Game Description

Oh, no! The evil Dr. X has kidnapped Action Man's faithful companion as part of a plan to take over the world. The band of nefarious criminals has set up secret bases throughout the world and is creating poisons to control all the animals. It is up to you to guide "The Greatest Hero of Them All," Action Man, by swimming, climbing, jumping, and using a street luge to track the dastardly perpetrator and his henchmen. However, before you can embark on the quest, you'll have to go through training adventures to hone your skills and get ready for the missions.

In the Urban mission, you'll luge your way through underground tunnels and sewers filled with toxic waste to combat Dr. X's biker gangs and end his experiments on the plants and animals. Next, the insidious Plague Locust has control of the jungles and is developing a toxic gas to destroy cities. Using mutated creatures created in his jungle laboratory, he plans to unleash a swath of infectious gas to kill all plants and animals in its path. Jumping across chasms and using top-secret equipment, you'll have to run this insane nut to ground. Then, put on the thermals as you head toward the Arctic and search for the certifiable Professor Gangrene who plans to contaminate the oceans of the world with his deadly poisons. Track him down through the frozen tundra and destroy is laboratory. After cleaning up the Urban, Jungle and Arctic locales, you must track Dr. X to his secret island laboratory and prevent him from experimenting on Action Man's dog and other animals. This mysterious island is at the heart of Dr. X's world conquering plans and must be destroyed at all costs!

In Action Man: Raid on Island X, developed by Intelligent Games and published by Hasbro Interactive, you have access to specialized equipment such as binoculars or gun sights for each task. Throughout the adventure, you can cash in earned Power Points for secret prizes and printable documents. Action Man can take spy camera photographs at any locale in the game and save them to his Trophy Room to be printed or saved for posterity in a game controlled with either mouse or keyboard. On-screen advice and hints are available through a right mouse click.

So, whether you're bungee jumping, scaling dangerous cliffs, avoiding toxic waste and sludge, scuba diving, or slithering your way through underground tunnels and sewers, Action Man: Raid on Island X offers an action based adventure game straight from the television show on Fox Kids. The game is rated for ages five and up. ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

Action Man, aka The Original Movable Fighting Man, began his existence in January 1966 when Palitoy Ltd. of Coalville, Leicester (England released the 12-inch action figure. It was an effort to replicate the success of the American GI Joe toy figure introduced in 1964. The toy went through a 10-year hiatus during the glut of Star Wars paraphernalia and was re-introduced to the world of gaming in 1993 as a changed man (redefined view of the world and updated physique).

The mid-90s saw an expansion of the franchise to include new characters associated with Action Man including Rapid Fire, Super Ninja, Dr. X and Thai Kick Boxer among others. In 1996, even more ninja figures in the line were produced to capitalize on the Doom craze sweeping the gaming public. Games on several other platforms including Game Boy Color and PlayStation have also been released. ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Lack of meaningful gameplay is a game killer nor is it much fun to print out cutouts and dress the hero in different clothes. Gameplay becomes repetitive since the already limited control functions are identical for each level. ~ Nick Woods, All Game Guide

Production Credits

INTELLIGENT GAMES

Executive Producer: Matthew Stibbe

Director of Development: Kevin Shrapnell

Technical Director: Philip Veale

Creative Director: Richard Evans

THE ISLANDX TEAM

Program Manager: Neil Jones-Cubley

Team Leader: Lee Morse

Assistant Producer: Malcolm Lamont

Level Designer: Darren Russell

Technical Lead: Simon Evers

Programming: Sunlich Chudasama

Additional Programming: Bruce Heather

Artists: Matthew Bell, Tancred Dyke-Wells, Kees Gajentaan

Additional Art: Mike Elliot, Matthew Startin

Production Manager: Jay Muggeridge

Production Technicians: Oliver Ashford, Darren Esp, Jamie Ferguson, Abdul Hakim, Steven Hawkes, Alice Kletskain

Audio Interactive (Sound and Music): Richard Joseph, James Hannigan, Rebecca Parnell

