 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Avalanche Software |
| Publisher: | Buena Vista Games | |
| Genre: | Action Adventure | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Nunchuk | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Although these gadgets and abilities add some variety to the game, virtually every mission quickly devolves to the player basically blasting the same enemies over and over again. This of course leads to some moments of boredom, which aren’t helped by the fact that many of the environments repeat over and over again (particularly in Ace’s missions). Gameplay is still solid, and like I said there is some variety, but it can also be tedious and predictable at times.
As for the Wii-specific controls, they really function as you’d logically expect them to. In all situations, the Wii Remote controls looking/aiming, the Z button handles jumping (on foot) or turbo (Abby/Runt’s vehicles), and the control stick controls movement. Specific to Ace, the Nunchuk performs a rolling jump when moved left or right (although I never got good use out of this), and with Abby tilting the Nunchuk forward or backward hovers her ship up or down. Aside from the occasional problem with the Remote briefly becoming lost while attempting hard turns (resulting in a few cheap hits but no deaths), the controls function well enough.
One major problem with the single-player mode, for younger players anyway, is the fact that checkpoints are often too far between. The game can be pretty difficult in spots, and the checkpoints are spaced out far enough (particularly with Ace’s missions) that younger players may get a little frustrated. And although you certainly wouldn’t want to pick Ace in Action up for its multiplayer modes, it does feature some basic, solid two-player tank and spaceship versus gameplay.
Graphically, things are really mixed. The game features a nice art style and plenty of nice explosions, but at the same time features some generic environments. It’s also one of the far too many Wii titles to not support 16:9 or 480p, which frankly makes it look low rent in comparison to some of the system’s other titles.
Sound wise, as alluded to earlier the voice acting is very solid, with Adam West filling his role as Ace quite well (not quite "Billy West as Zapp Brannigan" well, but close). I’m a Zach Braff fan from his early Scrubs days, and he certainly doesn’t embarrass himself as Chicken Little either. The rest of the cast is solid, if unspectacular. Some one-liners repeat a little too often though, particularly Chicken Little’s own voice-overs as he “plays” the game. The music is very solid, epic in spots and cartoony in others, and does its job.
Bottom Line:
Somehow, I made it through that entire review without one Ratchet & Clank reference. Yes, the game “borrows” a lot from Ratchet & Clank (and other assorted action titles), but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a solid licensed title. While not a must-have by any means, it’s a solid kid-friendly game that’s definitely worth a look.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 7.7 |
Posted: 2007-01-24 16:45:23 PST