Many fans will most likely recognize Sabreman from the Sabre Wulf series from his cameo appearance in Banjo-Tooie, but Sabre Wulf has been a Rare, previously known as Ultimate, title since he first appeared on a well unknown platform called the Spectrum Sinclair computer system. The game finally made its appearances in the U.S. on the somewhat popular Commodore 64. Yet with his appearance in both Europe and the U.S. most gamers will probably only recognize his from either his appearance in Banjo-Tooie or the great speech made by Ken Lobb three years ago when Sabre Wulf was first announced for the Game Boy Advance. Instead of going the easy route and merely updating the old classic, Rare’s GBA Team brings Sabreman and the multitude of Sabre Wulf characters in an all new adventure that will surely bring players back to old-school gaming.

Sabre Wulf is one of those games like Nintendo’s recently philosophy. It brings great gaming with simple controls. In fact Sabreman’s only abilities are run and jump. Yet with these two simple abilities players are put to the test to jump platform to platform by having great timing and a good ability to judge distance. In an odd twist, players will meet up with many of Sabreman’s friends whom will help Sabreman throughout the game. Using the abilities from friends such as Boomer & Blubba, Sabreman can blast through enemies and walls, jump extra higher, and make the platforming just a little bit easier.

The challenge of these friends is to figure out which one is best suited for the different levels to get to the treasure the fastest, which is the only half of the game. Depending on the type of treasure you get is dependent on how fast you are getting there. Gold, silver, and bronze are the rewards with gold obviously being the fastest time. Yet once you grab the treasure the best part of the gameplay beings; running like hell. As soon as the treasure is taken, the most feared enemy, Sabre Wulf, is ready to kill you. Players must backtrack throughout the entire level all while platforming in a fast-paced manner to get back to the safety of the tent, which in itself is weird. How a tent can stop a crazed blue wolf from getting inside is beyond me.

The game’s difficulty is oddly misplaced. In one of the lateral stages player will need to use the abilities of all the collected friends, yet in the next stage, you only need to use one. I’m not sure if Rare did this to throw off the players to make them think a little more, but whatever the reason, it seems strange. With the slight addition of adventure and some RPG element, Sabre Wulf is most definitely an action game that will have players put to the test with the insane difficulty.
When Ken Lobb first announced this game, he mentioned that it was perhaps one of the best looking and technical games he has seen on a handheld. While that may have been true years ago, the game is way outclassed in its graphics and its technical aspects. Still the game looks good, and somehow looks awfully similar to the Banjo-Kazooie game on the GBA. Even with a few lighting effects, there’s not really much here to see graphically wise.

However the length of Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge is not apparent in Sabre Wulf, which for gamers who played the platformer, know it’s a good thing. Sabre Wulf adds acouple of replay value features by adding collectibles throughout the levels and even a challenge mode where players must race against the clock.

With horrible European jokes and a weird storyline, the superb platforming elements in Sabre Wulf greatly make up for the few flaws in this game. Even with the odd difficulty level that seems to fluctuate between the different levels, Sabre Wulf is a must buy for gamers who appreciate old-school gaming and for those, like me, who love when Rare is on top of things. With Rare having Nintendo DS developer kits, it’s an almost guarantee that Sabreman will return once again, this time hopefully sooner than before.