User Review Retro

Hot Potato! (GBA) (Retro)
User Review

Product Information:

Publisher: Bam!
Developer: Pukka
Genres: Puzzle

Game Features:

Single player

Local Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Co-operative

Review Approach:

Just some observations and reflections (perhaps trivia for someone, or nonsense for another one) on apparently small and insignificant games, sometimes homebrews, which reveal, upon closed examination, a certain verve, originality and involvement ability.

This is one of those titles that have passed, and still pass, unnoticed and remain unknown to most people, even to puzzle lovers; I am still surprised of this, wondering why. In terms of graphics and playability, it is a small gem, which must be unearthed, freed from the dust that time has deposited, and brought back to life.

The objective of the game is to make proceed a bus (I'd say a simple box) containing 6 alien potatoes(!) forward along the city road, and throw 3 of them at a time towards other potatoes (red or blue), scattered along the way, making them disappear and so allowing the passage of the bus itself.

The difficulty lies in the fact that:

a) The alien potatoes disappear only if their respective colors match;
b) The potato box proceeds uninterruptedly forward, willy-nilly, clear or crowded road;
c) Three potatoes are necessarily thrown at a time.

634798-hot-potato-game-boy-advance-screenshot-hit-me.png

In addition to the (obvious) use of the Dpad to move in the 4 directions, it is possible, with the L/R buttons to rotate the potatoes available, with B to throw them foward and with A to replace their position (right/left).

For each stage, the aim of the game is to eliminate the number and type of potatoes specified at the beginning.
A life is lost every time the bus gets stuck between the bottom of the screen and the potatoes on the asphalt.
In addition to red and blue potatoes, a green one rarely appears in the box, which has the advantage of eliminating an entire row of them, and so should be kept for emergency case.

There are also various bonuses that help to increase the final score.
At a certain point you will meet 3 numbers on the asphalt, which would seem to modify the vehicle speed (even if slightly); and it is not clear why one should choose the higher value and so increase the difficulty.

This game, although strange and unusual it may seem for a puzzle, gives the possibility to save at any point in the game, and so to exit to the initial menu.

Graphically it is well done, and even if the environments (paved roads) are a bit repetitive, what is positive is the accurate and funny animations of the sprites, whether they wave, swing, scream, eat and vomit (!), or inflate a chewing gum and make it explode!
I only noticed minimal slowdown when the screen is clogged with moving potatoes, that is when player is about to get crushed and lose a life.

The various effects and giggle/grimace/splash sounds are fun and hit the spot, appropriate to this setting, but still nothing out of the ordinary. So the bgm is fun and light too, but perhaps a little banal.

Excluding the main 'mission game', the lack of options and other game variants makes it a bit repetitive, in the long run maybe cloying and, for some players, short-lived.
Nevertheless, on the whole it is a fun and engaging game, that requires, especially in advanced stages, continuous attention, quick reflexes and total immersion skills; in my opinion, thanks also to the ability to save at any time, ideal for a 'hit and run' challenge between the various life obligations.

After all it is yet another title that will hardly be of interest to today's youth, accustomed to many other more complex, flashy and sophisticated games; so It is recommended mostly to the last, nowdays rare, lovers of simple puzzles like Tetris, PuyoPuyo or even Puzzle Bobble.

As always, pointing out that I am not a native english speaker (as you all have noticed), I apologize for my limited and often repetitive vocabulary, still hoping to have given a clear and suggestive, albeit brief, idea of this game features.

Verdict

What I Liked ...

Fun Animations
Engaging Gameplay

What I Didn't Like ...

Banal BGM
Repetitive Environments

7.5

out of 10

Overall

Reactions: 0xFFFFFFFF and HylianBran

Deleted member
Mar 30, 2021

634798-hot-potato-game-boy-advance-screenshot-hit-me-png.254437

Reactions: BlazeMasterBM

Louse
Apr 1, 2021

If I could see, this would be great.

Reactions: HylianBran

I‘ve never heard of this game, but it looks fun!

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