Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! is an isometric action puzzle game for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance, developed by Warthog Games and published by Ignition Entertainment in Europe and North America in August and November 2005, respectively.
Plot[]
The Warner Brothers and Warner Sister have caused great financial damages to the studio, adding to a one-zillion-dollar debt, much to the annoyance of the CEO, Plotz. But instead of locking them back in the tower, Plotz assigns Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, with Pinky and the Brain's help, to make three films where he'll use the revenue to fix the studio's financial problems. If they succeed, they’ll be good to go. But if they fail, they'll be sent back into the water tower and be locked up for good.
Gameplay[]
The game takes place in an isometric world as opposed to the 2-D or 3-D platformers of the previous games. The player controls Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Pinky and the Brain through fifteen levels, five for each movie of Pirates, Sci-Fi, and Horror.
The director is present throughout each stage, and tells the player what to do next in order to complete the movie, also acting as checkpoints. The basic gameplay consists of running though the stage, trying to avoid enemies, finding keys to unlock doors, completing quests for other characters, and figure out how to proceed, sometimes by solving puzzles. At the end of most stages, a boss can be found that has to be beaten.
The player can change characters by finding a changing room door and there you can play a game of Polka Dottie to get extra film reels.
It is impossible to die in the game. Instead one has a limited amount of time to finish each stage. The time limit is symbolized by film reels, which amount to about twenty seconds each before losing one. If one touches an enemy, the director will yell "cut" requiring the player to start over from the place where they last spoke to the director, and lose a film reel, so in a sense, the reels are also lives. If one runs out of film reels, it's game over.
Each character has their benefits and drawbacks:
- Yakko: Throws apples, pushes objects. Well-rounded
- Wakko: Burps, which are stronger than the apples but don't go as far; pushes objects, cannot use apples
- Dot: Can glide after a jump for longer jump length and more precise landing, cannot push objects
- Pinky: Can squeeze through small openings, cannot push objects
- The Brain: Can squeeze through small openings and operate special "IQ" levers, cannot jump or push objects
There are also various other items to collect as well, such as keys to open their matching colored door, garlic to improve Wakko's burp rate, stunt doubles that can save you from losing a reel and from bring sent back, food for a higher star rating, single and five-stack film reels and so on. The player can also adjust the difficulty in the options menu to give you more or less film reels as well.
There is also a local multiplayer option to play with friends in arena battle-type games up to four players, such as keeping one's crown from being taken by avoiding them throwing apples at oneself.
The Nintendo DS version is an almost 1-to-1 port of the GBA version with the exception of using the bottom screen to keep track of the player's collectables, pause the game, skip cutscenes and so on, as well as running better on a more powerful system and without need for peripherals for its multiplayer.
Notes[]
- This would be the last game Warthog Games would develop before disbanding.
- This was the last Animaniacs game ever to be made.
- Wakko's burp attack is similar to how he attacks in "Belchinator Too" in the Animaniacs Game Pack!