Childrens' video games suck. That's not conjecture. That's straight-up fact. Now, a video game adapted from a children's movie? That's a disaster waiting to happen. Luckily, Activision has taken steps to reverse this horrible trend. Monsters vs. Aliens, a movie-based title for the kids, is actually a surprising adventure that both children and adults alike can enjoy. It's not perfect - most games seldom are, but it does offer up a good time for anyone who gives it a chance.
Chris B. of TGF writes:
"By now most gamers are immune to being sucked in to purchasing a video game that is based off a movie. For the most part the games aren’t based off the movie itself, and are usually a side story created using loose parts of the movie to tell it. Developer Beenox and Amaze Entertainment, with publisher Activision decided to throw their hats into the ring and take on the project of creating the home based console and handheld versions of the movie by DreamWorks Monster vs. Aliens."
Movie-tie-ins are almost always universally panned by critics and are seen by the majority of the industry as an opportunity to cash in on something big at the box office. Usually criticism levelled at said productions is due to poor game play elements resulting from a short development time and a rush to release the game on a tight schedule, unfortunately for Activision Monster vs. Aliens fits this trend to a tee.
PGNx writes: "Monsters and Aliens battle it out in Activision's latest title. The game, based on the upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens feature film, is developed by Amaze Entertainment for the Nintendo DS. The general plot and gameplay is fairly similar to its console cousins though the game was obviously adapted for the handheld."
Oh noez! If more of these kids' games start getting good like this, they're going to be worth more than $19.99!!! How will I evar afford to buy my future spawn vidya gaemz?!
Sounds like a decent title. I will still probably never play it, however.