WALL·E, Xbox 360 - £28.55 delivered
Apply code "B4U" for 2% off
Review by LewieP
Foreword
I have not yet seen the film WALL·E, and as such I will be reviewing this game entirely on it's own merit as a game. It is possible (and in fact likely) that having seeing the film before playing the licensed game would have an impact on your experience.
I do plan to go and see the film at some point though, I am doing the whole thing backwards for the benefit of the game playing public.
This review will probably contain minor spoilers.
I first booted up WALL·E to hear some pretty annoying music, so I skipped the cut scene. Then I got to the (surprisingly slick) menu system. Booted up a new game, and began my adventure. As soon as I took control of WALL·E, I moved the Analogue stick forwards. Then I got an Achievement for moving forwards. Instantly.
Off to a good start then.
I was initially fairly impressed with the animation of the titular character, his caterpillar tracks look and move just right. It's a shame the environments don't hold up so well. At best, there is some really impressive things going on with the physics, on a pretty large scale too, but at worst there is bland, repeated objects and textures all over the place. The bad outweighs the good. On the surface it looks pretty, but the animation, destructibility and up close textures let the whole package down.
The first level or so is fairly easy platforming challenges, involving thowing cubes, hitting switched, and avoiding falling to your doom. Whenever you do die (which is more likely going to be because the camera lets you down than the gameplay challenge) you will respawn pretty close to where you were, no lives system to worry about. There are lots of collectible trinkets strewn over the place, including some 'oh so subtle' references to previous Pixar films (Is Toy Story really 13 years old? blimey!), which unlock bonus content, including multiplayer maps.
After a while, I bumped into this iPod looking flying Robot called EVE. I took control of her, which was not only a much needed change of pace, but it was pretty damn fun. The EVE sections of the game are like a Rogue Squadre-lite with next gen pretties smeared over it. It's a real shame that they didn't give you more freedom as EVE, but you are constantly being intterupted with cut-scenes and timers, so you never feel like you can enjoy it to it's full extent. Hat's off for the homage to the Death Star Exhuast run from Return of the Jedi though, that was ace. It was around this mark that I realised how good all of the in game music was. Crank it up to 11 and you will hear some really great ambient music.
For the first half of the game, there is no enemies, it's just you VS. the environment, and it really would have been a lot better had it stayed that way. In the second half, they introduce a range of enemies, and the combat is pedesrtian at best. Hammer the right trigger til either they or you die. Luckilly the AI is bad enough that you can often position yourself somewhere that it can't 'see' you, and you can take them off from a distance, without them even noticing you. At the turning point, there is a boss battle which had me laughing for all the wrong reasons. You don't actually fight it, just jump into a nearby wall untill it dies. Seriously.
WALL·E underperforms on a technical level. Nothing approaching game-breaking, but it definitely shows itself up in a few key areas. The framerate is pretty ropey, the controls never quite feel spot on, there are invisible walls all over the place, the camera stuggles at times.
It also managed to crash my 360 once, I hope it's not early onset red ring.
If you can see past these kind of troubles, the kind of troubles that often come from an underdeveloped licensed game, then there is fair amount of enjoyment to be had out of WALL·E.
WALL·E on the Xbox 360 is a pretty serviceable, but by no means spectacular, 3D platformer. It has just enough new and interesting elements to keep your attention to completetion, and it retreads just enough familiar ground to be instantly accessible. Keen gamers will be able to burn through the main game in around 6/7 hours, but others in the target audience will probably take longer. The bottom line is, I imagine for most people reading this, there are many far better gaming investments to be had this summer, and this should be pretty far down the list for serious gamers.
However, and this is probably what you expected as soon as you clicked on this review, if you are looking for a "my first platformer" for a younger child who they enjoyed the film, then you could do a lot worse than this, although only if they have already played LEGO Star Wars.
WALL·E, Xbox 360 - £28.55 delivered
WALL·E, Xbox 360 - Review
25% off everything at Play-Asia Sale!
Play-Asia are having one of their "25% off everything" sales right now, for the next 10 days. I bet all of the best stuff will go fast though.
The deal is, as long as it is in stock, and has been out for 30 days or more, it qualifies. Items will be getting restocked too.
