 Review By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Heavy Iron Studios |
| Publisher: | THQ | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 Alternating, 2 Simultaneous | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Nunchuk | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Were they to actually take the time to think about it, I believe most people would agree that Disney movies are going downhill. I won’t say that the company is on its way out – it has, if nothing else, proved itself resilient over the years – but there is no doubt in my mind that the quality of their products leaves something to be desired nowadays. Indeed, the only thing that really is debatable is when it started. Ask ten different people, and you’ll likely get ten different answers. Truthfully, it should hardly matter to most people though, apart from children, and chances are they lack either the faculties or scale to even raise such questions in the first place. However, as a video game reviewer in an industry where a large percentage of titles released each year are based off of licensed materials, our fates are intrinsically entwined. Despite it all, I find there is still a beacon of hope: Pixar. While I realize the studio isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, for my money, they represent perhaps the only highpoint in Disney’s crumbling (but by no means unsalvageable) empire. In addition to the rather slapstick comedy that appeals to wide-eyed children, Pixar’s movies often feature a sort of subtle humor that can make the experience just as much fun – or at least bearable – for parents. No matter your age, Pixar movies have entertained us for more than ten years with the likes of Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Cars and more, and the latest story from this CGI giant is Ratatouille.
For the benefit of those of you who didn’t see the movie or garner anything from the trailers, Ratatouille is (for the most part, anyways) the story of a mouse that wants to be a chef and a human who doesn’t have an inkling of talent in the kitchen. Initially at odds – as a restaurant and unsanitary pests must be – Remy (the rat) and Linguini (the human) eventually team-up and become an absolute culinary sensation. However, just because those two are pals doesn’t mean all is right in the world, and they must, for the time, hide their partnership. Fortunately for theatergoers, the movie goes into quite a bit more detail and there are a number of somewhat interesting storylines that are explored throughout the film. Unfortunately for me, the game couldn't care less. Instead, the narrative is dropped about half way through in a way that makes you think the developers had little more to go on than those aforementioned trailers, leaving most of the finer plot points to be glossed over. So, you may be asking, how does one make a whole game out of only half a movie? The answer is repetition, lots and lots of repetition...oh, and mini-games. You see, while the basic framework of Ratatouille is a platformer, it is really only used to get from Point A to Point B, both of which are some form of mini-game. This is perhaps one of the biggest disappointments in the game, since some of the level design is truly amazing, sort of like the classic board game Mouse Trap...if it were all grown up in a bizarre sort of now-that-I’m-out-of-your-house-I’m-not-playing-by-your-rules -and-I’d-rather-use-mind-expanding-drugs-than-get-a-job kind of way. However, as I’ve said, once you get past using sewing thread as a zip wire and launching yourself across the room with a spoon, the game boils down to one mini-game after another.
When it comes to mini-games, there are four main types in Ratatouille: chases, races, Childs and trials. And, with few exceptions, you’ll perform at least three of them in every movie location-themed level. Chases are performed from a head-on perspective, with Remy being (as you might expect) chased by various rat-hating characters and having only a split second to correctly navigate racing across narrow platforms, lining up jumps and navigating obstacles without slowing down and getting caught. Traditionally, races immediately follow chases and have your character zipping down various pipes and drains, once again avoiding obstacles and making jumps, until you safely reach your sewer sanctuary. One of the major focuses in the game (and movie, for that matter) just so happens to be relegated to a mini-game. The Childs above actually stands for the late Julia Child, the famous chef, who I thought would be perfect to represent Ratatouille’s cooking mini-games. There are a few varieties, which have you doing anything from prepping ingredients to creating the movie’s titular soup to decorating a cake, but they all play like Cooking Mama with a mix of pattern-matching games. And, finally, the trials are optional mini-games that have you traversing various, usually food-themed dream sequences for points that can be spent outside the main game (but more on that later). If the variety of mini-games does sound nice, then I must admit to you that they are indeed a fun diversion from all the platforming, but the developers fall back on them way too often, and it truly hurts the overall experience.
Posted: 2007-10-20 13:19:16 PST