Un bombardeo de recuerdos de mi infancia, otro más perteneciente a las decenas de juegos que tenía piratas en mi Xbox de crío, y del cual era incapaz de pasar del segundo capítulo. Como tantos y tantos han comentado, es un clon de Devil May Cry hecho por Capcom y varios de los mismos desarrolladores de dicha franquicia, por lo que en forma y fondo es muy similar, claramente, eso sí, con un combate muchísimo peor (bastante rudimentario, tirando a malo), pero si hay algo por lo que me ha divertido es por las canciones, sacadas de la película y siempre con letras diferentes, siendo cada uno de los jefes un número musical con partes de ritmo (una de mis cosas favoritas del mundo mundial). Además de todo esto, expande el lore de la cinta no de una forma muy atrevida ya que no hay apenas personajes nuevos ni se atreve a llevarte a sitios diferentes a las ciudades de Halloween o Navidad que ya conocemos, eso sí. Creo que el juego estaba para llevarse media estrella más de sobresaliente porque mi experiencia personal ha sido fantástica obviando los problemas que he citado que no son pocos, pero desgraciadamente pega un pinchazo hacia el final y se acaba haciendo algo pesado, en especial una zona concreta de los últimos capítulos en la que por algún motivo la dificultad pega un salto absurdo y tuve que volver atrás a mejorarme todos los poderes al máximo, y realizar esa parte con una precisión de cirujano, lo cual sentí como algo un poco antinatural ya que contrasta muchísimo con lo poco exigente que es el resto del juego, carece de lógica.

En definitiva, si eres fan de la peli, es una recomendación instantánea porque volver a escuchar la banda sonora una y otra vez en la forma en la que se presenta aquí es una delicia, y sinceramente, matar malos siendo el putísimo Jack Skellington con This is Halloween de fondo en plan machacón, es algo que hay que vivir por uno mismo. Una rareza de las que ya no se hacen, pero con cariño hacia el material original y un propósito, que viendo como salen este tipo de juegos históricamente, no es poca cosa.

Top tier track: Sally's Song

The obvious joke to make regarding Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge is to just call it "The real Devil May Cry 2". Not solely on the basis that it's an action game made by Capcom in 2004, the interim between Hideaki Itsuno's first and second directoral titles with the franchise, but also because it's worked by a handful of people who would go on to work on Devil May Cry 3, 4, Bayonetta, and other Platinum Games titles. But that's been overdone.

The real funny joke is that a bunch of Devil May Cry and Platinum Games alumni made a fucking Nightmare Before Christmas action game, and not only is it actually pretty alright, but there's a bunch of mechanics that literally go on to be used in those games in the future.

I'm not exagerating, either. Nightmare Before Christmas beat Devil May Cry 3 to market by about 4 months, as a point of reference, and within it, you find Nero's Devil Bringer, Bayonetta's cartwheel dodge with its 5th dodge animation change to prevent spamming, the taunt enraging enemies from God Hand, and the ability to revive via upgrade points from Devil May Cry 5. It's seriously hilarious that between this and Ghost Rider on PS2, that there's two examples of 6th gen licensed movie tie-in action games that both ripped off Devil May Cry and would go on to influence Bayonetta in some capacity. If you had a nickel, ya know the thing. It's the closest the action game genre has to a genuine 'meme game' akin to Garfield Kart or Dong Dong Never Die, and I get why, because it's such an absurd concept.

But what of Oogie's Revenge as a video game, and not just a funny little thingie that ended up birthing mechanics we'd see in future games? Well, it's fine. Basic as all hell on a combat standpoint, with pretty much nothing in the way of pause combos or light-heavy dial combos. You've got a basic square combo, a pair of charge attacks, a grab and a 360 spin move that can save your ass in a large crowd. There's enough there for the game to be enjoyable, to be sure, but the unlockable forms for Jack you get later in the game don't really compliment or add much to the combat system. One being a trap-focused style and the other giving you slow fire breath, they don't mesh quite as well as Jack's regular moveset. The only real combat upgrades are damage increases, which are consistantly the lamest way to make the player feel like they're progressing in these games. The rest of the combat system doesn't really open up and progress much, eventually feeling like a bit of a slog.

A simple combat system isn't inherently worse than a deeper one; I love No More Heroes and the Insomniac Spider-Man games for instance, and those games aren't all that deep when compared to Devil May Cry or Bayonetta. But what those games have are elements surrounding them that make them stronger overall packages. No More Heroes is an incredibly unique blend of action gameplay and living your life as the working man, while Insomniac Spider-Man is a trilogy sold on its open world and side-activities while still offering a robust and enjoyable combat system therein. Oogie's Revenge is just a bit too long for the kind of game it is, with a campaign that runs about 10 and a half hours hours with over 20 stages to trek through, and I don't think there's enough meat on its bones to keep that momentum going for that long of a runtime. The majority of the stages are at least pretty short, so it's probably a game better played in short bursts, but regardless of that, the game felt like it was starting to be a bit of a drag around the halfway point, and a few chapters being chopped off would've been for the better in my opinion.

Combined with a camera that zooms out a bit too far in battles, and a lock-on mechanic that felt a little cumbersome in the heat of the moment with a habit to lock onto the completely wrong enemy, and it makes the game a bit more on the annoying side sometimes. It's also got a lot of the early DMC DNA in it, which means a lot of running back and forth to pick up a key item for progression; way more of it than actual DMC often has, for that matter. I always felt that, even in DMC4, a game known for dragging its feet with clumsy levels, there was just enough of the collecting a key item and taking it to a place to not feel too intrusive, while Oogie's Revenge goes a bit overboard on that front. Kind of a shame the game, regardless of its obvious status as a kids licensed game, doesn't go quite as far in terms of being a fun action romp as it could've been.

But it's not all too bad, because when the game's at its best, you can genuinely tell it feels like it was made with some honest to god passion for the source material. From the game's major boss battles, already a highlight of the game, sporting a strange but kind of enjoyable rhythm game mechanic that gets scored by returning and original tracks, and various parts of the game's world being stellar on a visual level. A bit of a shame the game kind of cockteases you with the possibility of seeing the other holiday worlds, but I guess Disney probably had a stranglehold on Capcom over that one. And the usual benefits of higher difficulties, secret missions to find, and this really neat recreation of Jack's house that you can earn collectibles for by achiving high ranks makes for a nice little incentive for those looking to return to the title. This feels like a genuine attempt at making a video game love letter to The Nightmare Before Christmas, and that's just about the best thing a licensed game can be.

And that's just the thing with Oogie's Revenge. As an action game, it's an okay way to ween kids into the genre under the guise of a brand they might've been into around the early 2000s, but isn't going to offer too much outside of a few screen points to those more familiar with other titles in the genre. One of those middle of the road kinda games that, while I wouldn't tell you outright to avoid, I also wouldn't consider it a downright must-play. But it's not a game without a lot of charm and unique appeal, the type that I think gives it some genuine stand-out power among the genre in the way only a game based around Nightmare Before Christmas could.

It's not the best action game you'll ever play, and it's not even the best of the incredibly specific group of "DMC inspired licensed PS2 titles", because, again, Ghost Rider PS2 is pretty good. But if you're a Nightmare Before Christmas fanatic who's in need of another action game in the long downtime between DMC6 or another good Platinum game, or just something to play for those Christmasy vibes es this holiday season, you could definitely do worse. Give it a shot, you'll probably find something really special there.

Also, if you can play this game without never wanting to hear This Is Halloween ever again, I'll buy you a coke.