Recently I decided to play some games based on cartoons I
love: Phineas and Ferb and the Quest For
Cool Stuff, Penguins of Madagascar,
and Ducktales: Remastered. I steeled
myself. A lot of times, when games are based on movies, they come out pretty
terribly. I was prepared for the worst, but I was hoping they were at least
playable.
Phineas and Ferb: Quest For Cool Stuff
This is a 2D platformer where the player collects items and
defeats enemies by jumping on them or using a spin attack. There are 2 stories
going on, Perry’s and Dr.
Doofenshmirtz’ story and the kids’ story. This is very much
like the cartoon where there are two stories going on and they intersect at
times. The tutorial with Perry the
Platypus is nicely done and immersive. The difficulty ramps up at a good pace
and there are different unlockables you earn as you go that help you access new
parts of levels.
Verdict: The game
was fun and surprisingly well done. The animation was a little bit off but it
didn’t detract much and the other elements of the game more than made up for a
small bit of off animation.
Penguins of Madagascar
Verdict: It's not a bad
game, but it's really not a good game either. What pushed it into being good was
being able to switch between the penguins and use their abilities.
Unfortunately, the lack of voices brought it down to mediocrity. I wouldn't buy
it.
Ducktales:
Remastered
Ducktales is, yet another, 2D platformer. In this one you play as
Scrooge McDuck and collect treasures and coins while defeating enemies. This is
based on the 1989 NES game, which I unfortunately didn't play. The original
scenes are all in there with some expansions and two new levels, a vault
tutorial and a volcano level. The characters have all been hand-drawn and the
game is fully voiced. It's a fun game and the voices are a nice touch. Once you
get past the vault, you can do any of the scenes in any order with the
exception of the volcano scene, which doesn't open until all the other scenes
are done. This makes it a little bland on ramping up the difficulty. There is a
bit of a glitch on the volcano level where your character disappears whenever
you do a pogo jump. It's not game-breaking, but it is disconcerting. For me it
was probably about 4 hours of gameplay, for others it would probably be more
like 3.
Verdict: It’s a fun game that plays on nostalgia and is really
decent game. I probably still wouldn't buy it because I finished it in 4 hours
and felt like there wasn't that much more I could get out of it.
FINAL VERDICT:
Both Phineas & Ferb and Ducktales worked and Penguins would
have worked with the inclusion of voices. I think part of the reason these games
worked was because they had the essence of their source material without
copying it. The reason most movies don't make the transition as well has a lot to do
with the execution. A lot of times movie-based games are treated as a
money-grab, "the movie is popular so let's capitalize." Enough time
and care isn't given and/or they rehash what was already done in the movie. We
don't need a rehashing; we know how that story went. To really work, besides
time and care, we need the essence of the material. We need a continuation of
the story; we need to be part of something that didn't already happen.
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