Handheld gaming is more than a compromise of power and portability. Whether it’s the ability to play anywhere, multitask or hold an entire console in your hands, it’s a special experience consoles have never replicated. In a world where high resolutions and teraflops reign supreme, we take a look at a portable relic every month and reflect on what makes it memorable. Be warned, spoilers may occasionally populate these articles.
The ‘80s had a wealth of cartoons that in theory would have translated very well into games. We have to say in theory because many of these shows were never given such a treatment, but the lack of development for some of these properties like Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light or Inhumanoids may also have been for the best. Successes like the arcade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the exception, and abysmal games like X-Men on NES were much more common. But with our fixation of remakes, reboots and rehashes in general, some of these older properties were given a new life at the turn of the century. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a popular ‘80s cartoon show designed to sell action figures and has had a few reboot attempts. One of these resulted in a 2002 Game Boy Advance game.
He-Man: Power of Grayskull is based on the 2002 animated reboot of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which wasn’t even the first He-man reboot. As such it might miss the mark for those seeking true ’80s nostalgia, but it’s still He-Man and there aren’t too many other He-Man games to choose from. The cartoons primarily existed to sell action figures, and being young when He-Man was notable, the look of the action figures is more clearly remembered than most of the stories. Despite being conditioned to have low expectations for any games based on a licensed TV property, the stranglehold of nostalgia choked out better judgment and it was decided to test if He-Man: Power of Grayskull really had the power.
He-Man is the most powerful man in the universe and the alter ego of Prince Adam, much like Superman and Clark Kent, but instead of wearing glasses for a disguise, he just wears regular clothes. Skeletor is He-Man’s nemesis, and Skeletor and his minions are always causing trouble in Eternia. In one of my more naive moments I believed that He-Man: Power of Grayskull would serve as a refresher for some of the finer points of the general Masters of the Universe plot. Perhaps the game could be a retelling of the first several episodes of the animated series, or maybe even a completely new story that touches on the general plot. One shouldn’t expect a sweeping epic from a handheld action game from the early aughts, but something that helps give perspective and context to the universe is reasonable to expect.
Sadly this is not case with He-Man: Power of Grayskull. Void of any real meaningful story, each level seems to follow the pattern of one of He-Man’s friends has been kidnapped by Skeletor’s forces and it’s up to He-Man to rescue them. There didn’t seem to be a strong underlying narrative that even connects any of this where each level seemed to exist in a vacuum. This could be any generic game that was reskinned to include He-Man characters. It reeks of being a cash grab, but since the original He-Man cartoon was a vehicle to provide advertising and a backstory to help sell action figures, a cash grab game doesn’t seem too far off the mark.
At initial glance, He-Man: Power of Grayskull looks like the type of He-Man game fans would want. It’s an isometric hack and slash, which seems appropriate for the source material. This format has worked well with the Game Boy Advance adaptations of the games based on The Lord of the Rings movies and is also reminiscent of other medieval themed hack and slash games that predated it like Golden Axe. Thirteen levels of He-Man hack and slash goodness sounds great on paper, but in the execution of this title the goodness part is severely lacking.
What He-Man: Power of Grayskull got right was the basic premise. When someone takes control of the strongest man in the universe they want battles where he can show off his He-Manly might. Most of the levels are He-Man wandering about, crushing his enemies and seeing them driven before him. To add variety, there are a few levels where He-Man charges into battle atop Cringer, his faithful feline steed. The levels generally conclude with a battle against some recognizable foe from the cartoon or from an action figure collection, so looking at the basic components of this game, it seems like it could be a decent Masters of the Universe adaptation.
The problem is everything falls apart when it comes to the execution of the otherwise serviceable transition from cartoon to game. The levels are bland and uninspired, and with the exception of the boss fights, most enemies seem like they could have been plucked any other random game. There are still portraits of familiar characters that explain some plot points with no animation, but that could be forgiven due to the hardware. While story expectations were low to begin with, this game doesn’t even make an attempt to weave a cohesive story; it just seems like a series of rescue missions for He-Man’s friends and to beat up Skeletor and his minions. This could also be forgiven if the gameplay mechanics led to a fun gaming experience, but this too falls short. The controls just aren’t very good, and when it comes to hit detection in combat or platforming, this game misses the mark on all accounts.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe has potential to be made into a great game. Unfortunately, He-Man: Power of Grayskull fails to even come close to living up to it. What’s most frustrating is how it could have been a good game. Some simple things like tightening up the mechanics could have made this a decent experience without any major changes. The graphics look terrible when blown up to a large screen, but on the small Game Boy Advance screen, they do have a retro charm to them and the characters are at least recognizable. The lack of any real story and shoddy gameplay mechanics make this nearly impossible to recommend to anyone. The most hardcore of He-Man might find some enjoyment from this in spite of its flaws, as it’s a safe assumption we all have at least a couple games that are filled with janky mechanics and really aren’t that good yet we enjoy anyway. But after playing through the first level, playing further for the sake of this article was an arduous task. He-Man: Power of Grayskull is only available on Game Boy Advance, but there are so many other titles on that platform that should be explored before this one.
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