 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Artificial Mind and Movement |
| Publisher: | Midway | |
| Genre: | Platformer | |
| ESRB: | Everyone 10+ | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Nunchuk | |
| Buy Now: |   |
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In general, I experienced a lot of inconsistency in how Lucas interacted with the environment. For example, there were some ant paths that worked as marked, while on others I’d be knocked off even though I stayed directly on the path. When that happened, I had to experiment with the angle to take while climbing them before finally being able to scale them. The automatic jumping also had some occasional issues, and I ran into a few collision detection problems including running directly through an ant, getting partially stuck in the environment, etc.
The conventional missions are occasionally broken up by special ones with unique controls, such as shooting down wasps with a goo cannon (using the Nunchuk to guide it and the A button to fire) and riding a wasp (“the enemy of my enemy is my friend”) in an on-rails shooter level. There are also a few boss battles scattered throughout the game, but these are pretty easy once you figure out the pattern needed to secure victory.
I’ve already hinted at many of the game’s technical shortcomings, but aside from those the most obvious area is found in the graphics. Reviews of the last-gen versions have described the game as being behind the curve graphically even for those systems, and the Wii version looks like a straight port of the GameCube version with little or no enhancements. Environments are kept pretty simple, and even then you’ll spot objects being drawn in the distance (particularly with the goggles on) and graphic glitches as clumps of grass jump in and out of existence. Despite this simplicity the framerate is also inconsistent, although never to the point that the game is unplayable.
The camera could also use some work, and has the typical issues (occasionally moves inside objects, jumpy at times, etc.) that most 3D platformers face. Younger gamers may find a few moments of frustration from the camera, but on the whole it’s not as bad as I’ve seen in many other platform games. And as I mentioned before, the use of the Nunchuk to control the camera makes most camera issues manageable, whereas before the player would’ve simply been out of luck. The game did crash on me a couple times however (in one case requiring me to literally pull the power plug from my Wii), and that’s inexcusable in any circumstances.
The sound is a highlight, with a pretty good soundtrack most likely pulled from the movie (as I mentioned I haven’t seen it, but it sounds like kid-friendly animated movie fare) and a good cast of voice actors. Even with Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Paul Giamatti not reprising their movie roles as Hova, Zoc, the Queen Ant, and Stan Beals respectively, the stand-ins do a good job with their lines even though they don’t quite sound like them. Among the actors that do return, Bruce Campbell as Fugax, Regina King as Kreela, and Zach Tyler Eisen as Lucas all lend additional star power and quality voice acting to the cast.
Bottom Line:
Despite the sloppy port, The Ant Bully is well worth a look for younger gamers. While the game’s content isn’t that special, and the graphics are some of the worst on the system, the way the game uses the Wii Remote & Nunchuk makes it an enjoyable experience. Overall, this is a solid kid-friendly title that hints at greater things to come for Wii owners young and old.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 6.5 |
Posted: 2006-12-19 11:55:01 PST