Customer Reviews

Starsky & Hutch

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Early in 2004, we were subjected to a big-screen version of "Starsky & Hutch". This game has nothing to do with the movie and instead is mostly based on the actual TV series.

You spend the entire game in your car and it reminded me a bit of the video game of "The Italian Job". That was a rather poor game but it shines like a diamond compared to this dumb title. I just had to laugh and laugh and LAUGH when I read that this features "high-speed" driving and "addictive" gameplay. Your car is a piece of junk. It is sooooo slow and handles horribly. You can unlock other vehicles by finding a hidden key in each level. Those are pieces of junk too.

Anyway, you chase badguys and wait for your auto lock-on circle to target the badguy and you shoot them. Boy oh boy...I can hardly stand the excitement. In order to make gameplay more thrilling they give you a few power-ups such as a (temporarily) upgraded weapon or a turbo boost. They also have police cars smash into you constantly. Why? After all, you're the good guys and they should be shooting/chasing the criminals, right? Well, that's what any intelligent person would think but the cops' SOLE purpose in this game is to spin out your car and get in your line of fire. Who's great idea was that? Thanks guys!

Most games have a "gimmick" and the one in this game is that you are playing actual episodes of a TV show. You have a TV rating showing how popular your show is. As you drive around, your rating keeps dropping and you have to jump off of ramps and shoot criminals and some other stuff in order to keep your viewership level up. In essence, it makes every single mission a timed mission which gets frustrating quickly. There's no time to pause or explore at all.

"Starsky & Hutch" is a tremendously annoying and boring game. Collision detection is pathetic. I was constantly driving completely through other vehicles. Graphics on a discounted title aren't expected to be ground-breaking but there is a lot of pop-up when you are driving around and the scenery is way too blocky. Cutscenes? Heh...right. They do that whole 2D, hand-drawn, cheap-looking still shot thing. On the audio side of things, they were kind enough to come up with, like, maybe a half dozen phrases which they repeat ad nauseum. I don't know if they came out with this game to show spite for video game players everywhere but it sure feels like no effort was actually put into it.

The only reason I picked this one up was because it was in the cheap bin, so I din't have very high expectations.

However once I started, I found it very playable. The city is huge. I still haven't managed to memorize where everything is.

Obviously this isn't one of the premier titles. You drive around, you shoot bad guys, you complete the puzzle for each episode. I found it much better than some ported games where the graphics are bad. Far and away the best $10 game I've found.

It's true this game doesn't show off the graphic power of the gamecube and the missions do get a bit repetitive but I'm not a serious gamer and I like that I don't have to study a Brady book to play it. The cartoon segments are true to the 70's and the game is true to the show. If you are looking for a game you can sit down and play for a half hour a day and actually get somewhere without outside help I'd suggest this game. And for the price you can't go wrong.

well, first off the price was good. (i picked it up on ebay brand new for nearly nothing i was bored with some of my other game cube games, and just thought to give this one a shot). the game could have been really good if the designers didn't cheap out with it. the graphics are some of the worst i have ever seen on a somewhat newer generation console. i've seen better cinematic graphics on later ps1 games. The characters mouths do not even move when they are talking, and the way they look reminds me of N64. the game could have been so much better than what it is.

The designers want you to think your gonna get a "grand theft auto" type game with a little less violence and a lot of 70's culture. Wrong! The story is decent, but could be a lot better. in story/mission mode the game does nothin' but ask you to chase a bad guy, and destroy his vehicle. It gets VERY repetitive, and your finger will feel like it's going to fall off because you literally have to shoot the bad guys car like 300 times before he finally crashes.

Another fault is the free roam mode. apparently whoever made the game doesn't get the concept of "free roam". when you are in that mode on this game you are constantly being timed, just like in the rest of the game. The gameplay is straight up awful, the car controls are some of the worst i've seen in awhile. so with all that being said here are the Pro's/con's, and over all summary of what u can expect from "Starsky and Hutch" for the Nintendo gamecube.

PRO'S-
1. A good idea for a video game
2. The cell shaded, comic book style cut scenes was a nice touch to the classic 70's feel.
3. Classic 70's soundtrack, just like you would hear in a old school crime movie.
4. Good price, the bargain bin at your local electronics department is exactly where this game needs to be!

CON'S-
1. Misleading
2. Horrible graphics
3. Very repetitive
4. Bad controls
5. Everything has some sort of time limit, including free roam mode.

overall, this is not even a decent game, it does nothing to show what the gamecube console can do. I'm not sayin' that the gamecube is the best out there, but it has some pretty good graphics when paired up with a good video game. This game could have been a decent competitor if the proper time and money was spent. If you are bored on a saturday afternoon and looking for a different game, that's cheap then you might want to take a look. Do what i did, buy it for nothing, play it for a little while, then if you get bored with it, throw it on the shelf until one of your buddies comes over and wants to play a little multiplayer.

DO NOT BUY TAKES TOO LONG TO AIM YOU WILL LOSE WAY TOO EASY

YOU WILL WIN TOO EASY TOO. JUST BUY SECOND SIGHT OR THE SIMS

DONT BUY THIS!!!!!!