Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Kaznapped! (GBA)

Ami and Yumi are on a break following a world tour when Number One Fan Harmony pays them a visit. She requests they go on a tour together, but Ami and Yumi are not interested for they are too tired. There's no pleasing some fans - Harmony decides to go on her own tour and so kidnaps their manager Kaz and steals their instruments. In their chase of Harmony, Ami and Yumi go on a tour unlike any other they have ever taken.

I bought this title new for £3 (if I remember correctly) knowing nothing about Puffy AmiYumi. Based on the animated television series, the graphics in this game are colourful and are cartoon-like, however there is the rare occasion when it was tricky to distinguish whether something appears as part of the background or not. The animation is good, and there are different ones to go with a change in clothes which is neat, such as Ami and Yumi being close to dozing off when in their pyjamas! The soundtrack to Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Kaznapped is consistently strong, and features an instrumentation of the 'Hi Hi' song.

Anyone can play this game, and there is a tutorial which will help get started. There are both good and bad points to the controls, the good being that Ami and Yumi can make the transition into a run from some of their moves, and the bad being that their attacks are slightly sluggish. In rock fashion, Ami and Yumi destroy Kaz-Bots with their instruments, but they are not encouraged to hit fan boys and the paparazzi (they lose points) - instead playing them a power chord will have them star-struck in absolute awe for a while! The game has other nice touches - petting their cats Tekirai and Jang Keng brings them goodness.

Ami and Yumi have unique abilities, and by switching between them and working as a team only can they overcome the levels. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is a platformer with plenty of puzzles, many of the pull/push blocks variety with occasional switches thrown in. In places the level designs are perhaps overly-tight as the puzzles are a tad long-winded and a passage or two is unnecessarily troublesome to get past - barring this the balance of difficulty of the game feels about right. There is a shoot-em-up mini-game as Ami and Yumi head for the next locale on their World Tour which is good fun - smart bomb and big bosses in check - even if the bus is a huge target! Of note, the only problem in performance comes in the true penultimate boss battle, where slowdown is particularly evident.

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Kaznapped is of a fair size and challenge, and luckily there are extras for unlocking which amplifies the play time. The pre-requisites involve collecting things - fortunately without the numbers being over-the-top - however, others require the time limits in Time Attack mode to be beaten which are tight and would make for a tough task for casual gamers. Still, if a mix of platforming action, puzzles and shooting sounds good, then give this a game a go - it might leave you wanting more. Encore!