10 for 9 in '08 - Boneyboy

I've tried any platform game I could get my hands on for the PocketPC platform, and up until Archibald's Adventures which was released a few days ago (you can read my review here), nothing has really stood out from the pack. However, of the ones that made it into the list of Jump & Run Scrollers for this year's awards, Boneyboy was definitely my favorite.

Boneyboy is just plain fun. While the story is a bit cliché, in this case it actually adds to the enjoyment. The platform mechanics are all pretty standard fare, but the engine is so solid that it plays like a dream. The levels can get a bit long, but it’s clear that a lot of thought was put into them. The best part of the game play is the bosses. Instead of going to a special room or level to play against them, you suddenly just run across them in the middle of a level, battle them, and move on. This kind of integration of bosses into the core game play is something I don’t recall seeing much of in the platform genre, but it works quite well. The visuals in Boneyboy are superb, from the colorful critters to your well-animated hero. The cut scenes looked good, but there should have been more of them. The sound effects were spot on, especially with noises like Boneyboy chomping on a piece of fruit. The music was also well done, most notably in the temple levels. The best part of the audio, however, was the voice of Boneyboy—the obviously mismatched voice is what makes it so perfect.