The movie oozes with creativity, the game has none.
It is a harsh but honest fact that this is the worst game I have played on the Wii. Getting this game in anticipation of the release of the movie had me excited even after reading a couple of bad reviews. I wanted to believe that my interest in the movie would outweigh the shortcomings the game had and still offer a fun escape form reality.
The good, The Bad, The Interesting –
The Good – The graphics are solid and capture the feel and look form the movie, and there are a few short clips that are slightly amusing. That is honestly all there is to like about this game.
The Bad – There is a lot to say about the shortcomings of this title. Slow game play - your character basically only moves in one speed, and it is not fast. This makes game play seem more tedious than anything else. There is no direction in the game. It tells you what to do next, and you do it. The tasks for the most part are overly simple and again seem more tedious than anything. The mini games are awful. You can find plenty of mini games that you can find within the story and each one that I played was a joke. The controls are repetitive and don't capitalize on any of the unique capabilities of the Wii Remote. The most striking example is with Coraline's slingshot. This is a tool you use often in the game, and a natural solution to the slingshot feature would be point the remote where you are aiming and pull the B trigger button. Instead, you move an onscreen curser with your joystick on the nunchuck when you lock on you then pull the trigger. This is one of many controlling features that simply does not make sense, and a perfect example of why this game should remain on store shelves and not in your collection. To sum it up, it is a slowly paced, uninspired, short game that wouldn't appeal to anyone.
The Interesting – There isn't a lot that is interesting in this game. In fact after thinking about the short time that it took to complete it, I honestly cannot pick out any highlight form the game. Most games, even bad games have their moments, sadly this one does not. It is only a game that tries to capitalize on the success of a creative movie without having to use any of the before mentioned creativity on this game itself.
In case I haven't made myself clear, don't buy this game.