Disney's Atlantis the Lost Empire for the GBA is another movie-based game. Atlantis was primarily made for those who enjoyed the movie and would like a supplement to the animated picture.

Game Features:

Explore underwater cities, take control of a submarine, and avoid ferocious enemies

Intuitive Control System

Over 15 Levels of Game play based on movie stills

Bonus mini games and puzzles

Password system to save your game

The story of the game, as described by the official website, is: Atlantis. A civilization shrouded in mystery; guarded by mythical monsters, and controlled by a mighty crystal. A crystal, that in the wrong hands, could destroy the legendary empire. Now, with the aid of a submarine, and a mysterious book, go on a journey in search of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Along the way you will encounter huge sea-monsters, fiery volcanoes, mutiny and even a beautiful princess. Are you brave enough to accept this mission?

The game play of Atlantis: The Lost Empire is basic platform fare. As the hero Milo, you must run around collecting gems, and complete a set of objectives stated at the beginning of each level. But, this all gets very repetitive very quickly. Each level involves a lot of dodging hazards, and solving simplistic puzzles. The first level consists of trying to control an overloaded furnace room. Milo must turn off 5 valves, but if you turn them off in the wrong order the system overloads…too bad they're labeled A, B, C, D, and E. The second level consists of running through the submarine as it breaks apart. Your objective is to save all crew members within 5 minutes, but considering there are not many alternate paths and all you have to do is open hatches, it is not all that challenging. The next level is a chase of an Atlantean named Kida, which is your basic "avoid swinging blades, or falling to your death." All levels are based on this simple sort of objective; you have to find something. These levels would be easier than they already are if not for the controls. The controls are basic, the D-pad moves, the A button jumps, the B button is a use item/action button, L looks up, and R looks down. The controls seem easy enough, except that there is no double tap of the direction button to make you run; instead you are constantly running. So, when you are trying to negotiate small platforms, there is no way to creep towards the edge; instead, you run forwards at full speed. This means that you either have to be quick at hitting jump, or you will plummet towards your death. Another annoyance is the save system. For some reason THQ decided not to include battery save like most GBA games. Not only do you have to enter a code, but instead of using a word that may be easy to remember, Atlantis uses a complex password jumble of letters and numbers such as BS3D6JKZ.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire sports decent side scrolling graphics, but nothing mind-blowing. Back grounds are normally colorful, but repetitive. The only animated parts are the few enemies or the occasional moving obstacle. Milo himself looks decent, and 3d6 lent a comical flair to his movements, such as when he falls he makes a flapping motion with his arms. But, in general, the graphics remind me of something that would appear on the NES or Sega Game Gear, not the 16 bit GBA.

The sound effects also are lacking in Atlantis. At first the musical score is mildly ok to listen to, but it is recycled throughout numerous levels, with little to no variation. There are also little to no sound effects throughout the game. Sometimes a creature may growl or a switch will click, but asides for the repetitive score, there is a minimal use of sound effects.

Perhaps where Atlantis is lacking the most is in the replay value of this title. There is no difficulty setting, and Atlantis lacks a gripping storyline to draw the player to play it again. In fact there is really no storyline development aside for the opening, which sets up how you find yourself on this voyage; instead, THQ relies on the fact that most would have already seen the movie (which I haven't). Not only is there no difficulty level, but actual game time is quite minimal. I beat this game in an hour and fifteen minutes. I realize that I am older than the average buyer of this game, but I found the game to get boring rather quickly, and doubt I will ever pick it up again.

The bottom line is, if you are fairly young, or new to gaming, this is a basic platformer for you to wet your teeth on; but with Mario Advance titles available, why would you choose Atlantis? It is a sad fact that THQ does not even describe the game on their site, but only provides a link to the official site. I would only recommend this game to those who absolutely loved Disney's Atlantis, because this game gets old fast