each of the game’s worlds have extremely similar goals, and many of the quests seem to be of the carbon copied, stereotypical platforming variety. At the end of each level, you’ll collect an Emblem of Courage, which will allow you to open up the next level, similar to Mario’s shines and Sonic’s Chaos emeralds. And then there’s the item collecting. While not nearly the fetch quest that other platformers wind up becoming, Billy won’t be outdone. He’s got his Chick Coins of the yellow, red, and blue variety, food for the eggs, and other items vital to completing the game. And then there’s the game’s length, or lack thereof. Billy Hatcher can easily be completed in a mere weekend’s time, and really offers no incentive to play through again. Sure, gamers can unlock Sonic by collecting enough of the yellow coins, but chances are you’ll collect them during your first run-through.

Surprisingly, where Billy Hatcher shines like two eggs sunny side up is the multiplayer mode. The fact that Sega barely mentioned the Battle Modes prior to release is somewhat of a mystery as this contains the most replay value of the game. In typical GameCube fashion, up to four gamers can play via split screen. IN Time Battle, the player that defeats the most opponents within a preset time limit wins. Stock Battle gives gamers to beat the yolk out of their opponents until they have no lives left. And Hatch Mode challenges players to hatch the most eggs before the game is finished.

Graphics - While Billy Hatcher is by no means an ugly game, like the gameplay, it’s an incredible underachiever. The backgrounds are blocky and bland, and even more confounding is how the frame rate can jitter and jump in some areas. This is the GameCube, guys! Surely these problems could have been ironed out.

The overall look, as you can deduce from the screenshots, is signature Sonic Team stuff. Bright, primary colors with almost sickeningly cute personality dripping from the screen, and the enemy characters are almost laughable. Again, it’s not a bad looking game, but so much more could have been done that it makes one wonder if the capable developers at Sonic Team just decided to call this one in.

Sound - The mute button is your best friend. Honestly. The “soundtrack” and audio effects in Billy Hatcher are like nails to a chalkboard. Every time you’re ready to hatch an egg and have to listen to Billy’s “cock-a-doodle-doo!” call, you’ll roll your eyes and pray for it to be over with. The music is similarly annoying, with each tune being a few brief irritating phrases looped over and over again making you long for the Xbox’s audio ripper option. Even those familiar with the bizarre aural experience in Wario World will be surprised with just how grating a game’s musical accompaniment can be.

Overall Value - The experience of Billy Hatcher can be summed up in one word: underachieving. And if that doesn’t work for you, here’s another: disappointing. It’s certainly not a bad game, but it’s also not one that’ll get you excited to jump back into. The play mechanic of rolling an egg around, which is quite similar to that of Hasbro Interactive’s Glover for the N64, is neither kooky nor original enough to warrant such an amazing lack of depth and variety. And the music, my Lord the music. It’s not often that a game’s soundtrack can almost undo any enjoyment the game may have possessed.

Sonic Team has been legendary for creating games that inspire, amuse, and break new ground. Unfortunately, while Billy Hatcher is a slightly amusing romp, the game does none of these things, instead being a game that warrants no more than a rental. Come on guys. How about that Nights sequel?

Review by John Luedtke