The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch...
Posted January 9, 2006
Some scoffed when The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was announced as a movie, because the C.S. Lewis story is viewed as a classic piece of literature by many around the world. Of course, the movie spawned a video game because what good would it be to have a movie aimed at children having the adventure of a lifetime, and not make a corresponding videogame to capitalize on it, especially around the holiday season?
Instinct would tell you that a game based on a movie is bound to have issues that are tough to overcome. Few titles have managed the cross the barrier and go on to make gamers as well as the people with a vested interest in the title happy. Disney Interactive thankfully did some research and found what worked in a videogame title, although they seemed to only have looked at the enjoyable Lord of the Ring titles that EA published. While not entirely a bad series of games to mimic, I couldn't help but feel that eerie sense of deja vu as I progressed through Narnia.
Narnia follows the four children named Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they make their way through the magically frozen land of Narnia and fight their way to the White Witch to help fulfill the prophecy of the four human children. Through the game the story is told through live action scenes directly from the movie which transform into in-game graphics in a manner exactly like that of the LOTR games, so needless to say if you have not yet seen the movie but plan to, you may want to avoid the game as it contains many plot spoilers which cannot be avoided.
Gameplay:
Because the tale of Narnia is a very well established one, it was tough for the developers to include many surprises in the game that a fan of the series wouldn't already know about. However the casual gamer might be pleasantly surprised with the game as it strays from the tried and true formula that the remarkably similar LOTR series followed. Instead of being able to control only a single character while progressing through the game, you'll find yourself possibly controlling all four in a single level. The level design is such that each child is going to be necessary for one reason or another; be it the strength that Peter possesses to the uncanny knack for aiming a bow & arrow that Susan has. Along with unique abilities for each child, as the game progresses you unlock attacked which require two of the kids to form a more powerful special attack which might be required to get through a specific barrier or me much more effective against a given enemy.
Some unlockable content is hidden in a bonus drawer in the titular wardrobe where you can find videos, interviews with the cast, and bonus levels. These items are unlocked by collecting the bonus shields which are scattered and hidden throughout each level in Narnia, yes even in the extremely short boss levels.
Throughout the fifteen levels you play along with the bonus shields to find you'll find coins which are used to upgrade your attacks, buy additional combos and increase your health meter. Also through the land are statues of the inhabitants of Narnia who've been frozen in time by the White Witch. The more you find the better your army of reinforcements will be when you ultimately face the witch at the end of the game, so there is more point in doing the hunting than to simply unlock content.
The game plays and controls exactly how you'd expect based on the games its game style is loosely based on. The controls are quick to respond and generally intuitive to use. The biggest control nitpick I have is the button used to swap characters is the right trigger button, and for some reason I couldn't get out of the habit of trying to use it for some other action, so much needless injury was done to all the children because of an itchy trigger finger on my behalf.
Good points with the game aside there is one other issue that really left a bad taste in my mouth; the boss battles are long, tedious and boring. Two examples to help demonstrate this point are a battle with wolves and three of the four children, and a battle with a dwarf that only involves two children. While banging away on a single wolf, it will take some damage to a certain point then run away, recover and send in a pack of wolves to distract you from the one wolf which needs to be killed to advance. This battle took far too long and involved far too many moments of recovery for the pack leader with no variety or skill needed to beat him. Fighting the dwarf was slightly different in that you had to dodge his spinning attack, and then hit him into a tree to enable yourself to actually inflict damage on him. This battle too went on far too long with no variety in attacks by your character or the dwarf. Instead of making the fights long and slow, it could have been better if the battles involved some challenge instead of only requiring determination to outlast the boss.
Graphics:
It's a relief to see a developer actually hit a release date target and be able to make the game shine, unlike the fiasco that was Enter the Matrix. Graphically speaking, playing through Narnia was a visual treat with graphics very sharp and well detailed, ranging from the shield that Peter is given late in the game to the Minotaurs and Ogres that appear in abundance throughout the game. Although the game takes place in the frozen land of Narnia the backgrounds were nicely detailed and actually reflect the scenes from the movie with high accuracy, ranging from indoor scenes to the beaver dam on the frozen lakes.
Once again in a similar fashion to the Lord of the Rings action titles, the transitions from live action to game quality graphics were top notch with no hiccups or slowdown in the frame rate during these switches.
Audio:
With a sweeping score throughout and excellent voice acting from the actors involved in the movie, I had very little to complain about with the audio section of the game. Even the subwoofer gets a good workout during some levels, especially when rocks are falling or clubs are being swung at your head.
Conclusion:
Overall, The Chronicles of Narnia is not a bad game by any means, and I didn't find myself struggling to get myself to play through the game. I even made a point to play through the bonus levels that are unlocked as you progress through the main game. The largest flaw that the game has is the fact that the gameplay is so similar to EAs LOTR games, and a slightly watered down version to top it off. Yes the tweaks of puzzles and combo attacks does freshen the title a little, but the artificial lengthening that went on with the extended boss battles negated those effects.
