Coraline
A great movie gets a terrible game
Tags: Coraline Categories: Reviews, Wii Reviews
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Apr 28th, 2009
Since Coraline is a licensed title promoting what I think is easily one of the best films released this year, and like the movie, based in a novella by one of my favorite writers, Neil Gaiman, I really wanted to at least say that this was a decent title for a promotional product. However, this game is a total chore to play, and I can’t even say it’s passable for a licensed title.
One of the early problems with the title is that it doesn’t really seem much like a game. Even in the context of an adventure game, running from point A to point B to simply move boxes is a lot of drudgery. It takes nearly two hours of game play to get to any sort of action. I think much of the problem is that Coraline wasn’t something that was going to make a good video game no matter what you did with it. It’s not an action movie, and its appeal is about atmosphere and pacing. These are missing from the game.
I don’t know if there was a way to translate the movie into a game without making a lot of concessions for content. So I suppose that it just shouldn’t have been made, however I think the marketing people think that video games are just a part of the kit for promoting a movie.
There is a unique take on the mini-game madness that permeates anything on the Wii. As you explore around the world you come across the mini-games. Although most of them are simple puzzles, or stupid little motion control exercises, treating them as a collectable is a unique take that is worth noting. This makes the gimmicky stuff voluntary.
That small saving grace isn’t enough to make me recommend this title for even a rental. What you should do is save your cash for Coraline on DVD. The game is just not worth it, even as an advertising product it simply fails. It’s missing everything that makes the movie a joy. Even the addition of Dakota Fanning’s couldn’t fix that developers were given an impossible adaptation.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| + Dakota Fanning lends the game an air of authenticity | 4.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
| - Game feels like a chore for much of the beginning - Missing all the elements that made the movie great | |
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Much of the movie's charm is missing, and this just isn't worth the time. | |
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Tags: Coraline
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Apr 28th, 2009 and is filed under Reviews, Wii Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
