Where the Wild Things Are Reviews

  • phatal1typhatal1tyThis gamer has had their achievements removed from the site
    16 Oct 2009 17 Oct 2009
    33 5 9
    Story:
    The game is primary a movie (2009) tie in, however that in itself is based upon a classic children's book (1963) much like "cloudy with a chance of meatballs".
    This (game) adaption of the book is greatly fleshed out, yet missing so much... as the challenge to become king is much more than just staring down the wild things, and any mention of the mother or dinner is completely missing and alot the emotion has also been cutout too. regardless its still a very cute tale with a fun adventure in the heart of it.

    Graphics, Sound and Camera:
    The graphics are a bit subpar very last gen, but is comparable to most other movie tie in's. I gather they tried to make it semi-realistic and less animated looking which made it look less appealing than if they chose the animated route.
    The music is nice at first but gets really repetitive really quickly as does the voice acting. The in game sound is very limited and just repeats itself alot. However the cinematic cutscenes almost make up for it. (bonus: you can fast forward though them if you choose)
    My biggest gripe about this game is the camera, they attempt to give you a free roaming camera but totally fails. The camera is essentially over the shoulder with about 20-30degrees of movement for most of the game, its sometimes rotational but mostly its just scroll panning which is rubbish if your playing a platformer, as you can never quite tell how far to jump and with as many collectibles as there are it becomes a pain.

    Gameplay:
    Its seemingly a short game at 6-10 hours however when you think about the fact its based on a 10 sentence book/40 min movie its quite padded out full of make work tasks (read: collectibles) .
    The mechanics is essentially a hack'n'slash platformer cut up in to linear chapters, with a free roaming"camp" between each story as a hub.
    There are a total of 265 collectibles which is just as annoying as that sounds, however you are given a chance to find a "collectibles pointer" after collecting 60 "geodes"

    Replay Value:
    Even on "hard" the game is remarkably easy so playing with a little one might give some replay but i doubt most gamers will find anything attractive about replaying this game once the achievements have been received.

    Achievements:
    There are no missable achievements as the levels are back-trackable but 175gs made up of collectibles is a bit of a grind but you can reasonably expect 850+gs in one playthough on hard collecting obvious items. Most are story related and almost all the other missions can be attempted back at the camp if not already gotten though the story.

    Conclusion:
    Easy and fun game, definitely a rental or a bargain bin find. The collectibles are there to pad out the very short story. Recommended for achievement and completion enthusiasts alike. Good for a rainy day. Skill level required is very low and can be recommended for young gamers
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    travalanche1985great review!
    Posted by travalanche1985 on 26 Apr 10 at 21:50
    Pedle ZelnipI'm still early in the game, but from what I've seen your review is 100% bang on. Thumbs up.
    Posted by Pedle Zelnip on 10 Nov 10 at 04:52
    Pedle ZelnipOne minor gripe: there's most definitely more than 265 collectables:

    95 stars
    60 turtles
    60 skulls
    60 houses
    60 honeycombs
    60 geodes
    60 seeds
    60 eggs

    That's over 500 by my count.
    Posted by Pedle Zelnip on 13 Nov 10 at 07:53
  • SuperEboySuperEboy260,963
    05 Nov 2009 07 Nov 2009
    17 1 0
    WtWTA is a what a game would look like if A Bug's Life and Prince Of Persia got together and had a kid.

    The game itself was very simple and well designed for smaller kids - filled with simple puzzles and easy-to-navigate controls. You'll find yourself fighting hundreds of bumble-bee type bugs, jumping from edge to pole to wall, and using plants to get from one location to another. (Not to mention my favorite - the Oregon Trail type rapid surfing.)

    As for the plot, it was hard as a non-WtWTA-reader to understand what was going on. Alliances and motives were continually changing at a flip of a hat, and almost nothing had any backstory at all. From what I could grasp, the plot is a combination of persuading the Wild Things that you'd make a good king (and not food), attacking off this mysterious goo (of no origin), and somehow redirecting the moon from smashing into the earth (good luck). For kids, this might be something to easily grasp, but as an adult I was filled with a lot of "WTF?" moments.
    (I will say, however, that the beginning of the game was hilarious. I've never seen a game just start - no cinematics, no story, no nothing - until now.)

    The combat is perfect for kids - simple, and surprisingly not repetitious.The reason that it's surprising is that you don't attack much other than different colored bugs and black goo. And the only way you can attack them is by swinging your skepter at them by wildly pressing X.

    The soundtrack and graphics were nothing to write home about - very cheap and passable as a child's game.

    As far as achievements go, this ones a steal. Play through the game, and do some collecting, and smash out some easy points. One play through and you'll be looking at around ~500 achievement points, possibly more depending on the difficulty you played it and how much exploring you did. No real challenge there.

    In a nutshell, this ones worth a rental or purchase after the price drops. But even then, I'd strongly suggest it only to those who watched the movie.
    2.0
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