The tragic story of the game that ruined my life (well, sort of):
Bionicle: The Game for Game Boy Advance. I got it as a gift, presumably because it was in the bargain bin at CostCo. I had never heard of the Bionicle franchise before receiving this game. Apparently, its a LEGO-based sci-fi franchise popular among elementary school children. I figured, what the heck, it's a game, I might as well give it a try.
I invested (wasted) several hours in the game just trying to overcome its glitchy, barely usable isometric irregularities. After finally beating a level, I discovered that the game lacked save functionality and I had to write down a password. I wouldn't have minded so much, if the password had been readable. But, the game creators decided to display the passwords in a futuristic sci-fi font, in which characters are so blocky and close together that 8s look like Bs, which look like 6s, and Cs look like Os, which look like Ds. I wrote down my guess as to what the password was. I tried the password out. My first guess was wrong. My second and third guesses were wrong. Half an hour of inefficient typing later, I finally figured out the password I rightfully deserved...for the first level.
Any sane person would have quit at this point. I am not sane.
I have since competed over half the game. Now I am stuck. I am stuck because I have reached a level with an unbeatable boss. Why, you ask, is the boss unbeatable? It may be a lack of insight on my part, but with the game's track record I genuinely believe that I can't beat the boss BECAUSE OF A GLITCH IN THE GAME.
The boss, you see, has a magnet gun that pulls me in so that the boss can shock me. Under normal circumstances, if the boss successfully pulls me in (which only happens if I let him), he shocks me and I fly backwards, losing an insignificant amount of health. I can avoid his attacks indefinitely if I wish. But, I can only damage him if I get behind him, and as far as I can tell I can only get behind him by jumping over him. THIS IS HOW I HAVE BEATEN EVERY SINGLE BOSS UP TO THIS POINT IN THE GAME. But, whenever I jump over this particular boss, the game GLITCHES OUT. The boss's magnet gun starts pulling me in even when he is not firing the gun. He shocks me, but I don't fly backwards. I just stand there right next to him struggling like a friggin idiot for FIVE MINUTES as he shocks me over and over again, leading to my inevitable death. No matter what I press (or don't press), I can't escape and I can't damage the boss further.
So, the solution, of course, is to grin and bear the glitch...and find a way to damage the boss without jumping over him. Well, I could spend another two hours playing through the level just to get three shots at the boss, but I'd rather not at this point.
Here, firends, is where the story takes a most UNBELIEVABLE turn.
I still want to beat the game. I'm stubborn and I want to trade the game in so I can get something of value in return for my hard effort, but I want to beat the game first. So, I decided to use a walkthrough.
The game has no walkthrough. Not one. Nowhere on the entire internet is there a single walkthrough for this game.It is almost as if NOT A SINGLE PERSON HAS EVER BEATEN IT WITHOUT CHEATING. Which leads me to believe that I AM supposed to jump over the boss to damage him...that the glitch is in fact a genuine glitch and that THE GAME IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BEAT. So I am stuck with the game forever, and it will torment me until my dying days.
I hate this game.
Edited by - Hirocon on 8/23/2005 8:57:30 PM
