Ratatouille
Edible, but it tastes like cardboard
Tags: Ratatouille Categories: Reviews, Xbox 360 Reviews
Posted by Jake McNeill on Aug 30th, 2007
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ratatouille (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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Pixar films have a solid reputation for excellence that continues to this day. Even the worst of the lot are still very good, and a damn sight better than just about every other animated film out there. And the best of them (of which I would argue Ratatouille is one) are some of the best films made in the last decade.
Pixar videogames have a reputation as well, albeit not one that’s quite as glowingly positive. Almost without fail, they are formulaic platformers, neither very good in any way nor especially bad. They are merely so-so run-and-jump games that are completely forgettable save for the license they tout. In this regard, Ratatouille manages to fit expectations precisely.
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All of the generic platformer rules are followed pretty much by-the-book here. You have your collectible knickknacks, various mission objectives strewn throughout generally nonlinear levels, progress staggered according to what you’ve done and how much junk you’ve collected, mini-games, fetch quests, races, even the tried-and-true double-jump. Of course, as with many licensed games, Ratatouille seems to bear its license as an excuse for shoddy and often frustrating level design with sometimes unclear goals. Mario this ain’t.
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Everything you expect from the licensed half of the recipe is here too. The graphics do a good job imitating the look of the film, but fail to impress in any other way, at times being somewhat lazy in their execution (in particular, the game has animation glitches, pop-up and clipping). The sound, on the other hand, is superb, benefiting from the film’s voice cast, and touting a similar soundtrack (i.e. French-sounding music). And as per usual, the game follows the film’s plot, albeit very loosely. Expect to be doing things that make no sense in the context of the film, like collecting “charms”, and using red peppers to start explosions.
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So, as with most generic licensed platformers, I’ll give you some generic licensed platformer advice – if your young kid absolutely loved the film, he’ll probably enjoy the game too. If, however, you’re looking for a solid platformer, there are many better titles out there to choose from than Ratatouille (although, to be fair, not too many on the Xbox 360).
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| + The presentation, particularly the sound, does a great job replicating the feel of the film | 6.8 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Boring, generic, and uninventive game design - Crappy and occasionally confusing level design - Unimpressive graphics |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| This isn’t an exceptionally bad game, but it is an extremely mediocre one. The movie is a must-see, but unless you’re a huge fan of the film (or desperate for an Xbox 360 platformer), you should stay away from this one. | |
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Tags: Ratatouille
Posted by Jake McNeill on Aug 30th, 2007 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox 360 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.