HASBRO INTERACTIVE

Producer: Shahid Ahmad

Brand Manager: Sara Armstrong

Worldwide Lead Tester: Stuart Thody

Localization Project Manager: Viktorya Hollings

Executive Producer: Chris Down

HI QA: Darryl Shaw, Wayne Gardner, Christine Fisher, Luke Wetheral, John de Souza, Armen Sarkisian, Rueben Utudjian, Gareth Price, Rob Lynch

Babel Multimedia QA: Will Morgan, Simon Lawrence, Paul Chapman, Louis Campbell, Wayne Joseph, Anu Koskela, Jorge Oliveri, Dan Croucher, Emma Wright, Ewen Rubython, Katja Helmich, Erik Jalevik, Angela Vermond, Monica Atienza, Valeria Motterle, Jude Larsen, Ben Wibberly

Special Thanks to: The Hawksmoor Junior School, Ann Foster, Jenny Freeman, Sarah Taylor, Zak Shrapnell, Alex Leckie, Romy Liversidge, Eleanor Jones-Cubley, Aidan Jones-Cubley, Daniel Wheeler, Louise McTighe, Jane Fraser-Hook, Richard Gamble, Jonathan Sully, Kevin Mullard, Rik Alexander, Patrick Allen ~ Michael L. House, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Action Man: Raid on Island X is a confusing title simply because you don't have to play much to win. The target age of five and up is misleading, as the simplicity of play is more attuned to children under that age since you can become the hero without extended effort. The scenes on the box make it seem as though you'll control your character in a side scrolling action game but, in execution, that's far from the case.

Before you begin the main game, you must go through the training island where you learn use of the equipment. Unfortunately, it's a waste of time since all you're doing is either moving the mouse side-to-side or clicking on the left mouse button. You don't even need to dodge any obstacles or shoot any robots and you'll still hear a voice say "You're amazing, action man." Not only does this happen on the training island but throughout the entire game.

Action Man can't be damaged or run out of ammunition, it doesn't matter if you destroy the enemies or not and you never lose bad guys in a chase since they slow down for you. The only motivation to destroy more enemies and dodge obstacles is to gain more "power points" that allow access to printable cutout pictures of Action Man memorabilia, most of which are utterly useless. The same pictures can most likely be found on the Internet for free, without the need to purchase a video game.

The action does change a bit when you confront one of the three bosses. Here, you must fire upward at them and score three direct hits. Dr. X is slightly different in that you have to deflect his shots up at his shield and slowly disintegrate it before the final blow. Even though it actually matters whether you try or not, you still can't die, be hit or run out of ammo.

Lastly, Action Man isn't a very exciting superhero with his muscles and gym clothes. Although the hype indicates you'll be rock climbing, scuba diving or bungee jumping, in fact, all you do is simply move the mouse back and forth and press the left mouse button. On screen, your character performs these actions but the interaction is so limited, it feels as if you're watching a commercial. For example, when flying over white water chasms on a rope, your only input is to lift Action Man's legs up to avoid obstacles by clicking the left mouse button. In the long run, though, it doesn't matter whether you do or not since you'll win the level regardless.

The mid-level videos of the action figures are amusing but the game takes itself too seriously and is reminiscent of the series on Nickelodeon that spoofed action figures. The game has comical possibilities but never makes a real joke about anything. What you really get for your money in Action Man: Raid on Island X is full motion video of people holding up action figures, various levels that require monotonous and limited control with different scenery and printable cutouts of Action Man accessories.

The game takes less than two hours to complete from start to finish and since you can't die or save, it can't be extended or shortened. Action Man: Raid on Island X is perfect for a child under five since coordination and game savvy is not a prerequisite to winning -- for anyone else, though, it's tedious with no substance. ~ Nick Woods, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

The graphics are fairly good, even though the full motion video can be a bit grainy. Action Man looks like he's rendered from a real person and the scenery is all vividly colorful. You can dress the hero in various outfits and his appearance does vary throughout the game. ~ Nick Woods, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

The music is decent for an action game but the constant voice that repeats how great the hero is quickly becomes annoying. The same voice tells you what a great shot you are even if you completely miss the target. ~ Nick Woods, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Even without trying hard, you'll get most of the power points the first time you beat the game. There is no upside to replaying the game. ~ Nick Woods, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

The booklet has more documentation than you need to understand the simple gameplay. ~ Nick Woods, All Game Guide