Also known as “Ecks vs. Sever II: Ballistic” in Europe, this is the second video game based on the 2002 film, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, directed by Wych Kaosayananda and starring Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu. The first game – Ecks vs. Sever – came out in 2001 and is one of the better first-person shooters on the Game Boy Advance. This game was developed by Crawfish Interactive and published by BAM! Entertainment in 2002.

At the beginning of the game you can choose to play as either Ecks or Sever, and the game is different, depending on who you play. Both have set objectives, that you have to complete to progress.

Whoever you decide to play as, the gameplay is mostly the same. Both have a default knife and pistol, and can pick up new weapons dropped by defeated enemies. Pressing Select toggles aiming mode on or off, which allows you to position a crosshair around the screen, negating the need to look up and down.

The ‘A’ button fires your weapon; the ‘B’ button cycles through your weapons (or activates usable objects, if you’re facing them), and the L and R buttons make you sidestep (holding both at the same time makes you crouch). You can climb ladders (or other climbable surfaces) by pressing ‘B’, and then pushing up, when in front of them. You can also swim if you fall into water. Holding the L and R buttons while in water submerges you and allows you to swim underwater. You must climb out if you want to get back onto dry land.

In some scenes, innocent civilians run around in panic as the bullets fly, and if you accidentally (on purpose) kill one of them, then the mission invariably fails with a warning. Some ‘civilians’ are actually NPC agents who you need to talk to, to acquire certain objects, and there are other NPCs who you either need to converse with, or even rescue. Those you can rescue, you can instruct them to stay where they are, or to follow you.

Graphically, I think that Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is one of the best-looking first-person shooters on the GBA, and developer Crawfish did a great job with the environments, the weapons, and the presentation overall. Gameplay-wise, I also think that this is better than most other GBA FPSes. I was surprised by how good it was, compared to Duke Nukem Advance, Medal of Honor: Underground, 007 Nightfire, Serious Sam Advance, Dark Arena and Back Track. I think that it’s better than all of them. Which is even more surprising, considering how badly the film was received.

There’s also a multiplayer mode, allowing up to four players to link up and deathmatch, or play cooperatively. I tried to get it working in VBALink, but it didn’t want to play ball.

More: Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever on Wikipedia