Game #1033: The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

 'Cause sometimes you gotta get inside the closet.

 Yes, another bargain bin game based on a movie I didn't watch, however, I did read The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as the rest of the Narnia series, so it's not like I'm completely in the dark. Considering it was yet another game I bought for a couple of bucks I didn't really expect anything too good, however, the game proved to be a little more than I... bargained for.

 If you're gonna rip something off might as well rip off the best, and in that regard this game takes more than a few cues from the Lord of the Rings games, and it's all the better for it. The simple button mashing combat, the decent movie clip-to-gameplay transitions, the menu, the extras such as recording sessions... it feels like another entry in that series of the games. There's a tiny issue with the presentation, and that has to do with the game being built around co-op. So, in order to facilitate that, Edmund now goes inside the Wardrobe alongside Lucy for the first time on the first stage... but since they couldn't edit the scenes from the movie, after the level finishes Edmund, like the other two siblings, doesn't believe Lucy about the world inside the Wardrobe... Even though he was in it! That aside, it felt like a decent adaptation of the story, and there's a really good amount of footage from the movie.

 So, gameplay, it's based around co-op. On most levels you'll have all four siblings available, but sometimes it'll be down to two or maybe even three. Every character has their own unique context-sensitive actions: Lucy can crawl inside tight spots, Edmund can climb on trees, Peter is the strong one so he can break stuff the others can't and Susan is the only one that can attack from afar. There are other abilities, but that's the brunt of it. That said, puzzles are very sparse, as most of the game is a beat'em up. Peter and Edmund are the most developed in this regard, getting exclusive attack combos that can easily waste enemies. There are plenty of abilities to buy, with money found spread around every level.

 And if that was it, that'd be just fine, it's just that... the game was built around multiplayer but the friendly AI is useless and the enemy AI is relentless. Most of the time you're beating up enemies you're also trying to do something. For example, there might be gnomes shooting at you, so Susan must take them out with her bow. But the CPU won't use Susan's bow, so it's up to you, but the enemy AI will SWARM the player, while the friendly AI does nothing. It feels borderline unfair at times. The Beaver level is incredibly annoying, as the same three cutscenes, Beaver kidnapped, Wolves Returning and Trolls returning, will play over and over again, so you'll have to rush, as Susan, to take them out. But as you move from place to place enemies will try to attack you, preventing you from shooting at your targets. And do remember, you are under time constraints. It's like the game, at least in Single Player, is constantly towing the line between fun and annoying.

 Weighing the good and the bad... I think the fun I had with the game outweighed by a little all the annoyances. It's definitely not as good as the games its trying to imitate, but it tried and I think it's a fairly decent licensed game all things considered, and it's probably more fun with another player in tow.

 6.0