Game Review: Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL

Hello my fellow gamers! Remember my Playstation All Stars review and how... similar it was to Super Smash Bros? Well, I think I've found another game that is even more similar, if you can believe it. This is Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL!

Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion was a game released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2011. An improved XL version was released for the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 soon after. It was re-released in 2014 as a Playstation Store and Xbox Arcade exclusive. This game is a fighting game featuring beloved characters from great shows like Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Ben 10, Captain Planet.... for some reason, and many many more iconic characters from Cartoon Network shows from the 90s and early 2000s. You know, back in the day when Cartoon Network actually had good shows! RIP good CN shows, we barely knew you. This game is IDENTICAL to Smash Bros. The damage is measured in a percentage that goes up, there are assist trophies, there are Final Smashes, and there's even a Subspace Emissary. There are only 3 real differences. The first and most obvious difference is that the game features CN characters instead of Nintendo characters. Duh, right? The second difference is how the Final Smashes work. Instead of chasing a Smash Ball around the screen, you just attack your opponent and your special bar fills up, just like in Playstation All Stars. When your special bar is full, you can perform your Final Smash, or, I'm sorry, your "Punch Time Explosion". Forget it, I'm just going to call it a Final Smash. The 3rd difference is actually pretty neat, if you get a perfect combination of character and assist, you perform a powerful synchronization attack, which is just as strong as your Final Smash, but it doesn't take away from your special bar. There is nothing else to say! This game is Smash Bros, but with CN characters. That's it, and I mean it this time.

I'm just going to say right away that I am not a fan of Cartoon Network. I used to be a HUGE fan of Ben 10: Alien Force, but that's about it. I either haven't seen or never got into any other CN shows. However, I still wanted to try this game because it seemed interesting. I love trying out Smash Bros clone games, so I bought it. And I have to say, this game is pretty good! I actually really like it! The controls aren't perfect, they're a little bit slippery, the characters don't really feel like they have any weight to them, and it can make some platforming segments of the story mode and platforming in the battle stages a little bit unfair, but you do get used to it pretty quickly. The character roster is quite large, and while it does have lots of missed opportunities for good characters, I am definitely not complaining. There aren't even any clone characters! Even the great Super Smash Bros series can't seem to make a game without at least a few clone characters. The character strengths are a little bit imbalanced, which is really annoying and a pain to deal with in Arcade mode, since you only get one life. It's not a huge problem in the basic Battle mode of the game, so I guess the imbalance isn't a huge problem. I actually really like the Story mode of this game! The gameplay is varied, with lots of mini games to break up the main, beat-em-up, Subspace Emissary gameplay so it doesn't get repetitive, and it works! The writing is also very good! It's funny, and clever and witty! The real downside is the cutscenes are really lazy and poor. The game in general doesn't have very good graphics, but the cutscenes are very disappointing, especially in a Cartoon Network game. Isn't Cartoon Network known for its high quality animation? Not here. The cutscenes are just still images of characters moving around the screen with only the narrator talking most of the time. Speaking of the narrator, let's talk about the voice acting. Ha! See what I did there? 2 puns in one sentence! I'm funny. Anyway, the voice acting is only okay, when there even is voice acting. The character that you hear the most is the narrator, Space Ghost. His dialogue is very funny, and his performance is pretty good. As for the other characters, well, they barely speak at all! When the characters in the Story mode get dialogue boxes, they don't even talk! They just make noises! Aren't cartoon characters something like 80% voice? If you take away their iconic voices, what are they? Empty shells. The good news is, the characters do talk during levels and battles, and at the end of battles. What really sucks is that they didn't get most of the original voice actors, since a lot of cartoon characters in this game are from shows that are pretty old. Most of the characters sound almost nothing like the original voices! Johnny Bravo's voice is too low, Mac's voice is too normal, and Dexter sounds more like Timmy Turner from The Fairly Oddparents than Dexter! They have Tara Strong voicing a lot of the characters in this game. If you don't know who she is, she is a very talented voice actor that has been in countless cartoons. She plays Timmy Turner in The Fairly Oddparents, which I guess explains Dexter's voice. She plays Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and she plays Raven in Teen Titans, just to name a few. You can tell that the actors tried their best to sound like the original characters, but they didn't quite get the right voice. Now, as I said before, I am not a CN fan, so the wrong voices didn't really bother me that much, but I see how it CAN turn off die-hard CN fans from this game. Anyway, back to the Story mode. The story is very short, maybe only 90 minutes long, which is good, because the game forces you to play through the story mode to unlock all the characters. Seriously, you start out with, like, 6! Plus, you have to purchase all the XL version exclusive characters from the in-game store with points you earn from beating levels and finishing battles, like in Marvel VS Capcom 2. You can also purchase show clips, which is good, since I haven't seen most of these shows! I need some context here! You can also buy alternate costumes for your characters, and extra battle stages. This really gives you some incentive to keep playing the game to unlock everything, which worked because I'm addicted to this game! I did come across a few game breaking bugs and glitches. If you fell into some pits in the story mode, the game freezes on a loading screen and you have to reset the system, and in the battle mode of the game, the game freezes sometimes if there's a lot of stuff going on on-screen and you have to reset the system. These bugs and glitches are a neusence and they can break the flow of the game, but they aren't a huge problem. I like it how everything in this game is a reference to a CN show. From the enemies in the Story mode, to the stages and levels, unlike the generic and uninspired enemies and stages in Super Smash Bros Brawl's Subspace Emissary, to the special moves, to the remixed music, this game is oozing with CN references just waiting to be noticed by long time, die hard fans. Overall, this is not a bad game. I like it, it's fun, it's Smash Bros, it's classic Cartoon Network, and it's a labour of love made just for long time CN fans. While is isn't as good as Super Smash Bros, or even Playstation All Stars, this is still a great game to check out, play with friends, and ruin your friendships! If you want to try it, it's 20 bucks on the PS Store and XBLA. You could also try out the original 3DS version, but it has a lot less content and features, and it's overall a worse game. Just go with the digital re-releases. I'd give this game 3.5 stars out of 5! Doo doo doo doo!

Have you played Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion XL? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments!

Next Smash Bros clone game: Digimon All Star Rumble! WHAT???? 40 bucks?? I'll wait for a sale, thank you very much.