Coraline is a little girl who is
often overlooked by her parents. They both work at home on their computers, and
so blur the lines between “work” time and “home” time. Thus, Coraline has a lot
of free time on her hands. The house where they live has several floors, only
one of which Coraline and her family use. One day, Coraline manages to enter a
supposedly empty flat, and finds a family that looks almost exactly like her own
– except for the button eyes. She decides to stay with this “other” family for a
while, as they pay her a whole lot more attention.
Coraline is a children’s book, one
that is very good, but a bit creepy. It has been made into a recent children’s
movie, and the movie has been getting good reviews overall. Despite the PG
rating, though, not a young children’s movie.
I haven’t seen the movie, but the
game Coraline doesn’t appear to capture that same compelling attraction we all
have for things that scare us, yet intensely interest us. Coraline on the Wii
won’t compel anyone. It’s not that it’s such a bad game overall; it is a wholly
average game that doesn’t compare to its book and movie counterparts.
The game begins with Coraline
roaming around the house, searching for something to do. Her busy parents
suggest a few lame things, and she soon finds the “other” section of the house.
She will also spend a good bit of time interacting with her flat neighbors, two
old retired ladies who live on the first floor.
The game is played out like an
adventure game, slightly similar in concept to the Nancy Drew games, but this
game is no Nancy Drew adventure. Coraline will collect buttons, solve puzzles
and play mini-games, but won’t have lots of conversations with the other
characters. The puzzles are very easy to figure out, but some of the games that
have to be played and won are rather difficult, due to time limits. These
mini-games are a variety of arcade and critical-thinking types of games
typically found in children’s games. Some have to be played to advance the
story, some do not. Some of them are fun, some are not.
The arcade games use the nunchuk a
lot, a design decision I question. For instance, Coraline has a slingshot which
can be used to shoot at things during the course of the game at random, and also
be used to play some of the mini-games. Instead of using the Wii-mote to point
and shoot, players use the nunchuk’s directional stick. This is an awkward
choice and can cause a few problems in timed situations.
Another thought about the slingshot;
it is a wasted element of the game. Coraline can use it to shoot at things like
bee hives, but nothing much happens when she does. All the bees do is to become
a bit agitated and buzz around a little more.
That is my main thought about this
game, that it is a wasted effort. There was so much that could have been done,
but wasn’t. The mini-games are somewhat fun to play and are really the best
aspect of the game, but many of them are boring. The story is very choppy and
doesn’t add much to the game, and if players haven’t already seen the movie,
they won’t understand the plot. Some parts of the game are pretty scary, too, so
parents need to know which kids can take this sort of darkness.
The button collection is
meaningless, and the clothes that Coraline can change into don’t show up in much
of the game. And, the game is very short. Once it is played, kids can replay the
mini-games, but other than that there is not much incentive to replay Coraline.
Unless kids absolutely insist on having this game, I would advise parents to
just skip it.
Gameplay: 5.5
The gameplay is adequate and amusing enough at times, but overall it is nothing
that will keep children’s interest for very long. Which actually doesn’t matter,
as the game is pretty short. The story doesn’t do a good job of tying the game
elements together, and the mini-games are a varied bunch when it comes to
quality. The adventure itself isn’t much fun.
Graphics: 7.0
The graphics are fairly decent for the Wii, and seem to reflect the movie’s look
well enough.
Sound: 8.0
The sound is probably the best thing going for this game, with the original
actors lending their voices. The sound effects are also rather good.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The game runs the gamut from easy to difficult, solely because of the
mini-games.
Concept: 5.0
The concept isn’t new, and the presentation could be much better.
Overall: 6.0
I liked the fact that there were so many mini-games that could be replayed
separately from the game, but these alone cannot hold up the entire game. Also,
only some of them are really cool to play, others are mediocre efforts at best.
The only sometimes interesting gameplay, combined with the shortness of the
entire game, brings us an only mildly interesting game. Parents will probably
want to pass this one by.
