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Surprisingly enough, the film version of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon gained quite a bit of popularity in North America when it was released a couple years ago. So much popularity, it seems, that a game has been released based on the license two years later. Does the game stand up to its big screen counterpart? You’ll have to read on to find out.

In Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, you take on the role of Jen, a Japanese martial arts specialist on a search for a legendary sword. Naturally, the quest for this sword will take you through a good amount of side scrolling, action filled levels. One thing you’ll notice very early on is that Jen has a nice variety of moves. She has a handful of basic attacks, and another handful of special moves that can be executed when her special meter is full. You can fill your special meter by essentially just killing bad guys. When you kill an enemy, he turns into a red ball of energy that will float towards you and increase your special meter until it’s full, allowing you to perform one of the games special moves, the Chi Roll, Chi Kick or Chi Spin. Each attack does an excessive amount of damage compared to the damage of your basic attack combo, and they can hit multiple opponents, making them perfect for those little tough spots you’ll find yourself in. There is a good variety of enemies as well, and each of them have their own attack style. Some enemies will shoot arrows at you, some will try jump kicking you, and others will just charge at you.

Every few levels, you’ll be treated to a complimentary boss fight; these get progressively harder as you level your way through the game. The game's story is told through still images and scrolling text. The story that unravels is less than awe-inspiring, but the game itself is still reasonably fun, and the artwork makes up for the lack of a strong storyline.

Graphically speaking, the game looks pretty good for a handheld title. The majority of the game's levels are very intricately detailed, but some of the character models could use some work. All the characters are nicely animated considering what little bit of animation some of them have. Some of the effects you’ll see during the game are masterfully done, such as little auras during special attacks. Overall, the levels are the most aesthetically pleasing part of the game.

The game sounds decent, but the game's audio is nothing spectacular. The game is full of generic sounding attack noises, and forgettable background music. To be fair,however, there are a lack of handheld titles that have very memorable music, so I blame it more on hardware limitations than lack of effort.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon for the Game Boy Advance is essentially a side scrolling action game, with the Crouching Tiger license slapped on. It’s a solid experience, and well put together, though it may have its rough spots. You could probably do better in your search for gaming action, but even still, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is worth a look.