In the world of videogames, there's nothing worse than a good game gone bad. Case in point: Astro Boy for the PS2. Early screens looked good, the game sounded like a lot of fun, and behind it all was Sega's Sonic Team, a group of developers known for stand out and breakthrough hits. Unfortunately, the finished product is anything but stellar, and after dropping $40 on this waste of materials, I can't help but feel like I've been cheated.

In case you don't know who Astro Boy is, he was created by legendary artist Osamu Tezuka in1951. The brainchild of scientist Dr. Tenma, Astro is a robot that has the ability to experience human emotions. Sure, he's also got a bevy of cool super powers including x-ray vision, an arm cannon, supersonic hearing, and rocket feet, but it's his ability to reason and love that sets him apart from the other robots, who are currently in a spat with the humans who created them. It seems like Metro City is under attack by a band of evil robots, and only Astro can save the day.

Now that we've got the formal introductions out of the way, we can take a long hard look at why Astro's PS2 adventure is terrible. For starters, and this is what I noticed right away, the graphics are horrendous. It's as if Sonic Team never programmed on a PS2 before. Nothing is pixilated, but everything appears annoyingly blury. I don't mind that everything looks simplistic, because if done correctly, that style can work fine, but in Astro's case, it only serves to mar the visuals. Everything from the character models to the effects are sub par. After playing the spectacular Game Boy Advance version and being dazzled by its bells and whistles, it was a real bummer to see the lackluster version of Astro's arm cannon and finger laser.

Of course, my love for videogames goes far beyond sweet-looking visuals, because, as I'm sure you're aware, great graphics don't make a great game. If Astro looked terrible but played well, I'd cut it some slack, but again, I was disappointed. The controls to this game are a mess. On the ground, it's easy to punch past an enemy and keep punching in the wrong direction (leaving yourself open to attack), and in the air, Astro's rocket feet only serve to frustrate. He makes the most ridiculous wide turns I've ever seen, and it's so difficult to control him that if you miss a target, you have to stop and make another pass. It's okay if you're just trying to access a part of Metro City, but when fighting bosses, it's especially annoying (and made worse by a camera that doesn't give you a great view no matter now much you adjust it!). In the beginning, the game tries to teach you how to fly by asking you to maneuver Astro through rings (Superman 64, anyone?), but that doesn't make handling him any easier.

When Sega first leaked info about this game to the press, I was ecstatic because they told us that you'd be able to fly around Metro City and go anywhere. This is only partially true. You can fly around Metro City, but it's not like in Grand Theft Auto where you can pretty much go anywhere. Metro City isn't much of a happening place, and in practice, it's just a hub that connects various points you need to fly into. Try and fly anywhere, and you'll encounter those mysterious invisible walls. It's actually quite comical to see, because the game will instruct you to fly up to reach Metro City, but because Astro's flying abilities are so wacky, he'll bump into a wall and scale along the side of it.

I also have issues with the game's transition periods. Fly away from home to Metro City to experience loading, and then fly to the area you need to reach to experience more loading! This is beyond annoying, and it'll be made worse when you see how cut scenes are handled. It's awkward how a scene is abruptly cut off to the loading screen. I'd say that you should experience it for yourself, but I don't want you to come anywhere near this game, so take my word for it.

Since I gave this game a score of two, it has to do something right in order to escape the dreaded one out of five. On the positive side, the anime in the game is pretty, and the music is actually pretty well done. Featuring several cool tracks, you may find yourself humming them after the PS2's been shut down. Also, the combat is somewhat decent. Astro's powers can cause quite a bit of damage, and picking up and throwing stuff is pretty cool. The missions are also quite varied, so the game does present a decent challenge if you're willing to invest the time. Lastly, you can unlock games and collect virtual trading cards, so there's some incentive to keep going.

What happened!?! What looked like a quality game just a few months ago turned out to be one of the biggest disasters of 2004! Astro Boy is a complete mess and a blemish on Sonic Team's impressive resume. Given how well the Game Boy Advance version turned out, I can't help but feel cheated, and I hope other gamers feel the same way.