
	Platform GameBoy Advance Genre Extreme Sports Publisher Hip Games Developer Arush Entertainment ESRB T (Teen) Released Q4 2004

- Fear Meter

- Everything else

Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GBA) Review: Metal Slug Advance (GBA) Review: WarioWare Inc. Mega Microgames (GBA)
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Fear Factor

Score: 1.0 / 10

This is pretty much the worst game I’ve ever played. I wish I could just end the review here, but I can’t. Fear Factor is based on the reality show of the same name. The presentation is utter crap and you don’t need to be a fan of the show to realize how inaccurate the game is. If Hip Games thought they could use the Fear Factor license as a quick cash-in, they were horribly mistaken. Creating games based on “reality” shows is a really bad idea. (Anyone remember Survivor’s foray?)

When starting a new game you are to choose between a male or female character and then customize him or her. Your options are painfully limited to the change of hair color, skin color and costume color. No matter what you choose for your character, he or she is going to end up looking like crap. (Perhaps I’m being a little too harsh, but after the pain and anger this game caused me, I think it’s an even

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- GameBoy Advance Game Reviews
- Sports Game Reviews

trade.) After customizing your contestant’s appearance, you have to customize the stats. There are four categories and they include steadiness, nerve, stomach and stamina. Finally the game gives your character a random phobia. A couple of examples are claustrophobia and acrophobia.

The game consists of many crappy and

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unrealistic mini-games that would never appear on the show. I guess that’s why the game’s title has the word “Unleashed” attached to it. There are 12 games in total like Hell-icopter, a game with many control issues where you take control of a helicopter while trying to avoid obstacles that would lead to certain death. There are other games like ones where you have to pick locks while being pinned down to a train track. There’s a game where you drive a go-kart on a very high track and there’s even a game where a swinging axe from above comes down to chop you in two. Of course what would Fear Factor be without eating bugs and other weird crap? Eating cockroaches might sound like fun (if you’re into that sort of thing) but like everything else in the game it’s boring. What hurts the game even more is the fact that players have to skip multiple turns of multiple AI opponents because you, “the player”, always has to go last.

During a game, players will notice a fear meter at the bottom of the screen. If it goes too far to the left or too far to the right you automatically lose. To prevent losing, players will have to keep it in the middle by tapping L and R to balance it. There is a multiplayer mode but I can assure you that you will have trouble finding anyone who actually owns the game.

Graphically this game is garbage. There is some sort of shading effects found on the characters and backgrounds, but that’s the only thing I can compliment on detail. The audio is even worse than the game’s appearance and that’s pretty sad. There are many annoying phrases spoken throughout turns, sound effects are crap and music is, well, crap.

Can I describe Fear Factor: Unleashed in one simple word? Sure I can: crap. I’ve used the word more than enough times in this review. It’s pretty bad that I had more fun reviewing the game than actually playing it. Avoid at all costs!

- J’Tonello
(April 17, 2005)