Matchbox Cross Town Heroes - Gameboy Advance - Save the day!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Cute game with familiar objects for the grade school crowd.

Cons: Too easy for advanced gamers.

The Bottom Line: 
If you want a game that your 5-10 year old can enjoy and use to teach other kids how to play, this one is a nice pick.

Author's Review
If you are looking for a good Game Boy Advance game for the elementary school crowd, then Matchbox Cross Town Heroes is a winner. It’s a simple game that includes familiar objects that kids can relate to. Kids can “save the day,” and who doesn’t like to rescue puppies, put out fires, and stop criminals.

I couldn’t find much information on Cross Town Heroes when I was trying to decide if I wanted to buy it, but the game runs under $20 on sale. It’s rated E for everyone, and I didn’t figure that Matchbox would have anything really outlandish built in a GBA game. I decided to surprise Caleb (age 12) and Eli (age 10) with this new game, since they have GBA but not a lot of games yet.

The boys were excited about the car focus. They have lots of matchbox cars, and they have some of the same ones that are featured on this game. Even though they haven’t played much with mini cars lately, Eli did get his matchbox cars out and match up ones that he had that were on his game. Caleb is in middle school, so he’s not one to play with the cars, but he did say: “Hey cool,” when Eli would find one in the metal can that he was controlling on the GBA.

The basic idea here is that kids race around in vehicles and take care of problems in the city. For example, fires break out in one part of town. The player has to put all those fires out. There is a progress window to show how many fires are left. There are three major play sections with unlimited play, so a player can keep playing as long as they want. It gets kind of same-old, but kids don’t tire of familiar scenarios as fast as bigger folks.

When you finish up a section, then you get some arcade games for bonus. Those are simple. Put out the fires before the fireworks explode and that sort of thing.

This game does not look as real as some. It feels more 2-D than 3-D, but it has bright colors and images that little kids like. The sounds are not out of this world. They are simple sounds that go with emergencies. Kids like sirens unless they are in their own front yard and police coming to get the relatives, so that works out fine too.

It took Eli about two hours to play every part of this game. Caleb hasn’t gone through all the levels yet, but he’s not as excited about games as his younger brother. That’s somewhat of a problem, since it is not as much of a challenge when you’ve mastered the game and in one afternoon. On the bright side (as Caleb noted), you don’t have to start at the beginning after the upper levels have been opened. “I can play in any section now,” he said after his brother figured it all out. You have to remember a pass code though, or you start back at the start.

Eli is not as athletic as Caleb and has a harder time at school, so a game that he can master quickly is a boost for him. Though this one is a little too easy for Eli, he has fun with it, and it’s a nice one for him to use to teach friends who don’t have games. Some of the games (even for kids) are pretty hard and frustrate kids. This one is a sure winner that makes kids feel like they are good game players. Games are more fun if you feel like you can win.

I wouldn’t loan this one to the college kids I teach. They would laugh about how easy the game is and about it being lower tech. Then again, they aren’t going to be buying Matchbox games or asking to borrow them. This one is made for little kids, and it’s nice for the little guys and girls. If you need to buy a game for a young relative or friend, then this one is good.

I would say the prime ages for this game would be 5 to 10. It’s also good for kids in that the 10-12 age range if they want an easy game and one that they can use to show others how to play games. It’s not an all-time favorite here with my kids on the high end on the ages, but they like it. It was certainly worth the money spent.


If you are thinking about Gameboy Advance, then I have a review at:

http://www.epinions.com/content_85765033604