Franklin wants to give his best friend, Bear, a surprise birthday party.
- EU release: 16th June 2006 (France Only)
- NA release: N/A
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Neko Entertainment
- Publisher: The Game Factory
- NGC Magazine Score: N/A
- Mods Used: None
A 2D platformer aimed at young kids, which is an excuse for making something immensely slow and dull. Just bumble forward, looking for objects. There’s absolutely no way to move at a reasonable speed and, sure, turtles aren’t known for their speed, but this is supposed to be for enjoyment.
At various places you take part in a few minigames. One recurring one is where you have to walk forward then press a button when your friend turns around, and the rest are Mario Party reject minigames and, like games from a bad Mario Kart clone, manage to outstay their welcome even though they’re a minute long.
There is one interesting gameplay mechanic. For some sections, a friend will join you. They follow you an exact distance behind you, so if one of you is blocked by an obstacle, you won’t be able to move. For the audience the immensely slow gameplay seems to be aimed at, this is a surprisingly taxing concept.
The levels are bland and you need to collect all the collectables at the top of the screen, which means a lot of searching around, making it more tedious and, once again, not gelling well with the slowness of the gameplay. It just doesn’t work. One thing I did find odd is that most places online use an English version of the box art, but it seems to be a modified version of the PS2 box art – the English version was never released on GameCube.
Poor
Franklin: A Birthday Surprise offers a good deal of variety for younger gamers. Adventure mode is long enough to satiate the needs of bigger kids, while the simplicity of Recreation mode should appeal to smaller players. Throw in decent graphics and a pretty good score, and you’ve got a surprisingly decent game for the youngins.
Juan Castro, IGN
Remake or remaster?
Not for this.
Official Ways to get the game
There’s no official way to buy Franklin: A Birthday Surprise
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Japan
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