Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

[Papercut]

My Billy Hatcher turned up today, gave it a couple of hours earlier. If you've played the demo then you'll know exactly what to expect, the game mechanics haven't changed since then. As someone noted earlier, they've tidied up the visuals slightly since the demo though.

The whole game feels a lot like the sonic levels in Sonic Adventure 2, slowed down by the egg hatching/rolling/jumping. That suits me fine, I prefer the change of pace in Billy Hatcher.

The character design and music is great, pulls you in and makes you smile. I don't really understand the criticism of this at all. Each area is really a hub for several missions, so there will be certain areas accessible in different missions. This does make some bits of the game feel a bit 'general purpose'.

I've played through the first three areas now, getting B, C and D grades. Not sure what the criteria is for the mission and combo bonuses yet, but that will be key to increasing your grading. There is certainly room for playing with style and experimenting with different creatures to get the highest score in a level. I haven't quite got the hang of comboing enemies yet, does seem a little random so far. I've not played the multi player games yet.

The textures and level design is good but not great. It looks like Billy Hatcher could have been a Dreamcast game if not for the high poly count of the main characters.

The different ways of using eggs is the main innovation in this game, reminds me of the difference egg throwing in Yoshi's Island made to that game. The rest of the game feels like a well polished 3D platformer, but its fairly familiar stuff. No bad thing I don't think. The bosses I've seen so far are fairly uninspired though, I think.

It looks like you can unlock extra characters with new missions, so there will be a fair chunk of replayability there. You also have an egg collection photo book, so you will want to replay and hatch all the different eggs in the game. There are 60 or so. Also every single mission had 5 hidden coins, so another reason to go back to them there.

Overall, its a quality game. I'm enjoying this a lot.

[Ghost]

Here's a quote from the new issue of edge about Billy hatcher

The company's TGS/ECTS line-up represented the last breath of games from the 'old' Sega. The superb Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg reflects Sega's back-to-basics philosophy; it's pure and fun, but not likely to represent the blockbuster Sega need.

Sounds good, I just hope Edge will be wrong and this game sells although I must admit that it doesnt seem likely

[Papercut]

unlocked a gba mini game last night. Anyone else unlocked any of these? I hatched a special gift-wrapped looking egg to get it.

[Hodge]

Unlocked 3 now, chu chu challenge, the billy hatcher egg catcher, and puyo pop which is class.

[martTM]

I haven't quite got the hang of comboing enemies yet, does seem a little random so far. I've not played the multi player games yet.

It's all to do with killing enemies using other enemies. Shooting, for example, has you firing an egg into an enemy (usually the smaller ones) at the right angle so that he then flies into enemies around him; you can also bounce enemies off walls for the same effect. Same goes for Dunking (throwing the egg down during a jump) and Driving (diving down mid-jump). Taming requires the use of an animal, but is pretty much the same thing too.

The only thing I'm confused about is the grading and how it all ties in together; most of my grades are B and below, with the exception of one A. However, when I unlocked Chick and went back to his missions on the first three worlds, I got three S grades in a row on my first three attempts and I didn't play the levels any differently. Bizarre.

[Papercut]

Cheers for the info.

Another trick is, once you've figured out how to bounce enemies off each other, to chain lots of bounce attacks together. Do this within a short space of time and each separate attack will contribute to the same combo. I guess that applies to all kinds of attacks too, but bounce attacks are the fastest.

I've pulled off 9 and 10 hit combos like that, but I can still finish a level with 0 combo bonus

I don't understand the grading at all, what decides the mission bonus, and so on. So far its the time taken that seems to have the greatest effect on a mission grading.

[bowser123]

This game looks quite interesting and all the positive comments have made me want to get it.
What I would like to know is what is the camera like? Any good or as big a bag of ****e as the likes of Sonic?

[Junko]

Mine arrived today from DVDBO Im already addicted

Its pure fun , the visuals , the music and gameplay

Sonic Team quality

[Papercut]

I've put quite a bit more time into this now. I'm enjoying it more and more.

