James Pond: Codename Robocod Review: Fishy Frolics (Switch)

Out now on Nintendo Switch splashes James Pond: Codename Robocod, a reimaging of the classic Amiga platformer of a similar name. Developed by West Coast and Published by Play It, in this game you must guide fishy spy guy James Pond on a mission to save Christmas from the evil Dr. Maybe and his sinister band of goons. Can James Pond save Christmas and the world?! Only you can decide. Of course, you can choose not to. That’s an option too. But why you’d choose not to is beyond me. But who am I to judge?

James Pond: Codename Robocod isn’t the first time I have reviewed a revival of an Amiga-era legend. Prior to this, I sunk my teeth into Zool Redimensioned. And when I learnt that there was another title of that era out and proud for me to enjoy. Well, I jumped at the chance to play it. Christmas is the time to reconnect with your loved ones after all. Only I soon learnt that this version isn’t the one I grew up with. Far from it. I referred to this as a “Reimaging” at the head of this review for good reasons. Reasons that will become clear as we get into the review. But with all of that said, let’s get down to it.

James Pond: Codename Robocod is available now on Nintendo Switch.

Story – None!

In James Pond: Codename Robocod, you play the titular James Pond. A super secret super spy who once again must face off against the villainous Dr. Maybe; a dastardly doctor that has attacked Santa’s workshop and has kidnapped the Elves. Not only that but he has strapped bombs to them because he is a villain. So it’s up to James Pond to save them. This time Pond is armed with a robot suit to help him stretch himself to reach high places and collect items and power-ups. Because they had to justify the Robocop theme beyond ‘that’ theme music. Now, let’s be honest, the story for this game is suitably wacky and silly. This is a light-hearted family-friendly platformer. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. For me, however, the issue isn’t with the story. More the lack thereof.

This is as close to story as James Pond Codename Robocod gets.

The only reason I know the story of the game is because I’ve played the original. And I have seen footage of the prior ports of this specific version. However, unlike those older versions, there are no cutscenes in this game. None at the start or end. Goodness, even the store page barely gives any details on what is going on. Sure, it isn’t a deep story. And there is a part of me that is glad we don’t get HD versions of the PS1 version’s rather cursed cutscenes. But all the same, it is rather odd to me there is nothing at all. Not even a splash screen before the game starts or just before the game ends. But I suppose if you’re just here for the action then, oh boy, James Pond: Codename Robocod has you covered, so let’s move on to the gameplay section of this review.

Gameplay – Stretch!

As mentioned in the intro to this review James Pond Codename: Robocod is a 2D platformer. Your goal is to find and rescue all the elves on a given level and then get to the exit. This is changed from the original where you were saving penguins as that was a (now expired) tie-in with a chocolate biscuit brand. There are a handful of power-ups to collect, as well as a large number of bonus stages to unlock and discover along the way. To do all this you must guide James Pond through each level, running, jumping, and stretching to reach new areas. I feel that before we get too far into this review we should address the elephant in the room here.

In James Pond Codename Robocod you must save Santa’s Elfs.

This is not a port or remaster of the original game. So those of you hoping to relive the joys and memories of playing this game on the Amiga or the Sega Megadrive (or the other half dozen or so ports it got back in the day) are going to be disappointed. This is a port/remaster of the version of the title released on the PlayStation and Gameboy Advance back in 2003. And is the version that has been ported to other machines since then. So if you have nostalgia for those versions, the Nintendo DS version, or any other release since then you’re in luck!

Fishy

How much of a hard sell for you this is ultimately is something you need to decide yourself. However, this version of the game still handles well and is a decent follow-up to the prior James Pond II. So, you could always just see it as a sequel of sorts. All be it with a more modern sensibility when it comes to its level design. Well, modern for the late 1990s or early 2000s at least. The levels are large and decently complex. But never so complex that you don’t know what you are going or what you should be doing. At least for the most part. Most of them have a fairly linear feel to them that should stop you from getting lost.

Yes, when I think of “Bonus Stages in Christmas games” I too think of coat hangers and glue.

The controls feel more intuitive than the original version. But that doesn’t take much. And are easy enough to get a hold of. Mechanically the game is tight as far as that is concerned. However, the game still suffers from many of the issues that the original had. Firstly the gimmick with Pond stretching himself feels underutilised. And when it is used, it never works as you think it would. And is just a means of crossing gaps and grabbing hard-to-reach collectables. But that is it. It is a gimmick if ever there was one. And isn’t something that the game is built around.

