Nintendo - http://maxpages.com/supern/Hey_You

Hey You, Pikachu! was originally known as Pikachu VRS when it was released in Japan in late 1998. At the time it was released it stood at the forefront of console games with basing gameplay around voice recognition technology. As usual Nintendo was willing to try something different, and what better way was there to do it than with its famed Pokémon license. More specifically with the most famous Pokémon named Pikachu. Well two years later the game is rushing its way into American stores, but is it outdated? Or does this "pet" title still accomplish what it set out to do – entertain the heart of a child? Find out.
Features

Fully interactive voice recognition
Mount microphone onto your controller
Tell Pikachu what to do
Play games with Pikachu
Collect items and "friend" points
Gameplay
As you jump into the game it's clear that it has been designed for children. It shows a picture of your mother calling, "It's morning. Time to get up!" To which you reply, "…That's Mom's voice." If you've somehow been led to believe that this was Nintendo's version of Seaman this is the portion of the review where you say, "Ah yes, now I fully grasp I may not enjoy this game very much if I'm over the age of ten."

The story begins as Mom reminds you that you have a test with Professor Oak today. She hands you your trusty "PokéHelper" -- a handheld device that reads your feelings and conveys them to Pokémon-- and you're on your way to meet the Professor. When you meet the Professor he presents you to a Pokémon and tells you to talk to him until he notices you. During this process you are introduced to the control scheme which basically consists of pressing the Z-button and talking into the microphone. When you say something it floats through the air in the form of a bubble and pops as it hits Pikachu in the head. So, as for the test you basically bombard Pikachu with "Hey you! Come over here!" bubbles until he recognizes you. In a sense, the test is simply earning his trust, which just happens to be as simple as yammering into the microphone until he greets you. IGN64 tested this by saying words such as evil, suffering, destruction, sorrow, pain, etc. At the end of the test Professor Oak tells you, "You passed the test! Amazing! Even a wild Pokémon can tell you that you're good-hearted!"

So, as you can tell voice recognition is very primitive and often very limited. Of course, as mentioned before, this is geared for the younger crowd. As the game progresses Pikachu does learn new phrases. Each morning you wake up and take Pikachu out to a new part of the surrounding areas. It may be the fishing hole, a garden, or forest, and each place has its own purpose. At the fishing hole you'll be able to teach Pikachu to fish. He casts his line in the water and you tell him when to "reel it in." In Hey You, Pikachu all the words that are important are highlighted in a certain color. Words that Pikachu knows are always a dark pink color. To make things even easier, Professor Oak is always by your side giving you guidance.

There's a lot of on-screen help too. In your PokéHelper you can keep track of the days you've spent with Pikachu, the number of times you've spoken to it, and how many Pika Points you've earned. Pika Points basically are a numerical representation of how well your friendship with Pikachu has developed. Also, when Pikachu wants to speak with you two dialogue signs appear on the sides of your screen to let you know that it's interested in sparking up a conversation. There are two other meters on the screen that measure Pikachu's happiness and electricity level. To get Pikachu to do the things you want it to do you have to keep it happy, and its happiness is measured by a pink "liquid" surrounding a heart icon. Further, a few things actually call on the power of Pikachu's thunderbolt. To monitor this there's a lightning icon on the screen. Much like a battery it will run out if you use it unsparingly. Fortunately, it automatically recharges.

Overall, the actual gameplay is very simplistic, and rightly so as this isn't meant to entertain adults. There's even a portion in this voice-driven title that features hide-and-seek, which ends up being equivalent to peek-a-boo. Unfortunately the simplistic gameplay is threatened by the awful controls. Everything is viewed from a first-person perspective via a horrible camera system. You use the control stick to turn your head and walk, but it ends up feeling like you're in slow motion. Young children and adults alike will have a hard time keeping up with Pikachu who runs all over the place. Now, Nintendo tried to remedy this somewhat by making the camera automatically lock onto Pikachu sometimes, but you just end up walking backwards. It's almost worse. When coupled with the poor voice recognition it can be very frustrating. In one level you have to put together a stew, and to do that you must collect the ingredients and give them to Pikachu. So after you wander around the area slowly and sloppily because of the terrible control, you have to tell Pikachu it's okay to call Magnemite. However, Pikachu often misinterprets "okay to call Magnemite" with "eat the food item and sabotage the game." In the end navigating and seriously playing Hey You, Pikachu! will prove very tasking for children.

Graphics
This title is based around a very first generation engine. All the textures are very low resolution and the draw distance is weak. There's a lot of pop-up to be found no matter where you go. The only thing that really looks good is Pikachu's lighting bolt. On the plus side the game is very colorful which should please plenty of drooling kids. And, the one exceptional thing about the game is the animation. Pikachu has a limited vocabulary, to say the least, so it's forced to communicate through its expressions. You'll see Pika get frustrated, happy, sleepy, angry, confused, and everything in between. The animation is very smooth as well, which is a trademark for Nintendo games. This is one area that is very pleasing. It really brings Pikachu to life. Without the animation, the title would probably fail miserably.

Sound
Within this new Pokémon offering lies a whole library of happy-go-lucky circus-esque tunes. It works out okay as Hey You, Pikachu! is meant to seem cartoony, but anyone taking note of the music is bound to get annoyed. Parents be warned, you'll want to keep the volume low. The music is set on a looping track so you only hear about 10 seconds of original music per level. The sound effects are also mediocre and sometimes uncomfortably fake. Where the development team did go right in the sound department is character voice. All the Pokémon say their names just like they do on the cartoon show. Pikachu in particular says "Pik-a-chuuuu", "Pik-a", "Piiiiii-kaaa", and so on. There's probably over 20 different ways in which this little critter says its own name. When set in motion on top of the awesome animation the end result is great. You can really understand how Pikachu is feeling.

Sign Guestbook

View Guestbook

Kenny Harding

Click Here to Vote

The Super N

Kanno41@aol.com - jsroach1@hotmail.com - bigshot25@hotmail.com - dmakein@escape.com

Visitors: 00432

Page Updated Fri Jan 5, 2001 8:24pm EST