Worth playing only if you're a fan of the movie
This is my second movie based game review. The first of which received a score of 8.0 and to be honest, no one was more surprised than that but me. When I heard about this game, my first impression was the same as usual: "this game is probably not worth playing". And after spending some time with this game, I'm afraid that this is just your typical movie based game that is not all that fun to play.
The game starts with the usual slideshow with subtitles to give you an idea about the story. In my opinion, a video clip would have been a much better idea especially because this game is based from a movie. But this kind of thing is no longer a surprise for most DS users. The first few levels of the game will give you instructions on how to perform basic moves. It does that by pausing the game with a pop-up at the bottom of the screen.
The lady character (Penny) is the first one that you can control. The game will then later enable you to use Bolt. Both of them have the ability to perform combos, and use light or heavy attacks. You can pickup items from jars, boxes, etc that will enable you to refill your health, energy bar, or points to upgrade your strength (which will also unlock new combo moves), defense, and speed. Reading this might make you think that there's quite a lot on offer in this game, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
There are issues with this game that prevented it from being fun to play. First problem that you're probably going to notice is trying to figure out where to go since the camera switches from third person, to side-scrolling, to top view numerous times in the game. And when the camera is in 3rd person view, stuff like walls, floors, and other things get in the way. Not to mention that if you try and walk the other direction, the camera is not going to change direction and follow you, but it moves backwards instead. Yes there is a map and a couple of arrows pointing you to where you should go, but that is only a sign that the game developers knew that getting lost in this game is indeed an issue.
You duke it out with ninjas (at least that's what they looked like) that can usually be beaten by bashing one of the two attack buttons. And that totally defeats the need to upgrade your character because it will just look like the additional combos that you can unlock is only for show but something that is not a necessity to defeat the bad guys. There are also some issues with the AI wherein you'll sometimes run past an enemy and he'll respond by chasing you. But when you try and walk back thinking that you're being followed, you might find him walking around patrolling as if he didn't see you just a few seconds ago.
Penny's ability to use her wheel-bar to move on rails and climb up buildings is fun for the first few times. But the game kinda overused that move and it quickly gets boring. The challenge as to when and where you should use it has been completely removed because the game gives you an icon to where exactly you should use the device.
There's an extra mini-game here called "Rhino's Mission" wherein you guide a hamster in a bubble across a maze ala Super Monkey Ball. You collect items and try not to get killed by obstacles like cats and cannons. To be honest I actually had more fun playing this mini-game than the actual main game itself.
The graphics looks nice and its in full 3d. Some might look a bit grainy but is quite impressive for a DS game. The sound on the other hand is just okay. There are no VOs here whatsoever though.
The game uses the buttons, touchscreen, and mic. Moves are performed by using the buttons but you can also touch your character to perform special moves. While blowing on the mic enables you to use things like throwing stun grenades. I however found it easier to place my finger on the mic and give it a rub. You also use the touchscreen on some mini-games like trying to hack a computer, or trying to rotate a disc etc etc. Everything could have been done by using only the buttons, but the use of the touchscreen and mic is not as frustrating when compared with other games.
Overall the game might be fun if you're a fan of the movie. Given of course that you can forgive the game's clunky camera and at the same time is a fan of button bashing games. The game's real challenge is trying to find out where you should go next, or just trying to find where your character is when it gets blocked by stuff in the environment. The extra mini-game is nice, but not good enough for the game to get a score higher than 5.5
.:My reviews are only as good as everyone else's. Take every single one of them with a grain of salt:.