G-Force is a fast-paced action-platform game featuring a unique elite team of specially trained guinea pigs that use high-tech gadgets and specialised talents to complete a dangerous government mission. G-Force puts players in control of both Darwin, the guinea pig leader of the covert intelligence G-Force squad, and housefly surveillance sidekick, Mooch, as they team up with the other G-Force agents and use their gadgets, stealth mastery and pint-sized teamwork as mankinds only hope to complete a dangerous high-level government mission that will see you coming face to face with diabolical waffle irons among other evil household appliances...

G-Force is a pretty solid and engaging platform game from Disney Interactive Studios. If you haven't seen the movie that this game is based on then you might be a little confused as to why the main character is a gerbil with the ability to talk and is armed with an arsenal of mini gadgets. However, it's quite simple to pick up the story line and get into the game.

The ability to play the game in 3D is a gimmick that doesn't really work. I'm suspecting that it fails because the wrong glasses are included with the game. The 3D specs you get are cyan and magenta, while if you look at the screen the graphics appear to be green and magenta. But to be fair you can turn the 3D graphics mode off and play the game normally.

You start off with a limited amount of gadgets but as you kill the enemy and discover hidden areas you'll soon start to save up enough tokens to upgrade your arsenal at the vending machines dotted around the levels. You have to progress through each level, destroying the numerous monsters as well as performing simple tasks (like running in a hamster wheel in order to open doors or move items around; or discovering a keycode that has to be inputted into a computer). You can switch between Darwin (the team leader of G-Force) as well as Mooch the Fly (who is useful in order to get into areas Darwin can't).

As you progress through the levels you'll find yourself at a dead end on more than one occasion. More often than not it's simply a case of looking for either a drainpipe for Darwin to climb up, or an air vent for Mooch to fly through. And should that air vent have a fan in the way you can use Mooch's ability to slow down time in order to fly between the fan blades. Or, you can use your enemies to help you get through locked doors. If you find a motion sensor robot simply attract his attention and then run over to the door you want opening and it will blast it with a laser - but you better make sure you're clear of the laser beam before it fires.

The game play seems to go on and on forever. I spent two solid days playing this and I kept thinking I was near the end, but it just kept going and going. But as new enemies are slowly introduced and the hardness of each level is pitched at just the right level, the game never gets boring.

The driving segments are by far and away the worst aspect of this game. Thankfully they are very short and only appear a few times throughout the game.

For young (and not so young) fans of the movie, this is an engaging platformer that won't disappoint.

8

Darren Rea