Platform: X-Box, PS2, Gamecube
Publisher: Disney Interactive
Price: $50
After the abysmal DS version (just trust me on that) of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, I didn’t have much hope for anything good to come out of the other console releases. I did end up a bit surprised though, when I found out that Narnia makes for a decent adventure title for XBOX, PS2 and Gamecube.
The game is filled, and I mean FILLED, with clips from the movie. It begins with the Nazi bombing intro of the film, and drops you into the in-game tutorial as you use each kid and their own unique abilities to make your way out of the burning wreckage of your house and into the safety of the underground bomb shelter. It makes for a good introduction to how the game plays, but right away you’ll end up hating the fixed camera that manages to obscure the view of the area at times, and in general will aggravate the hell out of you.
Once you pass through the tutorial section, you’ll be introduced to another movie clip, setting up the introduction of the kid’s new temporary home and the mysterious Wardrobe. Lucy is the first to venture inside, and eventually the rest of the kids join in as the adventure into the heart of Narnia begins. As the tutorial begins to show you, each kid has their own unique attributes and abilities. Lucy is light, and can move over less than solid ice without instantly falling in, Edmund is a bit more acrobatic, and can climb up and down trees, poles, etc. Susan is the ranged fighter, able to chuck snowballs at enemies and eventually gain a bow and arrow attack, while Peter is the strongest of the group and the best melee fighter.
You’re also able to pair the kids up for special attacks or to get over unique obstacles. The AI on the characters you don’t control isn’t half bad, and they’ll usually keep up with you and attack on command. You can set up options for how you want to act, such as joining in the fray, holding back, or providing healing. If you prefer to be a bit more hands on with the group though, you can easily switch between characters with the press of the button.
The character models are all decently represented, not quite with the level of detail that other movie based games possess. Lucy looks fairly dead-on her movie counterpart, while Peter and Susan look entirely generic, and this is fairly noticeable when the game moves from movie cut scene to in game, much in the way the Lord of the Rings games do. Other than the characters, the environments all look fantastic, and are thankfully more detailed and interesting to check out than what was in the DS version. The enemies do tend to be a bit generic and repetitive though, there’s only so many times a man should be made to fight wolves.
The music is taken straight from the film, but it’s not anything to really stand up and take notice of. The sound effects are polished and appropriate and nothing that will end up grating on your nerves after continuous playing.
Narnia makes for a decent adventure title on both systems, but it fails to do anything new or astounding. The game is also on the short and easy side, even with some of the unlockable extras. At best I’d say to check it out as a rental, as you can most likely breeze through the game in a weekend. It is worth checking out though as the amount of titles post January begins to dwindle for the current generation of consoles, so if you can’t find much to hold your interest, perhaps a visit into Narnia isn’t out of the question.
- Dustin Chadwell currently resides in Ohio, USA. He's been playing video games since the Atari 2600, and believes he can whoop anyone's ass in Joust, and Galaga. Probably not Halo 2 though. New technology tends to confuse him.