Before I play any licensed game, my
face makes a strange, nauseated contortion. My girlfriend will then ask me if
I’m hurt. I tell her, looking up with big sad eyes from my DS, that a part of my
soul has just died a little more… Ok, so I’m melodramatic. But it’s not that I
hate licensed games – I’ve played some great ones. Duck Amuck for the DS,
anybody? But I’ve also had some bad experiences with my favorite movie
franchises, as many of you I’m sure can relate.
That’s why it joys me to say that
Nickolodeon’s The Spiderwick Chronicles is not one of those bad experiences.
Actually, aside from a few design problems, this game is quite refreshing. The
gameplay is rock solid and thoroughly enjoyable, using the touchscreen in
innovative ways and even offering a Pokemon-like trading feature.
The game follows the children
step-by-step through the plot of the movie. Jared, Mallory, and Simon must
protect Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide from the goblins that are after it.
These adventurous kids encounter fairies along the way, each with its own
ability. There are even a few unique fairies that can only be obtained from a
friend, encouraging players to seek out others with the game.
After you guide Jared and the gang
through their Addams Family-esque house, the Spiderwick kids will venture
through magical forests and caves alike. The levels have a pop-up book quality
to them that really lends itself to the child-like fantasty. While I liked that
design choice, the graphics on the whole are rather uninteresting. Everything is
very static and vacant, and the levels become repetitious quickly.
Aside from the flat look, there is
always something to collect or do no matter where you are in the levels. Whether
it’s scratching with the stylus on a bush to collect fairies, or blowing into
the microphone to get that Sting Sprite, you won’t be bored. There is also so
much stuff to collect in the game, that if you’re not constantly scribbling on
the touchscreen, you might miss out on some crucial items. The sprites and
fairies you discover in the game function as your "spells," allowing you to
heal, hurt, or upgrade you character. Certain ones also function in a Zelda-like
fashion, allowing you to move a boulder or cross over a river that you couldn’t
before.
The gameplay is really unique in
this game. To move through the environment, you drag the stylus in front of your
party leader where you want him/her to go. When you meet an enemy in your path,
though, the fun truly begins. I really found the combat system to be great. It
is turn based, so your party will line up on the opposite side of your enemies.
If you want to just make a regular attack, you tap the enemy. Right before the
attack, though, you will have to quickly either draw a circle, tap a pattern, or
draw a line depending on which character you are attacking with. It works great
and does a good job of incorporating a skill component into the action.
Similarly, if you are attacking with a Sting Sprite or using Healing Sprite, you
will also have to tap or scribble to make the most of the action. It feels
intuitive and keeps you totally involved in the gameplay.
You can position your allies to be
in front or in the back, which lends a little more strategy to the combat.
Characters in the back can still be attacked, but if they are, all the
characters in the front can get a free attack on the enemy. You can also block
to build up your characters during combat for a special attack, moves that you
buy with Goblin teeth collected from enemies.
While you won’t be upgrading
weapons, you can purchase new attacks and upgrade the skills of your characters.
The latter is very simple and a smart feature of the game. The game will
recommend to you in what area it thinks you should upgrade your character, but
ultimately it is up to you. Maybe you want to make your weakest attacker a very
strong Fairie user (the spell component), or maybe you want to increase their
health so he can take more hits. It’s simple and it works well for younger
players.
Where the game isn’t quite as
accessible is the difficulty. Just within the first forest level, I was having a
very hard time beating a section. While the game does save your progress at
checkpoints, it doesn’t let you keep your experience upgrades that you earned
before you died. Similarly, if you ran out of Healing Sprites before, there’s no
way to get more if you were low to begin with. Also, the only map in the game is
a vague over-world map that will leave those lost in the first forest level just
that – entirely lost! It can be frustrating and will possibly turn younger,
less-patient players off.
|
Review Scoring Details for The Spiderwick Chronicles |
Gameplay: 8.5
A visceral combat
mechanic that will keep you on your edge puts this game leaps and bounds ahead
of other action/RPG’s on the DS.
Graphics:
4.5
While the pop-up
book look is nice, it is sparse. And even though the environments are littered
with items, the game still feels plain and uninspired.
Sound: 8.0
Solid score
inspired from the movie.
Difficulty: Medium
It is generally
an accessible game, but occasionally can be very frustrating. A game intended
for young kids should never become frustrating for a twenty-something.
Concept: 7.5
This is a good,
gameplay-centric interpretation of the movie.
Overall: 7.0
The game will
lose a lot of younger gamers mostly because of frustrating game design, like the
checkpoint system or the lack of any sort of map. The upgrade and combat system
is well implemented surprisingly fun to play.
