It’s rare that a game license means anything to me. Unless the story revolves around characters I’m already interested in, I usually skip it. El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera broke the mold. Its characters and visuals were so strange and different that I just had to know what was going on.

Having never seen the Nickelodeon series, I was surprised to learn about the difficult relationship he has with his father and grandfather. His dad fights crime – his grandpa creates it. The game focuses on Sartana of the Dead, a super villain that wants to rule the land of Miracle City. She discovers a hidden power: the Jeweled Mule of Maya. It strengthens her guitar, which she then uses as a weapon to summon the dead. Next thing you know, Sombrero-wearing skeletons are flooding the streets, and El Tigre is the only one who can stop them from turning Miracle City into the land of hopelessness.

The gameplay based on this story could have gone anywhere. The most likely candidates were a mini-game compilation and a weak action/adventure that replaced combat with an hours’ worth of item collecting. Fortunately for myself, the reviewer of El Tigre, and all the kids that will find it in their stockings on Christmas morning, this game took neither path. What you get inside the typical-looking DS game card is a 2D action title that borrows most of its content from Devil May Cry. It’s perfectly kid-safe and comes chock full of repetition. But at least you’ll be having fun until the game starts to air reruns.

The Claw of Life

I had titled this subhead “The Claw of Death” until I remembered that I’m reviewing a kid’s title and should probably be more positive. And what’s more positive than living? Unless you’re the enemy, in which case it’s back to the graveyard for you. Players will spend the entire game re-terminating the walking dead. Every stage is jam-packed with skeletons, but they’re not the only enemies you’ll have to put back into the ground.

Sartana of the Dead appears as a boss battle, and you’ll battle a couple different types of big-armed ex cons. That’s one way to describe them – the striped shirt, tattoos and oversized arms are practically an advertisement for prison. Their arms work to shield themselves from attack, but they’re no match for El Tigre’s pummeling arsenal. His single claw attack doesn’t lead into the expected array of combos. But it can be used repeatedly, so much that it performs like a combo. His special moves are executable as soon as the charge meter has been filled. And how do you fill it, you ask? That’s simple: enemies leave glowing orbs behind their disappearing corpses. You know the rest. You’ve seen this before in a zillion games following Devil May Cry’s success.

But when it works, there’s not much to complain about outside of the lack of originality. El Tigre is most successful for its way-above-average speed. The game moves very fast, and if you love to run and jump through a level as much as I do, it can move even faster. That’s because he never walks, El Tigre can only run, and if you add jumping to the mix, his speed doubles. There are no agonizingly painful stops in between the jumps – he lands smoothly and continues running, just like a tiger.

I’m frequently turned off by the way action games use the Nintendo DS’ touch screen. El Tigre doesn’t merely throw it in for the sake of advertisements. “Check out our game kids! We support the touch screen!” Nope, it isn’t like that. El Tigre uses this feature to separate each special attack. You start the process (and drain a full charge meter) by pressing one of the shoulder buttons. The picture receives a green tint, showing that the power has been activated. This feature doesn’t last forever – quickly draw a line, circle or squiggle on the bottom screen to unleash one of El Tigre’s strongest attacks. The type of attack performed will be based on what you draw/scratch. Ex: draw a line upward to uppercut three times. Best of all, these attacks aren’t limited to just one enemy. If several enemies are within range, several of them will be re-buried* in the process.

*Re-buried: the act of burying an enemy for the second time. Also see re-berry’d: the resurrected pie ingredient on Pushing Daisies.

El Tigre’s only major downfall is the same thing that’s plagued every Devil May Cry-inspired title (including DMC’s own sequels): every stage follows the same path. You go in, defeat enemies, fight a boss and… Go in, defeat more enemies, and fight another boss. The game is also fairly short, another concern no beat’-em-up can escape.

Does this kill El Tigre’s enjoyment level? Not at all. Fans of the show will be highly satisfied with this one, more so than they have likely been with other licensed games.

Gameplay: 7.2
El Tigre’s developers know what it means to create a game that controls well. It isn’t just a fun action/beat-‘em-up – this game is also one of the smoothest titles on the DS. The gameplay fits perfectly with the target market. But if by some chance you don’t like the game, it definitely won’t be caused by a lack of speed.

Graphics: 6.9
The graphics are clear and consistent, the frame rate is high, and the villains are inventive. Frame rate and touch controls excluded, however, El Tigre could’ve been made for the Game Boy Advance.

Sound: 7.0
El Tigre’s has a good score, but its music doesn’t change much between stages. The sound effects are, in the tradition of almost every licensed game, annoying at best.

Difficulty: Easy
Easy, but not cakewalk easy.

Concept: 7.0
This may not be a new concept, but El Tigre plays better than most licensed games.

Multiplayer: 6.0
Multi-card co-op for two; the second player controls Frida.

Overall: 7.0
A great title for anyone that’s a fan of El Tigre. Unlike most repetitive action games, you won’t want to leave this adventure behind (permanently) when it gets boring. Its boredom subsides quickly, and after that you’ll have the urge to return.
 

*****
Here are a couple of cheats to help you play the game: