In a change from our usual focus, this week’s game is one that, surprisingly, isn’t too bad. You are Blue, a blue Smartie who is given a power suit and the job of rescuing all the other Smarties that have been kidnapped by the evil Dr Sour Sweet. Your power suit lets you collect a number of upgrades that improve both your overall health and your offensive capabilities. Chocolate puns abound.
Despite the bright and colourful nature of Smarties chocolate, that hasn’t been translated to the game world. Of course, the Smarties and the enemies you face are all somewhat colourful, but the game overall has a washed out quality to it. This is disappointing as it leaves the levels looking uninspired and a bit dull.
Anybody who grew up in the UK in the late 80s and 90s will know who Dave Benson Phillips is. A regular on children’s TV, he lends his voice to Blue. It would have been nice for him to have had a few more lines as his key phrases start being repeated early on, but this may have been more to do with PS2 storage requirements over anything else.
There are a few issues with the camera that take some time to get used to. It would have perhaps been better for it to be positioned a little further away behind Blue. As it is, you’re often a little too close to the action in third person mode. First person mode, used for target-based objectives, is a little less clunky.
Overall it seems that most of the flaws and complaints you can aim at Smarties Meltdown are common across many games of this era. As a result it’s difficult to be too harsh about the game, especially when you compare it against some of the shovelware that was released on the PS2. At least some thought was put into this.