That's So Raven - Hilarious Mediocrity

18/01/24

As you’re likely well aware of at this point, there are a lot of bad licensed titles for the Game Boy Advance. Games made to make a quick buck, or to sell directly to the hardcore fans of some property or other. Honestly, I think the reason a lot of licensed games suck is because there’s no real reason to make a good game - seriously, who cares about making something like Minority Report good? Conversely, it makes sense why titles like Lord of the Rings are generally pretty damn good. Anywho, I feel that adage applies to today’s topic of choice - That’s So Raven, a surprisingly meticulous adaptation of the That’s So Raven television series - as much as one can - that, whilst not being a particularly good game, scores points for being genuinely ‘so stupid it’s funny and nonsensical to the point of hilarity… though that doesn’t quite save it from the atrocious visuals and occasionally depressingly poor stealth sections.

As an Australian kid who grew up without access to the Disney Channel, shows like That’s So Raven were series that relegated to Saturday mornings on free to air TV, and usually I’d only get a chance to see those series. At this point, fifteen to twenty years on, I don’t really have a lot of memory of these shows, and That’s So Raven is no exception - hell, I completely forgot about the basic plot point of Raven having psychic powers, having just thought it was just another wacky, ‘girl in high school’ TV show. Honestly, the main reason I picked out That’s So Raven to play was just my sheer incredulous curiosity as to how you adapt such a genuinely mundane, run of the mill teenage sitcom into any kind of engaging video game… Well, whilst I can’t say it’s particularly engaging, they did a surprisingly good job adapting the show to the game.

That’s So Raven is split into four ‘episodes’, basically allowing you to play through the events of an actual episode of the show through five separate mini-levels. Most of these levels are side-scrolling, maze-like sections where you’ll be tasked with reaching a certain area, hunting down a number of items, or finding a particular character to progress the plot of the episode. Most of these levels take place in Raven’s school, and you’ll almost always just be as I said, creating an incredibly mediocre main gameplay loop. But at the same time, what else can you really expect from this? It’s a show about a teenage girl with psychic powers that does surprisingly little with that gimmick. The gameplay isn’t good, not by a long shot, but what else were Vicarious Visions meant to do, outside of a minigame collection. And, uh, considering the minigames in this, that’s probably a good thing.

Overall, That’s So Raven’s gameplay is… serviceable, at best. I wouldn’t quite say good, but Vicarious Visions (side note: I can’t believe how many of these licensed titles they’re behind!) had a bit of a task somehow to make a game out of a TV show with a near total lack of ‘normal’ game potential, they certainly pulled, uh, something off. Honestly, the most common levels don’t really have that much going on for them, to be fair. Search rooms for people or items, repeat. Whoopee. The only real obstacles in most levels Raven has to deal with are some of the most nonsensical foes you can expect - the true terrors of TVs on trollies, people throwing food, and a principal with congestion. Raven has a pretty decent health pool, so it’s really not that bad if you get hit, but you can stun most foes (which is a really funny way to describe enemies in this game) with either a blast from Raven’s perfume, or tossing a bottle of water on the floor to knock them over. Also, interestingly enough, there are side quests in the game, but they are the only way for Raven to recover her HP in any given level; like I said, it isn’t really worth it, as HP is pretty steady, but it’s an interesting idea, plus you’ll probably complete them without really thinking about it, as you’ll find the items asked of you just as you explore each level.

The only sections of the game that provide any sort of engagement or challenge are the numerous stealth sections Raven must undertake, usually sneaking through the halls of her school, avoiding narcs in the form of hall monitors who’ll kick you back to the start of the zone. The issue is that these levels slow the pace of *everything* down to a crawl, and honestly, That’s So Raven isn’t the game I was looking for ‘challenge’ from. The hall monitors just move so glacially slow, waiting for them to wander past hiding spots so you can use them, THEN waiting for them to return past you so you can sneak past them properly is genuinely yawn-inducing. And they even pop up in zones outside of the school! What the hell are they doing there!? The minigames, on the other hand, are another beast entirely, though more in the sense that they’re either groan-inducingly boring, or stupidly ridiculous. Incredibly basic, top-down mazes, an incredibly frustrating water bucket filling section, and quite possibly the most boring rhythm game I’ve ever seen. They feel incredibly tacked on, feeling little more than speedbumps to give the game *anything* beyond the run-of-the-mill gameplay. At least the first one, with quite possibly the very best graphics you can see on the GBA. Good lord.

Despite the myriad of problems - boring or bad, take your pick - I think the thing that ‘saves’ That’s So Raven from the pit of forgettable, genuinely horrible games I’ve played is that the very fact that That’s So Raven got a video adaptation that somehow *actually* adapting the source material is really, really funny. The fact the gameplay is so middling, unengaging, or flat out maddening in the case of the stealth sections is just so entertainingly stupid it just works. Seriously, it’s been a while since a game made me laugh as hysterically hard as the maze minigame, just because of how it looks. Seriously, I’ll throw a screenshot down for this one, it’s just so bad looking.

This is a stupid, stupid game that shouldn’t exist, but I think that saves it from just being yet another forgettable piece of shlock. Do you have much reason to actually play it? Nah. Would it probably get a giggle or two out of its hour and a half runtime? Yeah, almost definitely, especially if you have some fond memories of the TV series. It’s charmingly bad, which is a lot more engaging then the boring or atrociously bad games that I’ve featured in the past few years (on that note, I can’t believe we’re less then a month from two years of the Game Boy Abyss!)

Oh yeah, before I forget - this game also looks really, really bad. Seriously, any game at this point trying to use in-show screencaps to show it’s story immediately become a laughing stock for me, I’m pretty sure it’s *never* looked good, and That’s So Raven looks like amongst the worst; I’m pretty sure those brief video clips of Raven’s vision are somehow *below* 144p. A silver lining to this whole experience is that the soundtrack is genuinely kind of banging, especially the stealth theme that has a real toe-tapping element to it that made those awful sections more palatable. Slightly, ever so slightly more palpable.

I’m gonna say, whilst I don’t think That’s So Raven is a particularly good game, Vicarious Visions genuinely did whatever the hell they could when handed this property. It’s not particularly engaging, has some truly terrible visuals and almost outstays its scant hour and a half playtime… but there’s something charmingly stupid about the whole thing that I can’t really look back on it without a dumb smile on my face. Fans of the series will probably get something out of it, but I think anyone can appreciate the dumb kind of quality That’s So Raven provides. Now. We’re done with that. What?

There’s a second one!?

Thanks for reading my review of That’s So Raven on the Game Boy Abyss! Another short and sweet review, because there is really not that much to talk about on such a little title. And like I said, it’s almost two years since I started The Game Boy Abyss… crazy. So it’s only gonna take me like… eighteen years to finish this project? Well. As always, you can find me over at Twitter @lemmy7003, or you can email me at cckaiju@gmail.com or mgeorge7003@hotmail.com if you have any requests or questions - or follow me on my Neocities! Also, I’m streaming (infrequently, but hopefully less so) on Twitch now, both games for and not for The Game Boy Abyss, you can find me under GameBoyAbyss. Again, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in my next review.