The combo system I've pretty much got down now, I'm upto a highest combo of 20. This directly affects the combo bonus at the end of a level, but if you die then the level stats reset. This means to S Rank you've really got to finish an area on a single life, in a good time, with a good combo. This also means you can't mess around hatching all the eggs and hunting for all the chicken coins, you'll have to go back for those.

The coin collecting isn't as much of a chore as first seems. Once you've played through all the missions in an area you know it quite well, and most of the coins are placed to test your egg jumping abilities which is fun. You'll end up going back to missions hunting for eggs and coins together.

Some of the tougher enemies are really, really annoying. Especially when you're trying to hatch an egg. Another reason why you'll go back for some of those.

I've unlocked the three other main characters now, and their extra missions are sometimes really tough. Replayability went up a few more notches there.

The camera is ok. For the most part areas are out in the open, and it does a decent job. There are a couple of interior areas when it becomes a pain, but you have manual control with the C stick. It's ok, but not great.

Slow down is occasionally really bad when a bunch of enemies appear, not very often though.

The difficulty level increases suprisingly quickly, certainly for the extra missions. This is not a kids game

Some of the missions are really nice, like the collect em up levels, the races and the... well I don't want to give it way, but the third mission at Blizzard Castle is really cool.

I did come across the first really **** thing in the game last night though. The first mission in the circus area requires you to roll the golden egg (lose it and lose a life) onto various rails. Now the rails are the most annoying part of the game, positioning the egg just right is really fiddly. For the most part it works though, but not here.

Get the angle wrong (not even by much) on the first circus mission and the egg will fall off (or through) the rail. At the same time you have to walk through small doorways to collect the eggs at the other end of the rail. These doorways are designed to _deliberately_ screw up the camera (you can't see where you're going). aargh. I had better finish this level in a couple of lives today or else I'll be faced with a controller/window situation.

[Papercut]

No one else playing this?

I did come across the first really **** thing in the game last night though. The first mission in the circus area requires you to roll the golden egg (lose it and lose a life) onto various rails. Now the rails are the most annoying part of the game, positioning the egg just right is really fiddly. For the most part it works though, but not here.

Get the angle wrong (not even by much) on the first circus mission and the egg will fall off (or through) the rail. At the same time you have to walk through small doorways to collect the eggs at the other end of the rail. These doorways are designed to _deliberately_ screw up the camera (you can't see where you're going). aargh. I had better finish this level in a couple of lives today or else I'll be faced with a controller/window situation.

I was slightly wrong about those ramps - you don't have to climb off the egg to traverse them. I've found a failsafe way of getting on them too, jump onto them rather than roll.

It is buggy though, the egg shouldn't fall through. Also, to that point, the game has taught you red colored ramps can't be ridden by you and the egg at the same time, just the egg on its own.

Last few levels now, no other quibbles. This is the best platform game for an age, go buy!

[Fuddle]

got the japanese version a couple days ago, not had chance to play much, but i'm really loving it so far.
all i've done is the first 2 or 3 missions of the first three(?) levels.
the next one is something about 3 dinosaur skulls in the fire level?..cant remember exactly.

the character of the game is just excellent though, sometimes i leave it on for ages so i can listen to that cool song 'chant this charm' (been trying to download it, but havent had any luck finding it yet)
the only thing i dont like much is water instantly killing you....especially when the egg rolls into the water, think i'll just go paddling and fetch that...oh i'm dead.

great to see that you can change it totally to english too.

[Geoff D]

great to see that you can change it totally to english too.

I was hoping someone might say that - mine should be here tomorrow

[SharkAttack]

Has anyone mentioned the framerate?

[Papercut]

Has anyone mentioned the framerate?

very occasionally gets choppy when theres a large bunch of enemies in close proximity on the screen.

[SharkAttack]

Have you done the snow level? I heard that almost grinds to a halt or is it intentional to show the struggle through the snow?