The desolate junk yards of Pixar's hit “WALL-E” are an appropriate metaphor for the movie's tie-in video game.
Among the wreckage are many salvageable ideas that, with the right polish, could have been pristine in the eyes and hands of players.
The game places players in a trashed dystopian landscape as the titled treaded robot - a Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-class who looks like “Short Circuit's” Johnny 5, the next generation. WALL-E navigates his Rube-Goldbergian surroundings by tossing compacted trash cubes at targets to move platforms and proceed across them.
The idea is clever in theory and even mostly successful in execution. It marries platforming and puzzle-solving to present game play ideal for the film's young audience but not below the skill set of adult players. But the play is marred by drab graphics and unsteady cameras, which can deter from platform play greatly by obscuring crucial views to size up precision jumps.
As the object of WALL-E's affections, EVE - Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator - is the game's second protagonist. In her stages, the player uses the Wiimote's pointer to guide the conical bot through the skies and collapsing tunnels of future Earth. Once again, a fun control concept is compromised by poor graphics and rarely imaginative level design that asks players to mindlessly destroy objects in the open terrain and race through redundant tunnels.
Compositions from the Pixar film provide an amusingly zippy soundtrack, but they're so shortly looped they outlast their welcome. Like the rest of “WALL-E,” they're wasted potential, trash tossed before its use was fully explored.
Staff writer David Wilcox reviews video games for The Citizen. He can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you play
Game: “WALL-E”
Score: C-
Parental rating: E for everyone
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Platform: Wii (also available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 and PC)
Price: $49.99
Features: 1-2 players
Life span: 8 hours
The final boss: Buried within the garbage heap of “WALL-E's” poor graphics and flat design are some fun game play dynamics that - with care - could have mirrored the quality of the film.
The game places players in a trashed dystopian landscape as the titled treaded robot - a Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-class who looks like “Short Circuit's” Johnny 5, the next generation. WALL-E navigates his Rube-Goldbergian surroundings by tossing compacted trash cubes at targets to move platforms and proceed across them.
The idea is clever in theory and even mostly successful in execution. It marries platforming and puzzle-solving to present game play ideal for the film's young audience but not below the skill set of adult players. But the play is marred by drab graphics and unsteady cameras, which can deter from platform play greatly by obscuring crucial views to size up precision jumps.
As the object of WALL-E's affections, EVE - Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator - is the game's second protagonist. In her stages, the player uses the Wiimote's pointer to guide the conical bot through the skies and collapsing tunnels of future Earth. Once again, a fun control concept is compromised by poor graphics and rarely imaginative level design that asks players to mindlessly destroy objects in the open terrain and race through redundant tunnels.
Compositions from the Pixar film provide an amusingly zippy soundtrack, but they're so shortly looped they outlast their welcome. Like the rest of “WALL-E,” they're wasted potential, trash tossed before its use was fully explored.
Staff writer David Wilcox reviews video games for The Citizen. He can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you play
Game: “WALL-E”
Score: C-
Parental rating: E for everyone
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Platform: Wii (also available for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 and PC)
Price: $49.99
Features: 1-2 players
Life span: 8 hours
The final boss: Buried within the garbage heap of “WALL-E's” poor graphics and flat design are some fun game play dynamics that - with care - could have mirrored the quality of the film.
