Zapper: One Wicked Cricket

Zapper: One Wicked Cricket! is a platform game for the Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and PC. The game was developed by Blitz Games and published by Infogrames. Zapper was released in North America in 2002 and 2003 in Europe. On November 17, 2008, Zapper became available on Xbox Live as part of the Xbox Originals range.[1]

Zapper: One Wicked Cricket
PAL region PlayStation 2 cover art
Developer(s)Blitz Games
(PS2, NGC, Xbox, PC)
Atomic Planet Entertainment (Game Boy Advance)
Publisher(s)Infogrames
Director(s)Darren Wood
Producer(s)Team Antics
Designer(s)Paul Jennings
Russ Earwaker
Jon Eckersley
Programmer(s)Steve Bond
Richard Hackett
Matthew Hampton
Artist(s)Dean Atkin
James Childs
Sandro Da Cruz
Composer(s)John Guscott
Matt Black
Gerard Gourley
Andrew Morris
EngineBlitzTech
Platform(s)Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, GameCube
Release
  • NA: October 9, 2002 (PC)
  • NA: November 3, 2002 (PS2, Xbox)
  • NA: November 5, 2002 (GBA)
  • NA: November 16, 2002 (GC)
  • PAL: March 14, 2003
  • AU: August 9, 2005 (PS2)
Genre(s)Platform

Plot

During a squabble over television, Zapper tries to use his brother Zipper (a grub) as a substitute TV antenna. Zipper is snatched away by an infamous thieving magpie, Maggie, who leaves an egg at the scene of the crime. Unfortunately, much to his dismay, Zapper sets off and determines to rescue his brother and turn Maggie into a jailbird. At the end of the game, Zapper gets Zipper back after defeating Maggie, and finally sets him up as a substitute TV antenna, just in time to watch TV by himself.

Gameplay

The player's aim is to traverse over eighteen levels as Zapper the cricket. Along the way the player must collect six eggs in each level. The player can jump or zap through the levels. If Zapper touches an enemy or falls into an environmental hazard, Zapper will lose his life and will respawn at the last collected egg checkpoint. Zapper has turn-based enemy movements, but the gameplay is similar to Frogger, which instead has vehicles moving independently. It is described in the GameSpot review as "basically just Frogger without the license".[2]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
GBAGCPCPS2Xbox
CGMN/AN/A3.5/5[3]N/AN/A
Game InformerN/A8.75/10[4]N/AN/AN/A
GameSpotN/AN/AN/A6.6/10[2]6.6/10[2]
GameZone7.3/10[5]7.1/10[6]6.5/10[7]N/A5.4/10[8]
IGN5.8/10[9]4.5/10[10]5.5/10[11]5.5/10[12]4.1/10[13]
Nintendo PowerN/A2.9/5[14]N/AN/AN/A
Nintendo World Report4/10[15]5/10[16]N/AN/AN/A
OPM (US)N/AN/AN/A2.5/5[17]N/A
OXM (US)N/AN/AN/AN/A6/10[18]
PC Gamer (US)N/AN/A60%[19]N/AN/A
Aggregate score
Metacritic58/100[20]55/100[21]58/100[22]56/100[23]55/100[24]

The game received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[20][21][22][23][24] IGN gave the Xbox version an unfavorable review, over a month before its U.S. release.[13]

References
  1. Plunkett, Luke (November 14, 2008). "And Your Next Xbox Original Is..." Kotaku. Gizmodo Media Group. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  2. Davis, Ryan (November 11, 2002). "Zapper Review (PS2, Xbox)". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  3. "Zapper: One Wicked Cricket!". Computer Games Magazine. No. 147. theGlobe.com. February 2003. p. 73.
  4. "Zapper: One Wicked Cricket! (GC)". Game Informer. No. 116. FuncoLand. December 2002. p. 130.
  5. Hollingshead, Anise (December 4, 2002). "Zapper - GBA - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 30, 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  6. Tha Wiz (November 30, 2002). "Zapper - GC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 25, 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  7. Lafferty, Michael (December 26, 2002). "Zapper - PC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 21, 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  8. Raymond, Justin (December 12, 2002). "Zapper - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  9. Harris, Craig (December 5, 2002). "Zapper (GBA)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  10. Lewis, Cory D. (February 6, 2003). "Zapper (GCN)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  11. Lewis, Cory D.; Sulic, Ivan (April 23, 2003). "Zapper Review (PC)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  12. Lewis, Cory D. (November 1, 2002). "Zapper (PS2)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  13. Lewis, Cory D. (October 3, 2002). "Zapper Review (Xbox)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  14. "Zapper (GC)". Nintendo Power. Vol. 165. Nintendo of America. February 2003. p. 157.
  15. Arushan, Zosha (December 8, 2002). "Zapper (GBA)". Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  16. Cole, Michael (November 30, 2002). "Zapper (GC)". Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  17. Steinman, Gary (January 2003). "Zapper". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Ziff Davis. p. 136. Archived from the original on March 29, 2004. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  18. "Zapper: One Wicked Cricket!". Official Xbox Magazine. Future US. January 2003. p. 92.
  19. Salkmoor, Bert (March 2003). "Zapper". PC Gamer. Vol. 10 no. 3. Future US. p. 106. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  20. "Zapper: One Wicked Cricket! for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  21. "Zapper for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  22. "Zapper for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  23. "Zapper for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  24. "Zapper for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
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