Boys Cell: The Game

Introduction

Boys Cell: The Game was created using RPG Maker 2003 and has probably one of the most interesting development histories of any game I've ever played or reviewed. The game's various elements were crafted by 10 to 14 year old boys and were then blended together by their religious education teacher over the course of a week. And if you couldn't guess from the information I've provided already this game does contain religious elements in line with certain aspects of Christian theology. And seeing as I'm a nonbeliever these elements at best leave me mildly irritated and at worst can set me off on rants depending on how many times I've heard them and how annoying that element of Christianity is for me. As such I'd take my review of this game with a bit of salt in terms of my overall assessment since I'm openly going to admit that I may not be able to separate my thoughts and opinions on Christianity from my review of the game itself.

Story

Story wise the game is built around a very basic excuse plot with four heroes from another dimension fighting their way to the top of a parish centre in order to rescue young boys from the evil clutches of a super villain. As such the story lacks any sort of characterization or emotional draw, but not every game needs to be particularly deep in terms of plot or characters as long as the gameplay is strong enough.

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay the game is a very basic dungeon crawler with most of the enemies appearing on screen, but in one area the encounters appear to be random. Sadly, the combat balance is a bit lacking since you'll easily cleave your way through most enemies with minimal effort, but a few of the boss fights can prove to be a bit of a challenge if you refuse to utilize your special abilities. Of course, if you use those abilities the fights can be rather boring since enemies may be inflicted with a negative status effect that prevents them from fighting back.

Outside of the rather dull combat the game does get a chuckle out of me by having the heroes heal up by taking a load off in the throne room if you catch my drift.

Graphics

Graphically speaking the game does appear to feature a lot of custom work, but at the same time the game also suffers from some of the sprites appearing to come from different sources.

Sound

Sound wise the game is probably alright. And, I say probably since the soundtrack is completely forgettable in my opinion. So much so that I can't even remember if the game had background music when I was writing this review.

Conclusion

Boys Cell: The Game might make for a decent time killer as long as you avoid talking to the penguins, but it's overall enjoyment is still rather low in my opinion since it lacks the strong gameplay it would need to get away with its highly simplistic narrative.