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I’m not sure what prompted the idea for making a tie-in to the Disney comedy Around the World in 80 Days, but it happened. The title doesn’t offer a lot in the way of enjoyment, or challenge… come to think of it, I can’t think of any positive factors the game does bring along.

Around the World in 80 Days is a side scrolling action/platform game that puts you in the role of Jackie Chan, martial arts master (as always) and bad video game star. Those of you gleaming at the idea of being able to take Jackie’s martial arts madness on the go should stop now before you get sorely disappointed. Truth be told, Jackie has 2 attacks at his disposal: punch and kick. He can also jump. The game as a whole sees you controlling Jackie through multiple levels punching or kicking in the heads of random thugs. I’m not sure why, as the storyline makes little to no sense, but you do it anyway. The enemies are dumb as stone; they’ll run up to you as soon as they see you, at which point you can usually dispose of them with a couple attacks, and suffer no damage.

Getting from point A to point B in the game isn’t all there is to it though, as Jackie must also collect numerous blue token/coin deals for absolutely no reason before he can exit any given level. If, for some reason, you were unable to find all the tokens before you make it to the end of the level, you must go backwards until you find the missing ones. This can get seriously tedious, especially considering the levels aren’t very fun to play the first time around, let alone backtrack through them. Some levels will see you avoiding police officers (again, I can’t figure out why), which basically consists of not touching them while they walk towards you.

The game doesn’t look all that great either, boasting some digitized sprites with repetitive animations. Jackie himself doesn’t have a lot to animate either, thanks to the sheer lack of moves he has. The games levels never make it past ho-hum, and aren’t laid out well enough to warrant any praise.

The games audio is atrocious, as the same single track plays out through the whole game. There’s no digital voice acting, and the sound effects are just about as low-budget as everything else in the game; If you feel the need to play this game, at least séance your ears and mute it.

In closing, I’d just like to say that Around the World in 80 Days suffers from typical movie tie-in syndrome. The game was likely rushed to make it out alongside the movie, and in turn, not much was put into it. The gameplay is overly simplistic, and it isn’t a whole lot of fun. Your money will be better served elsewhere for your next GBA purchase.