That wacky, zany woodpecker is back.

Dreamcatcher has teamed with Universal and Walter Lantz Productions to feature Woody Woodpecker in an arcade-style program for the Game Boy Color. The title is Woody Woodpecker: Escape from Buzz Buzzard Park.

Here’s the story line, which sets up the action in this game:

Woody can’t find the remote control to his television. So he searches through his house, avoiding pitfalls, and an assortment of easily handled opponents, before coming up empty. Next he searches the house of his friend, Wally Walrus. Again, a blank. But whilst there, he gets a phone call telling him that his nephew and niece, Splinter and Knothead, have been taken hostage by Buzz Buzzard. It’s up to Woody to rescue the youthful woodpeckers and bring an end to the evil buzzard’s plans.

What does that really have to do with this title? Nothing. But it is a nice premise, and at least gives something of a goal for the game.

Controls in Woody’s Escape from Buzz Buzzard Park are standard and easy to learn. The A button is action, the B is jump, and the D-pad does the rest of the work.

There are a number of power-ups available to Woody during the game. The heart keeps his energy bar strong; he can also collect gold, and gain a little extra life.

There are four main bosses to contend with: a mustard-shooting tank, a polar bear, Dapper Denver Dooley the Pirate and, of course, Buzz Buzzard.

The game features 16 different levels, beginning in Woody’s house, then on to Wally Walrus’ house (you will need to find the secret passage to the Walrus’ home), then on out into the big, bright, enemy-ripe outside world. Other locales are a Mexican village, hospital, amusement park, spaceship, pirate ship and haunted house – to name but a few.

The audio portion of this game features the Woodpecker’s memorable laugh, in musical form. Aside from that, there is only a sparse amount of sound effects to drive the game along. The graphical elements are very good. Woody will jump, mock, spin, peck, kick, soar and climb. The game does a fairly nice job of emulating the Woodpecker of cartoon fame. But remember, this is a two-dimensional arcade game, so the game – while colorful – is flat, and Woody’s character movements are limited.

Woody Woodpecker is a solid arcade-style program. It isn’t brain surgery, but does have enough action and other elements to keep it interesting. This game would be appropriate for just about anyone. It is rated for Everyone, but while not demanding a lot of thought, its basic configuration doesn’t require players to have lightning-quick reflexes.

Install: N/A

Gameplay: 8.5.
Played in standard arcade format, the game does have plenty of opportunity for exploration and the 16 levels are quite fun. The opposition is, perhaps, not as solid or as challenging as they could be, but nonetheless provide minor distractions that must be dealt with on each level.

Graphics: 8.
The graphical elements of this game are nice, bright and colorful. This is a straight two-dimensional arcade game.

Sound: 7.
The audio portion of this game is mostly musical, with even Woody’s trademark laugh emulated by music. It is all pretty standard for these type of games.

Difficulty: 7.
This is not a game that will have you performing physical contortions while trying to maneuver through the levels. You will get a password upon each level completed, which will help you continue the game on from that point and not have to start anew.

Concept: 7.
Bringing the famous woodpecker to a hand-held console is nice. It’s just too bad that this is an arcade format that doesn’t trade well on Woody’s famous lunacy.

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: 8.
This game looks good, plays like most other arcade games, but still manages to convey some of the charm inherit with the character Woody Woodpecker.