Game Review: Where the Wild Things Are

Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Where the Wild Things Are

Reviewed for: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii Also available for: Nintendo DS

From: Griptonite Games/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+ (comic mischief, fantasy violence)

Invariably, once Christmas wraps and the annual holiday onslaught of megablockbusters eases up, there remain a few games that bear the scars of coming out at precisely the wrong time and being completely overlooked for doing so.

In 2009, that dubious distinction belongs to "Where the Wild Things Are," a not-necessarily-for-kids' game hopelessly tied to the release date of a not-necessarily-for-kids' movie and subsequently overlooked for coming out smack in the middle of a tidal wave of bigger releases. A long history of lousy games based on kids' movies, and the perception that creates for this game, didn't help matters.

But "WTWTA" borrows heavily from the Playstation 2 classic "Ico" and, surprisingly, succeeds where other like-minded games failed. Players control Max, the mischievous little boy who washes up uninvited on the island of the Wild Things, and most of the game's action consists of the same mix of light combat and ledge jumping, rock climbing, and environmental puzzles that "Ico" did so masterfully well. Max is easy to control, and the semi-fixed camera angle - also borrowed from "Ico" - presents each environment in a manner that's intuitive without making traversing it a complete cakewalk. The Wild Things add a wrinkle to the challenges by lending a hand and further altering the landscape whenever they can.

As should be expected from a game based on a movie that itself is based on what practically is a picture book, "WTWTA's" story isn't exactly a narrative barnburner. But Griptonite makes good on with what it has to work with: The game looks pretty good and animates nicely, and the Wild Things emerge as really likable characters in spite of their secondary role throughout most of the game.

Like so many other family games, "WTWTA" pads the main story content by dropping various collectables in each level. Unlike as with most games, though, rounding them up is something of a worthy pursuit. The game doesn't overload the environments with hundreds of useless objects to round up, nor does it hide items in places players would never bother to look. There's a challenge in finding everything, but it isn't so obtuse as to be a waste of time, and finding them pays off in the form of rewards - some of them leading to fun new optional challenges - in the hub level that doubles as the Wild Things' home base.

The sum of this content (there's nothing to do beyond the single-player adventure) doesn't quite justify the full price the game commanded back at launch, but a quick price drop means finding "WTWTA" brand-new for upwards of $20 less already is a feasible proposition. At that price, it's hard not to recommend it: Younger players will appreciate a game made for them that doesn't insult their gaming intelligence, and their parents - or really, anyone in need of an "Ico"-style fix - might come away surprised by just how much this innocuous piece of tie-in merchandising gets right.

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