Garfield has been around an awful long time, his
popularity probably peaked in the 80’s when his dry humor and laziness fit so
nicely with 80’s excess. But then the Garfield movie came out and it was a
surprising little hit, Bill Murray voiced the cat himself and I’ll be pickled
if his voice and the movie didn’t work out. Fast forward a couple of years and
the inevitable sequel comes out to much less fanfare. The movie didn’t do as
well box office wise, but if there is one thing that a popular license tells
us, a bad movie can still be made into a game.
Garfield 2 isn’t so much based on the events of
the 2nd movie as it is located where the second movie occurs. Just to get you
up to speed, in the movie, Garfield and Prince XII accidentally switch places
since they look identical. A series of events occurs and yeah, yeah, yeah…
It’s basically the Prince and the Pauper only with cats. Well in the game, all
of the events of the movie have already occurred, and Prince XII has invited
Garfield over for some lasagna (a treat he discovers in the movie). So our
orange tabby friend is off, running through the streets of London to get to
the castle and eventually his dinner.
"Why is there a mattress on the
roof?"
So the point of the game is to get to dinner
(three hours) before there is presumably no lasagna left, this involves
jumping around obstacles, climbing items using your kitty claws, using your
weight to maneuver objects, it’s basically a platforming title with very
little enemies. Good thing too, since Garfield possesses no way to defend
himself. The control of the game is relatively easy with Garfield jumping on
platforms, climbing up claw friendly textures and eating as many treats along
the way as possible. But here is where things stop making sense. The food you
collect, does nothing for you, other then at the end of the level when it
tells you how many you collected, it doesn’t have any sort of benefit to the
game. It doesn’t improve health, it doesn’t access other levels,
nothing. Garfield must avoid cars, traps and other items of danger which if he
does run into, he will lose one of his nine lives he gets per level.
The game does throw a little bit of variation in
it by providing alternate paths (which aren’t much of a stretch) that access
other areas of the level and by having scenarios pop up where you see the view
from Garfield’s perspective. But for the most part, the game is quite bland
and the gameplay is as much repetitive as it is boring. Nothing new or
interesting here.
"I don’t care how much he loves
lasagna, he would not trudge through the water."
The sound in the game isn’t much to get excited
about, there is a adequate collection of background sound effects, and the
occasional "Mew" whenever Garfield gets squashed, but other then a semi-clever
use of the DS microphone (which translates into meowing) the sound in the game
is pretty sub-par stuff.
Graphically the game does have some interesting
places for a cat to go, and I did like how Garfield leapt (even though it
isn’t the leap of a fat cat) around the scenarios but often times the game
does suffer from heavy breakdown in pixilation, Garfield looks good one minute
only to get blocky and rough looking as the camera automatically pulls
back. Garfield 2 often has some interesting 3D effects that make the game seem
a bit brighter in some places, but then just as quickly fades out with a bland
section. Very uneven visuals.
Gameplay: 6.0
This is a platform game that does not make use of
the Garfield license, there is no Jon, no Odie, no nothing. It controls like
your average sega saturn game (i.e.. clunky), but even so it’s a boring
platform title either way.
Graphics: 6.4
Where the game shows nice promise in the 3D
levels, it subsequently breaks down regularly.
Sound: 6.5
Below average sound effects, an interesting use of
the microphone, poor Garfield yelps when he gets hit by a car.
Difficulty: Easy
The game is quite short and there is no real
challenge even as you blow through the 20 plus levels. Did I mention some
levels are five seconds long?
Concept: 5.0
It is a platform game that uses the Garfield
license only in name, other then an orange cat there is no way to tell this is
a Garfield game.
Overall: 5.7
I must tell you that it is a disappointing game
from start to finish. Garfield would never work this hard for anything, not
even lasagna. A better game could and should have been made.