Game Review: Space Chimps
Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service
Aug 07, 2008
Space Chimps
Reviewed for: Xbox 360
Also available for: Nintendo Wii and Playstation 2
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+ (animated blood, crude humor, language, mild fantasy violence)
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It's been both interesting and disappointing to follow the emergence of Brash Entertainment, which promised to elevate the image of movie-based games but thus far has simply advanced perceptions that movie-licensed titles are the black sheep of the gaming family.
For whatever it's worth, "Space Chimps" is the publisher's best work to date, showing flashes of ingenuity that occasionally put it in the same ballpark (though never the same aisle) as the Mario- and Crash Bandicoot-fronted games it tries to emulate. "Chimps" isn't afraid to switch gears between puzzle solving, combat, platforming and a few faster-paced challenges that send you grinding down rails or careening down a river, and the best of these challenges are legitimately fun and executed well.
Problem is, "Chimps" also displays flashes of rushed development, and not just a few. For every sequence Redtribe executes without incident, there's another that's hamstrung by inconsistent design, a camera that goes haywire or some other technical hang-up that causes you to miss jumps you should be able to complete with eyes closed. An extremely forgiving difficulty curve means you'll get around these issues with minimal persistence, but watching a clever action sequence come undone by issues the developers were able to avoid during other parts of the game is nonetheless disappointing.
Additionally, the weakest aspect of "Chimps" - bland hand-to-hand combat against equally bland enemies - appears in greater abundance than any other aspect of the game. Nothing about the combat is broken, but nothing about it is particularly fun, either. Just mash the button, move to the next enemy and repeat.
But the biggest problem "Chimps" has remains the biggest issue with Brash's portfolio overall: It ends far too soon. The single-player adventure will take players of reasonable ability little more than three hours to finish, and it doesn't really command a return visit unless you enjoy collecting hidden items or trying to pass the levels in time attack mode. A two-player (offline only) mini-game mode offers some additional entertainment, but certainly not enough to quell any feelings of buyer's remorse.
Were "Chimps" a budget title, the short length would be exponentially more forgivable, but it retails for $50 on the 360 and Wii and $30 on the Playstation 2. Value propositions like that are why we have game rentals and quick price drops, and until Brash understands that, those are the only options you should consider.
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Copyright 2008 by Mclatchy -Tribune News Service