Here's the details
I'll have a look through now and pick out some of the highlights.
Grand Theft Auto IV, Xbox 360 - £20.50 delivered
Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Xbox 360 - £17 delivered
The Bourne Conspiracy, Xbox 360 - £20.50 delivered
GRID, Xbox 360 - £20.50 delivered
Sega Superstars Tennis, Xbox 360 - £15 delivered
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, Xbox 360 - £15 delivered
Component Cables, Wii - £5.50 delivered
Official White Gamecube Controller - £14.50 delivered
No More Heroes (USA version), Wii - £19.50 delivered
Okami (USA version), Wii - £19 delivered
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (USA version), Wii - £23.50 delivered
Gunstar Super Heroes, GBA - £7 delivered
bit Generations: Boundish, GBA - £5 delivered
bit Generations: Digidrive, GBA - £5 delivered
bit Generations: Coloris, GBA - £5 delivered
Jet Set Radio, Dreamcast - £5 delivered
Let me know if you see any good deals.
The Government does not understand the internet
ID Cards.
I don't know if you feel strongly about them or not.
I completely understand the theoretical benefits to a unified compulsory ID system, however, the proposed implementation of ID cards is both highly flawed, and unlikely to realise any of those benefits in my opinion, and be very costly to the taxpayer.
Regardless of your opinion on the issue, I imagine that most of you think it is important to have a coherent and open public debate over the issue.
The government would probably like you to think it is supporting an open debate on the issue, it recently launched the 'debate forum' mylifemyid.org. Have a look over it, have a look at the information provided, and then have a close look at the forums.
It essentially amounts to propaganda. Every single government employee (the admins and mods) are towing the party line, supporting the ID cards plans 100%. Posts disagreeing with them are being edited, or even completely deleted, without a trace.
To register on the site, you are forced to give them personal information. You have to fork over your age, gender, location and current employment status. Which is one good way of scaring off privacy concious individuals.
Once you have registered, even if you uncheck every box regarding whether or not they can send you emails, your inbox will be bombarded with unsolicited, illegal, emails.
In addition to this, the government are using mine and your tax money to provide (what I hope is) free marketing to the following brands: Super Mario
Finding Nemo
Dilbert
Powerpuff Girls
Sonic the Hedgehog
and Batman
I don't care how kickass these brands may or may not be, my tax money should not be used to market them.
The forum code is terrible, up until a few minutes ago they were ordering posts with the oldest at the top. It frequently shows signatures twice, and the post ordering is in no way conducive to debate. The whole operation is geared towards being as spinable as possible. This government can't even put together a stable forum but they want us to trust them with a centralised database of our sensitive personal information?
I urge you to register and undermine it as much as possible.
If nothing else, this patronising drivel should not be the face of Britains youth:
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Special Edition, Xbox 360 - £17.95
Frontlines: Fuel of War - Special Edition, Xbox 360 - £17.95 delivered
Comes with:
Additional Content
Exclusive Art book
Limited edition T-shirt
Official Soundtrack
Poster
Cheers to Adam MacLeod for the tip off.
Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 - Legacy Edition, Xbox 360 - £10.99
Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 - Legacy Edition, Xbox 360 - £10.99 delivered
Guilty Gear XX Core, Wii - £2.99
Guilty Gear XX Core, Wii - £2.99 delivered
No idea if this entry in the series is any good, but at that price I am willing to take the risk.
Update: Looks like it's sold out now, hopefully they will honour my order.
House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return, Wii - £12.99
House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return, Wii - £12.99 delivered
Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the Warlords, PS2 - £3
Puzzle Quest - Challenge of the Warlords, PS2 - £3 delivered
Gameplay Sale Now on
Gameplay Sale Now on.
I'm having a look through it all for the best deals now ;D
Trauma Centre: Second Opinion, Wii - £12.49
Trauma Centre: Second Opinion, Wii - £12.49 collect in store.
Reserve it here and then take this printout along, and get them to pricematch + 10% of the difference. Comes out as £12.49 by my maths.
Burnout: Paradise, PS3 - £15.77
Burnout: Paradise, PS3 - £15.77 collect in store.
Reserve it here and then take this printout along, and get them to pricematch + 10% of the difference. Comes out as £15.77 by my maths.
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