Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

Demonstrates exactly the kind of pure, playful, unadulterated fun that got me into video games years ago. It's innovative platforming at the top of its game. [Sept 2003, p.72]

Gamers who like platformers served sunny-side up will be utterly won over by Billy's upbeat energy and infectious music. [Nov 2003, p.150]

If you're after a completely new experience and don't mind putting up with a few flaws, Billy's your egg-rolling boy. [NGC]

The mechanics of egg rolling, egg bouncing, and egg hatching are so well done and fun to execute that they infuse the whole omelet - er, game - with deliciousness. [Oct 2003, p.50]

As mentioned before, the bosses look amazing, but each one is completely predictable and easy as cake.

Makes no mistakes, and while it lacks Sonic's flash, it's a better game. [Oct 2003, p.73]

Despite Billy Hatcher's redundant missions, the gameplay itself is excellent. Eggs are Billy’s lifeline in this game - fortunately; they are fun to play with. Well-mapped controls make rolling around feel natural and approachable.

Despite the novel ideas, Billy is, at its heart, a fairly normal platformer...but with Sonic Team at the helm, you really can't go wrong.

In fact, the only thing that Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg has in spades other than cuteness is aggravation. Honestly, this is the electronic equivalent of that puppy that tears your sneakers to shreds yet is so adorable that you cannot help but love it.

Billy Hatcher may never catch on as a marquee Sega character, but his debut is a somewhat fun game on the cartoony side of weird.

Billy Hatcher's only significant flaw is its lack of a lengthy quest. If the game were more challenging it would probably seem a lot longer. Still, you're gonna have a blast with this one.

Many a "Sonic" fan will get a lot out of this. I just wanna see Sonic Team break some ground. Maybe next time. [Oct 2003, p.160]

There’s a great deal to collect and unlock in Billy Hatcher, so if you enjoy rolling eggs around you can keep doing so for quite some time after you’ve finished the game.

Beneath its chicken suits and fluffy animals it has some satisfying challenges, a decent measure of depth, and a very fun multiplayer mode.

Worth checking out for platform and Sonic Team fans, but is likely too difficult and glitchy for more casual players.

The decent graphics, fun soundtrack and addictive egg collecting make this a game worth a play if you are a fan of the Pokémon franchise and the action-platform genre.

The control, along with a small number of other poor design decisions, takes the game from being a blast to being an expensive bundle of frustration.

It's impossible not to feel disappointed with a title that, to judge by it's opening, ought to have competed on an even footing with "Super Mario Sunshine." Instead it's an uneasy compromise between the splendour of the early levels and the inadequacies of later missions. [Dec 2003, p.88]

A fairly meaningless but devilishly addictive platform game that isn't afraid of, ulp, hatching a few new ideas amongst the rank and file and giving you options.

If you're looking for something fun and enjoyable to play then Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg’won’t disappoint, just don't go hoping for a radically new or innovative experience.

This same tedious design also applies to the uninspired boss battles - which mostly just consist of running around, dodging attacks, and hitting whatever giant monster with and egg when he comes to a standstill. [Oct 2003, p.129]

The bizarre story and cheery atmosphere are all trademarks of Sonic Team. The trademark razor-sharp controls, unfortunately, did not make its way into Billy Hatcher.

"Cute" is the most appropriate way to describe Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, though "frustrating" may also come to mind as you make your way through the game.

While not perfect, Billy Hatcher is good fun. If you were expecting the title to have Sonic's breakneck speed, you might need to look elsewhere. Also, the game's extremely high in cute factor, so much so that some older gamers may be turned off.

The camera is poor, which drives the value of the title right down the tubes, the graphics are of Dreamcast quality, the sound and music is simply appalling and the gameplay is skittish at best.

Charming, that certainly covers it. One damned charming game from start to finish. It's not perfect, it's not flashy, but it is a real adventure of discovery, and there are plenty of extras to keep everyone happy.

While Sonic Tean has obviously gone to some lengths to try and make Billy Hatcher play differently to Sonic, the fact that the game still suffers from many of the problems that plagued the original Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast shows that the develpoer still hasn't mastered the basics of 3D gaming. [Dec 2003, p.106]

The egg-rolling and egg-hatching game-play mechanics, while a clever concept, get stale after a while. Except for new environments and a different "boss" enemy at the end of each level, no new game-play elements are introduced after the first hour.

The play mechanic of rolling an egg around, which is quite similar to that of Hasbro Interactive’s "Glover" for the N64, is neither kooky nor original enough to warrant such an amazing lack of depth and variety.

There's a good bit of game here and some occasional flashes of brilliance, but it's sweeter than a chocolate and butterscotch sandwich and could have used a few more months in the incubator.

The game falls apart sooner than later in the game’s progression. While I may have seemed a bit harsh, it’s not that I thought Billy was a bad adventure; just not one I’d ever take again.

Developers looking to break into the platform genre these days have to go above and beyond the standard requirements while completely nailing the technical side at the same time, which is no easy feat. Billy Hatcher is a perfect example of a title that fails on both counts.

Gameplay is everything and wondering around with a giant egg in your possession is anything but fun.

Nothing truly stands out besides the Technicolor palette. The polygons are simplistic, the animations are typical and the worlds are environmentally lackluster. It just seems uninspired.

The senseless slaughter of innocents continues with our boy in the chicken suit, Billy being subjected to countless humiliating deaths thanks to a brutally merciless camera. Whether it's a sneak attack by a pack of bouncing bat things or a sudden drop that seemingly comes out of nowhere, rest assured you're going to be just as surprised the 1000th time as you were the 1st.