The birth of
the Pixar and Disney alliance brought about a new era in animation. Within a
couple of years of Toy Story’s release, Disney had announced plans to produce
additional 3D-animated flicks on its own.
Not much
came from the announcement. Outside of Dinosaur, there aren’t any full-length
titles that come to mind. At the same time, Pixar developed and released six
other hits, including Cars, The Incredibles, and Finding Nemo. Disney and
Pixar have since decided to play nice. Disney purchased the company from Steve
Jobs for several billion dollars, officially ending to the dispute about who
deserves a greater profit share.
Still, one
question remains: can Disney’s own internal storytellers make a film as
compelling as Pixar? We’ll know this month when Disney releases Meet the
Robinsons, a kooky comedy about a family from the future.
Meet the
Good
Meet the
Robinsons is a 3D action/adventure with the flavors of kid-friendly shooters
and Super Monkey Ball. It’s a strange marriage, but we should’ve known it’d
happen eventually. A non-violent FPS walks into a bar, makes eyes at a
ball-encased primate, and the rest is history.
FPS: "Hey
good-lookin’."
SMB:
"(Blushes.)"
The shooter
side of Robinsons is lighthearted and played from a third-person perspective.
Since you can’t shoot and explode everything in sight, levels do not contain
the common amount of destructible objects. In fact, while most developers and
game players consider destruction to be a worthy source of entertainment, Meet
the Robinsons takes a simpler, friendlier route. Rather than destroy items,
you disassemble them. So while it may look like items are being blasted and
shot into the air, they are not. They are merely being taken apart, giving
Wilbur – our hero-in-the-making – a chance to snatch whatever useful item may
be held inside.
Disassembling is a big part of the adventure. Wilbur can lock-on to virtually
every object in sight, including friends and family members. Of course, you
don’t want to shoot family members. Just think of the awkward conversations
that would follow. “Uhh, dad? I don’t know how to say this, but… I think I
just disassembled grandpa.” But if you do happen to shoot one, the blast will
bounce off without causing any long-term damage.
To decipher
which objects should be disassembled, Wilbur can use his scanning device to
check for items that are critical to the mission’s success. Most are not. Most
of the couches, tables, and chairs disbanded will contain one of three
standard items. You’ll need them, but can only carry a max of 40 each. That
total is reached pretty quickly, eliminating the need for aimless dismantling.
That’s where
the scanner comes in handy. It has two effects. The first turns the world
black and white for a couple seconds, highlighting every hidden item in the
room and their location(s). The second is more direct, scanning one specific
thing (generally a human, robot, or frog musician) to retrieve information
that ranges from trivial to nearly important. It works like the scan function
in the Final Fantasy games, launching a brief bio about the character that’s
been scanned. The difference here is that there is no MP or HP data to
retrieve, nor any elemental ailments to worry about avoiding.
Missions are
linear and are filled with backtracking. Wilbur will find himself in several
cumbersome situations that require him to revisit areas that have already been
explored. He will then have to return the areas that triggered the revisiting
of previous locales, and revisit those and other locations once more. When all
is said and done, he will have walked in more circles than an indecisive
politician.
The excuses
used to explain all this backtracking are not uncommon. Find a key, find a
new route, find a new item to make a key, etc.
In between
backtracking segments are story sequences, bits of decent music, and a few
mini-games to distract players from the main goal. They include the Super
Monkey Ball-inspired levels where Wilbur must navigate through both
straightforward and non-linear mazes using a transparent ball. Another
mini-game will take you back to the 80s, placing Wilbur in a 2D, top-down
world. Moving from side-to-side like a hockey goalie, players must protect
their goals while launching blasts off two side panels. Each player is given
several blocks that protect the goal. Once the blocks have been destroyed (not
disassembled in this case), the goal becomes vulnerable. One hit and the
shooting player scores. This process repeats with varying goal and barrier
shapes / patterns.
Meet the
Bad
Let’s recap:
“Wilbur will find himself in several cumbersome situations that—.”
Unfortunately, I can stop right there. Cumbersome situations are not my idea
of entertainment. Endless backtracking, a lack of guidance, an annoying map
system, choppy controls, and a jumpy camera – are like salt on a cake. But
salt works on some things: chips, pretzels, crackers, and other snack foods.
Choppy controls, however, have not proved to enhance the flavor of any game.
If Meet the
Robinsons had achieved its goals, it would’ve been a great game for that same
audience. But no matter what, there isn’t anything here to excite kids except
for characters they will soon be familiar with. That is, assuming Meet the
Robinsons becomes a smash at the box office. If not, there won’t be any
reason for them to play this game.
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Gameplay: 4.9
Kids want action,
excitement, or at the very least, Mario Party-quality mini-games that induce
hysteria. The only thing Meet the Robinsons induces is a sense of languor. The
clunky controls, half-baked camera, tiring objectives and endless backtracking
do not create an inviting gameplay experience.
Graphics: 5.5
Meet the
Robinsons’s character animations aren’t too bad, but the overall look of the
game is rather dated. The visuals lack color, variety, and polygonal depth.
Sound: 7.0
The music is good
and the voice acting is decent, but character dialogue is generally reserved
for quips and mission reiterations.
Difficulty: Easy
Meet the
Robinsons is a very easy game. However, the mission explanations will lead you
to believe otherwise. Kids who are new to the genre (and are thus not used to
its many traits) will be confused by the weak mission advice.
Concept: 6.9
It’s not everyday
that a game tries to merge adventure elements with bits of Super Monkey Ball.
Having said that, the execution is far from living up to Monkey Ball’s
heritage.
Overall: 5.0
This is not a
game kids will want to meet. They may ask for it by name, and certainly they
mean well. But if you can, rent it first. See how much they play it, and
compare that time to how much they spend with other games.