Battered

Another big issue that I have is that every enemy takes far too many hits. With ol’ James having to bounce atop of an enemy several times to kill them off. Whilst some can be avoided others need to be killed off to give you a good chance of avoiding damage. This durability only gets worse when you face off against the Bosses. Not only do they need to take far more hits than they really should they often will fight you in some intensely narrow areas. Which can make the attack patterns they have far harder to deal with than they really should. But if you struggle you can always activate the infinite lives in the options menu.

The final boss is a challenge. Mostly due to bad design.

James Pond: Codename Robocod wasn’t a terribly difficult game to do a play-through of for this review. And honestly, the greatest difficulty came from the poor level of development of the boss stages. And from just how janky dealing with the basic baddies can be. Honestly given how scarce lives and health can be there did come a point where I was playing this more like a stealth game. And avoiding enemies where possible. Which isn’t quite in the spirit of this game. But I wanted to hold off going for the infinite lives route for as long as possible. But seeing as there are no consequences for using it or not honestly I may as well have been using it from the start.

Sushi Shuffle

If I could sum up my feelings for this review on James Pond: Codename Robocod in one word it would be “Decent”. This is not a grand and spectacular platforming experience. Nor is this some grand mess and disaster. For what is ultimately a budget title in an era where budget titles don’t exist any more it is a cheap bit of fun that offers a decent challenge for returning fans and to people who are looking for something a little different. Like I said earlier, this isn’t the James Pond II you remember, but if you have been wanting more in the style of the one outright good James Pond game then you’re squids in!

A yellow submarine? That’ll never catch on!

If you have no great feelings or nostalgia for the series then this is a harder sell. There isn’t much here that screams that this is a “Must Play” game. Maybe had this released far earlier into the Switch’s lifespan and this was one of only a handful of downloadable titles on the system it would be easier to make the case for getting it. With all that said it is still fun enough. And offers enough of a challenge to be interesting. But euro-platformers are a very particular niche that isn’t for everyone.

Graphics & Audio – Salt & Vinegar

I will be blunt with you dear reader, the presentation of James Pond: Codename Robocod is the weakest area of the game. Regrettably, this is the part of the review where we need to turn more negative. What I will say as a positive for now is that the game’s soundtrack is well-produced. And features a collection of well-realised translations of music from the original version as well as (at least) the first James Pond game as well. And yes, that means the original title’s rendition of the Robocop theme (which I’m certain was properly licensed for real) is back. All the tracks have decent CD-quality audio to them. And whilst I do prefer the Amiga versions, they are fine in and of themselves. However, there is one major issue with them.

Look carefully at James Pond Codename Robocod’s graphics and you’ll be disappointed.

The soundtrack doesn’t loop properly. Each track doesn’t seamlessly loop back to the start as with just about every other video game soundtrack. No, when the music reaches the end it fades out. Everything goes quiet then it starts again. Now this isn’t the worst aspect of the game. And it doesn’t add it to my list of Worst Soundtracks. But it feels odd. And adds a cheapness to the game that undermines the quality. With it feeling like they just ripped the soundtrack off a CD and just used them as was in this version of the game.

A Bag of Chips

As for the graphics and design of everything, well, as I say, this is the weakest element of the game. Whilst I do like the fact that the original graphics have been translated over to this version how they are implemented feels lackluster. James, the baddies, and the collectables all have this pixel-smoothing effect on them. Like that option that you can get on certain emulators. This pixel smoothing gives many elements of the game a rather greasy look. As though they’ve all been rubbed in Vaseline. It feels like it was done to make the game look more high-definition than it otherwise is.

In addition to this pretty much all the graphics have a black or white border around them. Something that feels like an accidental by-product of how they are implemented rather than a creative choice. Additionally, some of the graphics have these odd errors and artefacts on them. With blotches and black lines appearing on certain frames. Like the graphics sheet, they were drawn from accidentally copied in the art from a different frame or character. It makes it feel like the baddie art (like many of the interactable graphics) was just grabbed from a sprite list and quickly implemented into the game. However, these issues are far less noticeable when you are playing the game in handheld mode for what that is worth.

James Pond: Codename Robocod was reviewed on Switch.

Video featured by Nintendo Tracker.