story | gameplay | my thoughts |
level structure | controls | options
BASIC INFO:
Title ....... V.I.P. (North America, Europe)
Players ..... 1
Genre ....... multiple
Subgenre .... multiple
Platform .... Game Boy Color (2001)
STORY:An actor has been nominated to receive an award, but his fiancee has informed the press that he's gone missing. You and your buddies have been put on the case. Not only do you need to find the missing person, but you need to do so in time for him to catch the awards ceremony tonight.
GAMEPLAY:
This game is composed of multiple segments, each of which is its own genre.
Throughout the game, you must watch your health and lives. Your health is represented by 5 hearts, with any damage taking off 1 heart. Lose all your hearts and you will lose a life. You can stock a total of 9 extra lives. In addition to items that restore health and grant extra lives, there are also shields that grant invincibility in all parts of the game.
There are 3 pseudo-racing segments. Your goal is to reach the end of a set map without losing your lives. Working against you are environmental hazards that will take away your health (other cars that can crash into you, sandpits that will turn you over) and your limited fuel. If you run out of fuel, you lose a life. Fortunately, there are plentiful fuel refills (health, and life) scattered along the road.
A 4th pseudo-racing segment is similar to the above, only it is vastly simplified by the removal of fuel. You are, coincidentally, driving a boat.
There are 2 skating segments. Again, your goal is to reach the end of a set map without losing your lives. Working against you are banana peels, irate kiosk staffers, balloons, and the dreaded stairs. Skate forward and jump over these obstacles to reach your goal. If you want to get fancy, grab some balloons while you're at it.
There are 4 shooter segments, though they are equally divided among two different genres. In two segments, you guide a character on-foot across a standard "full of baddies" map. This is done in a top-down, 3rd person perspective. You cannot run out of bullets, but you can collect, use, and run out of grenades. The other two segments are standard vertically scrolling shooters, complete with ammo upgrades.
Finally, there are 4 platforming sections (2 of which are consecutive). The platforming sections are fairly standard run and jump/gun, with baddies to shoot and all that whatnot. You can run out of ammo only in the platforming sections; consequentially, there are items which restore you ammo. If you do run out of ammo, you are restricted to close-range combat using your purse.
THOUGHTS:
I enjoyed this game. It's not hard by any stretch of the imagination, mind you, but I did enjoy exploring stages and getting to see what the next stage was like.
I also experienced a bit of "baby's first shooter/racer". I typically avoid those genres, and I can't say I cared much for the racing segments in this game. However, the scrolling shooter segments were entertaining, and I have a greater interest in "real" scrolling shooters now.
LEVEL STRUCTURE:
14 named segments. You can obtain passwords.
CONTROLS:
D-pad .... move cursor; move character
select ...
start .... pause
A ........ confirm/enter/choose
B ........ cancel
OPTIONS:
Choose to play in English, Spanish, or French (a screenshot on Mobygames suggest that the EU version may also offer Italian and German, but those are not options on my NA copy). Turn music on or off. Turn sound effects on or off.
EXTRA NOTES:
Based off an "action/comedy-drama" TV show aired from 1998 to 2002.
There are V.I.P. games for other platforms, but they do not appear to be the same as this game. The game for the GBA is, according to Mobygames, "a side-scroller with 8 levels", while the PS2/PC game is a fighting game.
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