Santa Claus Saves The Earth is a Christmas-themed platform game developed by Lithuanian company Ivolgamus and released for the PlayStation and Game Boy Advance by Telegames in 2002.

The game seems to have been created with young kids in mind as most adults will scoff at the story and cut scenes… The wicked fairy, Nilam, has enchanted Santa and trapped him inside her “Magic Lands“, so you must take control and help him escape in time for Christmas.

Santa Claus Saves The Earth has fifteen different levels and the aim in each is to find a key to unlock access to the next level. At first this is fairly easy, but as the levels increase the difficulty also ratchets-up.

Santa can jump, somersault, and climb on ropes – which is not bad for a fat guy in a red costume – and must avoid being bashed or shot by enemies by throwing snowballs (or tomatoes) at them. There are coloured tokens to collect, spike traps to avoid, crushers to time your walks past, elevators to ride, and incidental doors that must be opened with the right keys.

Your health is shown as hearts in the top right of the screen, and health packs will replenish these if collected. Pressing Select cycles between available weapons. If you’re lucky you might even find a bazooka in some levels…

There are occasional boss battles, although they’re not particularly impressive. In fact: nothing in Santa Claus Saves The Earth could be called “impressive”. The graphics are pretty plain and the music varies from very good, to unlistenable garbage. That said: the jump mechanics in this game are pretty decent, and it is quite enjoyable to play for a while.

The PlayStation version of Santa Claus Saves The Earth uses a save file instead of passwords, and it shows more of a level on-screen than the GBA version does. Ultimately, though, they both play pretty much the same and are probably good enough to entertain either a kid, or a curious, nostalgic adult, for an hour or two on a cold winter’s night.

Happy Christmas 2023 from The King of Grabs!

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More: Santa Claus Saves The Earth (PS1) on YouTube