Drake & Josh

I played this game out of pure curiosity, and wouldn't you know, it sucks! For starters, Drake and Josh isn't the kind of show that should be adapted into a video game in the first place. It's a sitcom! With nothing to go off of, the chosen gameplay genres are stealth and puzzle. Though, there's also a third genre, 'time limits'. Every level has a flat time limit that doesn't reset no matter how many times you fail during the level. If it runs out, you have to start from the beginning. It's the worst possible element to match up with two different genres that require patience mixed with trial and error. And luck!

It doesn't help that many of these levels take a while to complete, especially if you're looking to grab 100% of the collectables. During Drake's segments, you need to sneak around the school, avoiding cameras, students, and teachers, all while being pelted by paintballs and slipping around on puddles. One of the core mechanics of Drake's gameplay is getting AI characters to follow you around so they can stand on switches or open locked doors for you. The design behind this is frustrating because on top of being glitchy, the AI will disappear and reset if they happen to go off screen, which is easy to do accidentally. They AI characters will also get distracted by other AI characters, meaning you need to precisely manipulate their walking path around areas with specific timing. It's not easy to do!

During the Josh segments, you need to push or kick boxes around onto switches. That's simple enough to understand, and I probably wouldn't hate this game if these were the only parts you needed to play. But of course, it wouldn't be annoying enough to simply push boxes, so you also need to deal with the same paintballs, cameras, and other timing based mechanics Drake has to. These levels also have an abundance of glitchy levers you need to pull back on, which are very finicky and only leave you with a small amount of time to get to the next task before their timer runs out. If that wasn't enough, the game features 'luck switches' where you need to hit multiple switches in the correct order to get past them. Not fun when you're racing against a time limit.

If that wasn't enough, the game features various levels where Josh needs to carry sheep around while they constantly try to jump out of your hands and run away. This, too, is glitchy as I've had the issue where a sheep runs through a wall and I have no choice but to restart the whole level.

Needless to say, almost everything in this game is frustrating to play, with no reward to speak of, aside from a GBA rendition of 'Found a Way' at the end. The humor from the show is absent, making this entire game a complete waste of time.