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The long time comic strip character, Garfield, has been making his rounds. With two major movies under his belt, the feline continues his journey into the realm of video games. The famous fat orange cat sets out to conquer his bad dreams in this GBA adventure. After spending the night gorging on his favorite foods, Garfield must battle these dreams and enemies that face him.

Introduction

The long time comic strip character, Garfield, has been making his rounds. With two major movies under his belt, the feline continues his journey into the realm of video games. The famous fat orange cat sets out to conquer his bad dreams in this GBA adventure. After spending the night gorging on his favorite foods, Garfield must battle these dreams and enemies that face him.

Gameplay

Garfield and his Nine Lives plays like any other 2D platform adventure on the GBA. Garfield comes equipped with the standard jump and attack skills that we have come to expect with these types of games. Pressing the A button will make Garfield jump; you can also control his movement while jumping with the directional pad. The B button is used for Garfield’s kick attacks. This attack can also be combined to for a jump attack. Garfield also has a charge attack and an elbow slam attack at his disposal. These attacks are used to break through walls and crates that lead to hidden areas.

The levels are also fairly standard. Each level represents a different theme or area. The game features a wide range of environments such as a circus, a haunted house, and tree tops. Also, every three levels, Garfield has to battle a boss. During these levels, Garfield collects items such as Pooky and other power-ups. While the levels sound varied, they are hampered by poor level design and frustrating enemy placement. Add in the poor controls, and you have a maddening experience. When an enemy touches Garfield, he his propelled backwards. So, in some stages when you are hit by an enemy, you are knocked off a ledge and have to make your way back up to where you were again. And of course that same stupid enemy is still there. This would not be a problem if the controls were responsive. Garfield’s attacks feel useless, and more often than not, I just found myself charging through stages. It is actually easier to just avoid enemies outright instead of trying to fight them. Also, the boss battles boil down to trial and error. Only a specific attack will damage the boss. This could prove frustrating for the intended audience of this game.

Another problem with Garfield and his Nine Lives is that the game is extremely short. I was able to finish the game in about one hour. Of course this game is intended for a much younger audience than me; but with only nine levels and three boss battles, the game is still very short.

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