Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge is a PlayStation 2 game that takes players on a spooky, whimsical adventure through Halloween Town and beyond. As a character action beat 'em up, it's all about button-mashing your way through enemies with style and flair. But is it worth the trip, or should you stay home and hand out candy instead?

With its unique approach to many conventions of the character action subgenre, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge manages to be both entertaining and a suitable followup to the classic cult film.

Busting Moves

Oogie's Revenge is a beat 'em up game at its core, but with a few twists that make it stand out from the crowd. As players take control of Jack Skellington, they'll find themselves in a mix of combat and rhythm-based gameplay, using the PlayStation 2 controller's face buttons to unleash a variety of attacks and combos.

While the combat can feel a bit clunky at times, the music and choreography of each level keep things entertaining, with some stages even requiring players to hit certain beats in order to progress. The game's bosses are particularly impressive, taking inspiration from classic horror tropes and Tim Burton's unique style to create memorable encounters.

Hauntingly Beautiful

As one might expect from a game based on Tim Burton's iconic movie, Oogie's Revenge is a visual treat. The game captures the dark and whimsical style of the film perfectly, with detailed environments and character designs that feel like they've been plucked straight from the big screen. The game's cutscenes are particularly impressive, blending 2D and 3D animation in a way that feels seamless and unique.

However, some of the game's flaws are also reflected in its visuals, such as occasional graphical glitches and awkward camera angles that can make it difficult to navigate some of the more complex levels.

Ghost of Games Past

While Oogie's Revenge certainly has its own unique style, there's no denying that the game draws heavily from other character action titles like Devil May Cry and God of War. The game's combat mechanics and level design are clearly influenced by these titles, but unfortunately, Oogie's Revenge falls short in comparison to these heavy hitters.

The game's combat can feel repetitive at times, and the lack of a true combo system means that players will often find themselves button-mashing their way through battles.

The game's accessible nature and charming visuals make it a great choice for younger players who are new to the character action beat 'em up genre. The game's relatively simple mechanics, forgiving difficulty, and recognizable characters make it an excellent starting point for kids who may not have the reflexes or experience necessary to handle more challenging titles like Devil May Cry.

Pros

• Fun and accessible gameplay for younger players
• Faithful to the art style and tone of the original film
• Cool soundtrack featuring remixed versions of classic songs from the movie

Cons

• Simplistic combat system that may not appeal to more experienced players
• Repetitive level design and enemy types
• Visuals and animation can look outdated compared to other games in the genre

Oogie’s Revenge is a hack-slash adventure game, where you get to control Jack Skellington, and Oogie Boogie kidnaped five of the holiday leaders with the intention of becoming the Seven Holidays King. Sally is able to send a magical airplane to warn Jack, and he now goes on a journey to save Sally, and defeat Oogie.

The Nightmare

Jack once again starts to think Halloween is getting boring, so he goes to Dr. Finklestein and asks him to improve the next Halloween, making it even scarier. The Dr. then gives Jack a whip called Soul Robber, and so Jack goes out on a journey to find ways to improve Halloween. But this time, he remembers to not venture outside his world. However, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, due to boredom, decide to revive Oogie Boogie, who first kidnaps Dr. Finklestein, and forces him to create minions for him. Oogie then proceeds to kidnap five out of seven of the holiday leaders, and his master plan is to become the Holiday King.

Thanks to Sally, Jack is informed about Oogie’s plan, and returns to Halloween Town, and finds only Oogie’s shadow. So now Jack needs to stop Oogie’s plan once again and to do that he will need to defeat every enemy in his way, solve puzzles, and travel through different holiday worlds. The gameplay is similar to Devil May Cry, and after you finish a mission, you will receive a grade depending on how long it took for you to finish the mission, your longest combo, how much damage you received, and the number of surprised enemies. The grades are A, B, C, D, and S.

Jack will acquire different costumes through the game, and each one of them will give him a different ability. For example, using the Santa Jack costume will give him the ability to throw presents at enemies and stun them, and also freeze them on ice. All types of costumes can be acquired while playing, but not all of them will grant Jack new abilities. The game has 24 chapters in total and two secret chapters.

Summary

Turning The Nightmare Before Christmas into a hack and slash game is a weird choice, but it works. Capcom developed Oogie’s Revenge, so the combat is extremely well done and satisfying. This game is amazing for fans of the movie, and for fans of hack and slash.

Pros

• Fun combat
• Great ambiance

Cons

• Lazy story
• Weird camera angles