101-in-1 Megamix (PSP) review "I blame Wario. While games containing a huge library of smaller titles are nothing new, it was him and his stupid moustached face that perhaps showed they could be done well. Large collections of mini-games were quite the rage, but one that’s been hanging around for a little while, post-trend, is 101-in-1 Megamix. I’ll let you take a guess at how many mini-games are included. "

I blame Wario. While games containing a huge library of smaller titles are nothing new, it was him and his stupid moustached face that perhaps showed they could be done well. Large collections of mini-games were quite the rage, but one that’s been hanging around for a little while, post-trend, is 101-in-1 Megamix. I’ll let you take a guess at how many mini-games are included.

It’s a big number and, to Nordcurrent’s credit, very little is wasted. The bite-sized games don’t noticeably repeat on you, and this is worth pausing for a second to ponder upon. We’ve all played one of these collections before, be it a Raving Rabbid or a Bomberman Land, looked at the huge number of challenges boasted and mentally divided that by four. This is a genre infamous for throwing out slight variations of the same formula and classifying it as something spanking new. Megamix gives this lackadaisical attitude the middle finger; it advertises 101 unique games, and that’s just what you’ll bloody get.

The title seems to have been programmed with the aid of something strongly hallucinogenic at times; sometimes goofy, sometimes surreal. It seamlessly melds themes such as cavemen sporting over-exaggerated 80’s hairstyles to pogo-sticking grizzly bears to rampaging T-Rex’s looking to eat you, then cuts them down to a few snatched minutes and looks largely smug about its efforts.

There are some games that work majestically, such as stacking a burger or blowing down hordes of UFOs. The aforementioned pogo-sticking bear doesn’t look comfortable on his ride of choice, but still needs it to traverse a column of dodgy balconies, and your hurried escape from a T-Rex has you zipping between or over obstacles that seem to take a malicious glee in their attempts to turn you into lunch. The variety of the package does guarantee its fair share of stinkers, but the assortment of activities is far from Megamix’s biggest flaw. Unlike every other title of this ilk, it’s not a flaw at all: it’s a strength. An asset boasting creativity that speaks well of the minds behind the title.

Then you’ll beat your mini-game of choice, unlock the next one, and have no real reason to ever return.

What makes this a shame is that, otherwise, there’s a lot of life that can be squeezed from Megamix. Multiplayer modes are included, and there’s adequate high score tracking function to ensure you still have something to aim for. Maybe you’ll make use of them for a while, but then, once you’ve ferreted out your favourites, the very nature of the brief games means they’re not going to be firm favourites in the long run.

It’s a flaw inherent to the genre, but a flaw nonetheless, one that means 101 isn’t a game you’ll be playing for years to come. It is, however, a game you’ll sink a considerable amount of time into as you climb up the ladder, unlocking more and more mini-games just to see what could possible come next. This could be anything from guiding a lollypop around someone’s mouth in an attempt to dissolve it as quickly as possible or trying to play softball with hamsters being thrown at your face. There’s no escaping the creativity and variety of what’s on offer, but its biggest strength is also its weakness: it’s a large collection of brief games that simply aren’t able to provide any real form of replayability.

Staff review by Gary Hartley (October 12, 2010) Gary Hartley arbitrarily arrives, leaves a review for a game no one has heard of, then retreats to his 17th century castle in rural England to feed whatever lives in the moat and complain about you.