Austin Powers: Oh Behave! – Game Boy Color

Platform: Game Boy Color

Release Date (NA): September 17, 2000

Developer: Tarantula Studios

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Genre: “Action” (Simulation)

Nerd Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Let’s get things straight here first, baby. This ain’t no groovy action game for the Game Boy Color based off of the Austin Powers movies. Nope, and if you think so because you see the Rockstar Games logo on the front of the box, you’re sadly mistaken.

Austin Powers: Oh Behave! is no action game, it’s a simulation of a Windows computer, Austin Powers style. That’s it. No shagaledelic action or platforming, it’s a computer simulation. But it’s not as bad as it seems. See, Oh Behave! does pack a few mini games and is customizable. For any Austin Powers fans, there are tons of references to the movies during the game which you’re sure to enjoy.

The game begins with a mock DOS setup, referred to in-game as FAB-DOS. After which, the game asks you some questions about yourself, including your name, gender, prefered partner, prefered pad location, hobby, etc. Every time you complete a screen of questions, a pixelated Austin Powers comments on your responses. Be sure to keep the volume down during this part of Oh Behave!, because the noise that plays when toggling through choices is irritating.

Oh Behave! functions similarly to its sister game, Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! Only, this game has you on Austin Power’s side, with mini-games staring our favorite international man of mystery, and tons of customizable backgrounds to choose from that are equally groovy. The game also contains extra apps that would usually be seen on a PDA, including a calculator and writing pad. There’s also sound clips, pixelated movie clips, and an internet browser that only shows you pages about the Austin Powers movies.

The game also contains three mini-games that aren’t that bad actually, they are;

• Domination– an Austin Powers-themed Reversi.
• Mojo Maze– a pretty fun knock-off of Pac-Man
• Throw Me a Freakin’ Stone– an Austin Powers version of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Domination has you playing as Austin Powers squaring against Dr. Evil, taking turns placing colored disks on the 8×8 board in an attempt to capture the most squares by the time the board is filled. There isn’t any new game mechanics introduced in this version of Reversi, so anyone familiar with the game should be able to easily pick it up. I found Domination to be a little too easy though, and oddly enough, the game is set to easy difficulty by default. Even changing it to Hard difficulty, the computer isn’t too difficult to outwit.

The second game, Mojo Maze, I found was actually quite enjoyable. In Mojo Maze, you play as Austin Powers, walking through a maze connected to four different areas. Each area features its own monsters in a similar theme to it, that function as the ghosts do in Pac-Man. And, like Pac-Man, each area is littered with Mojo upgrades, that allow Austin Powers to beat up the area’s monsters for a short time. Each area also has a single extra life that you can pick up and a speed boost. Once Austin Powers gets all of the male signs in a single area, a new area will be unlockable, with new monsters, upgrades, and male signs to collect.

The last mini-game on Oh Behave! is Throw Me a Frickin’ Stone, which is essentially just Rock, Paper, Scissors, staring pixelated versions of Austin Powers and numerous villians from the movies. This game is luck based, and requires Austin Powers to choose one of the signs using the directional pad, and draw with A when the light on the bottom of the screen turns green. If you draw too quickly, your opponent will automatically win the round. In order to win the game, you simply have to win two out of three rounds.

Although Austin Powers: Oh Behave! contains tons of groovy content for the Austin Powers fan, there simply isn’t enough to really keep one engaged for long. Without anyone to play the three mini-games against, the game loses its luster rather early on….

Listen, this game bored the hell out of me once I finished the mini-games. I mean, what’s there to do? What’s the objective? How do I help defeat Dr. Evil by sitting around playing games on my FAB-DOS all day? I feel that a better Austin Powers game could have been made instead of this and Welcome to My Underground Lair!

I would’ve enjoyed playing a full-blown platformer or action title featuring Austin Powers. The PlayStation 2 Austin Powers game, that had been cancelled, was said to connect all of the movies and had a ton of potential. So why did Tarantula Studios waste their money to make these two crappy games instead of one great game?

Oh, shoot me.