If you can overlook the small issues, you might actually find yourself playing a movie based game and enjoying yourself, I know I did. For that reason, I recommend this title.
Instinct would tell you that a game based on a movie is bound to have issues that are tough to overcome. Few titles have managed the cross the barrier and go on to make gamers as well as the people with a vested interest in the title happy. Disney Interactive thankfully did some research and found what worked in a videogame title, although they seemed to only have looked at the enjoyable Lord of the Ring titles that EA published. While not entirely a bad series of games to mimic, I couldn't help but feel that eerie sense of deja vu as I progressed through Narnia.
Narnia follows the four children named Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they make their way through the magically frozen land of Narnia and fight their way to the White Witch to help fulfill the prophecy of the four human children. Through the game the story is told through live action scenes directly from the movie which transform into in-game graphics in a manner exactly like that of the LOTR games, so needless to say if you have not yet seen the movie but plan to, you may want to avoid the game as it contains many plot spoilers which cannot be avoided.
Gameplay:
Because the tale of Narnia is a very well established one, it was tough for the developers to include many surprises in the game that a fan of the series wouldn't already know about. However the casual gamer might be pleasantly surprised with the game as it strays from the tried and true formula that the remarkably similar LOTR series followed. Instead of being able to control only a single character while progressing through the game, you'll find yourself possibly controlling all four in a single level. The level design is such that each child is going to be necessary for one reason or another; be it the strength that Peter possesses to the uncanny knack for aiming a bow & arrow that Susan has. Along with unique abilities for each child, as the game progresses you unlock attacked which require two of the kids to form a more powerful special attack which might be required to get through a specific barrier or me much more effective against a given enemy.
Some unlockable content is hidden in a bonus drawer in the titular wardrobe where you can find videos, interviews with the cast, and bonus levels. These items are unlocked by collecting the bonus shields which are scattered and hidden throughout each level in Narnia, yes even in the extremely short boss levels.
Throughout the fifteen levels you play along with the bonus shields to find you'll find coins which are used to upgrade your attacks, buy additional combos and increase your health meter. Also through the land are statues of the inhabitants of Narnia who've been frozen in time by the White Witch. The more you find the better your army of reinforcements will be when you ultimately face the witch at the end of the game, so there is more point in doing the hunting than to simply unlock content.
The game plays and controls exactly how you'd expect based on the games its game style is loosely based on. The controls are quick to respond and generally intuitive to use. The biggest control nitpick I have is the button used to swap characters is the right trigger button, and for some reason I couldn't get out of the habit of trying to use it for some other action, so much needless injury was done to all the children because of an itchy trigger finger on my behalf.
Good points with the game aside there is one other issue that really left a bad taste in my mouth; the boss battles are long, tedious and boring. Two examples to help demonstrate this point are a battle with wolves and three of the four children, and a battle with a dwarf that only involves two children. While banging away on a single wolf, it will take some damage to a certain point then run away, recover and send in a pack of wolves to distract you from the one wolf which needs to be killed to advance. This battle took far too long and involved far too many moments of recovery for the pack leader with no variety or skill needed to beat him. Fighting the dwarf was slightly different in that you had to dodge his spinning attack, and then hit him into a tree to enable yourself to actually inflict damage on him. This battle too went on far too long with no variety in attacks by your character or the dwarf. Instead of making the fights long and slow, it could have been better if the battles involved some challenge instead of only requiring determination to outlast the boss.
Graphics:
It's a relief to see a developer actually hit a release date target and be able to make the game shine, unlike the fiasco that was Enter the Matrix. Graphically speaking, playing through Narnia was a visual treat with graphics very sharp and well detailed, ranging from the shield that Peter is given late in the game to the Minotaurs and Ogres that appear in abundance throughout the game. Although the game takes place in the frozen land of Narnia the backgrounds were nicely detailed and actually reflect the scenes from the movie with high accuracy, ranging from indoor scenes to the beaver dam on the frozen lakes.
Once again in a similar fashion to the Lord of the Rings action titles, the transitions from live action to game quality graphics were top notch with no hiccups or slowdown in the frame rate during these switches.
Audio:
With a sweeping score throughout and excellent voice acting from the actors involved in the movie, I had very little to complain about with the audio section of the game. Even the subwoofer gets a good workout during some levels, especially when rocks are falling or clubs are being swung at your head.
Conclusion:
Overall, The Chronicles of Narnia is not a bad game by any means, and I didn't find myself struggling to get myself to play through the game. I even made a point to play through the bonus levels that are unlocked as you progress through the main game. The largest flaw that the game has is the fact that the gameplay is so similar to EAs LOTR games, and a slightly watered down version to top it off. Yes the tweaks of puzzles and combo attacks does freshen the title a little, but the artificial lengthening that went on with the extended boss battles negated those effects.
If you can overlook the small issues, you might actually find yourself playing a movie based game and enjoying yourself, I know I did. For that reason, I recommend this title.