Featured Content

Wall-E (Wii)

• Developer: THQ
• Publisher: THQ
• Genre: Puzzle
• Official Website: http://wall-e.playthq.com
• Score: 2 of 5: Strictly Rental

Wall-E could have been so much more than the game we got. The atmosphere of the movie was great, the characters were extremely likable, and the whole thing could have lent itself to a great logical puzzle game. Instead we get yet another overly simple movie tie-in with light logical elements and puzzles whose solutions had may as well come with neon signs saying "use this cube now, dummy!"

Wall-E, like every other movie-tie game game on the Wii, replaces button presses with motion controls. The chief offender here is Wall-E's cube toss. On every other platform this action is carried out with a button press, and it works just fine, but on the Wii you have to flail the controller about for no good reason. This is not what Nintendo had in mind (I hope) when they designed the Wii remote. Motion controls don't replace button-centric control schemes; they augment them (i.e., Twilight Princess's motion controlled bow and arrow aiming). Graphically, Wall-E looks like a PS2 game, but it gets the job done in a pinch. If you aren't gaga over motion controls and want something with some visual punch then PS3 or 360 is the way to go for this title.

As in the movie, Wall-E starts out on a future garbage-filled Earth. Also as in the movie, garbage is the only thing left on the planet aside from Wall-E and his cockroach buddy, so there are no enemies to fight. Instead, the first few levels pit Wall-E versus the hazardous terrain of our solar system's biggest landfill. Successfully getting Wall-E from point A to point B involves scooping up garbage and turning it into different kinds of cubes. There are four types, and you'll always know which to use because the game holds your hand the entire way by placing the proper cube dispensation unit near the area it is needed. Simple cubes are the most abundant and are only really good for throwing at switches; heavy cubes are good for knocking things over; charge cubes are used to supply energy beacons with power to turn on machines; and magnet cubes attract or repel certain objects within the game world. The scientist in you is most likely reeling at the levels reminiscent of The Incredible Machine that could be made with these simple concepts, but Wall-E's level design is sure to use only one cube type at a time.

After leaving Earth, EVE joins the cadre of playable characters, and she brings her own bag of tricks along for the ride. EVE has the ability to fly, and she comes equipped with a laser gun which means that now you'll be contending with bland levels, overly simple environmental puzzles, and enemies. In most games this progression makes sense and is a welcome change from the tutorial area. In Wall-E, however, you are also hampered by the game's control scheme and mechanics. Wall-E always feels like he is treading on ice, EVE's flying is constantly hampered by invisible barriers, and Wall-E's jumps are spastic and impossible to properly land. The only thing Wall-E really has going for it is that its target audience probably won't realize the game's shortcomings. This is strictly a paint-by-numbers movie cash in, and like The Incredibles before it, that stings because the IP could have been turned into a great game that everybody could enjoy.


ESRB: E for Cartoon Violence - if the movie is appropriate then so is the game.
Pros: full of potential, decent length
Cons: overly simple puzzles, loose controls, invisible walls
Plays like: any other kids' movie game you can think of

Oct 22, 2008 | 0 comments
Justin Last