Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

"You look so stupid"

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Xbox)

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (ASUE) has recently hit theaters to the applause of all the young children around the country, and what better way to celebrate the latest blockbuster film than releasing your traditional movie licensed game to coincide its film debut? Yes, it's another movie licensed property slapped on to your average action/adventure title, with nothing really too special about it. Make no mistake about it; this is nothing like the awesome Riddick game that shocked the gaming world earlier this year. However game's difficulty is dumbed down enough so the little ones can enjoy it the most.

This children's tale takes place after the Baudelaire's parents perish in a fire. The new orphans get sent to a new home ran by their not so kind uncle, Count Olaf (modeled after and voiced by Jim Carrey). As a matter of fact their uncle is pretty much out to make their lives miserable. So we get to take control of the three Baudelaire children (Violet, Klaus, and Sunny), with each one having their own unique traits for gameplay variation.

However, gameplay isn't really all that varied. This incredibly short adventure has you running around collecting items to assemble gadgets like a dreaded ‘Fruit Flinger' that launches dreaded harvest towards opponents. Violet is the smart one of the children, and she's the one that builds these contraptions via an interface so simply laid out you'd have to be a complete tool to not figure it out. Klaus is the muscle of the siblings and is used in most of the action parts of this tale to dispose of villains with his ‘Brilliant Bopper' invention his sister crafted that consists of a springing boxing glove that knocks out opponents. Finally, Sunny is the young infant who is used the least. Her limited use is only in 2D side scrolling segments that navigate her through narrow tunnels that the other two can't access so she can open a locked door from the other side. Think of her as a helpful companion like the lovely K9, Shadow in Dead to Right, just minus all the mindless mauling of opponents Shadow also specialized in.

As I stated above, ASUE's difficulty is intentionally aimed towards a young audience, so practically anyone can zoom through this game in under five hours. It follows a simple formula of finding items to make inventions, defeat some henchmen, vanquish the boss, and tossing in a couple of simple puzzles for a slight taste of variety. Rinse, lather, repeat. This gameplay is perfect for the ‘lil gamer, yet repetitive and stale for any serious one. If there is anything else to gripe about gameplay, it is the common camera problems that frequently mar third person titles, but even here the difficulty is so easy that the average camera qualms become irrelevant.

At least there was a little bit of effort shown in the visuals of ASUE. It's by far the shining point of the game. While there is obviously no new state of the art effects that will have your jaw dropping in amazement, everything holds up fairly well and looks pretty good, which especially can't be said about your average multi-platform game nowadays. This time the developer actually took time to iron out the leftover jagged graphics from the PS2 counterpart that usually slip into the Xbox ports. I like how the cut-scenes are presented with the black and white illustrations being drawn out on-the-fly, which gives a nod to the book the film was based off of. All the character models are faithful representations from its film counterparts. The amount of detail in them was a little bit more than I was expecting that showcased the draping diapers of Sunny to the sinister glare that Count Olaf seems to always have fixated on his face. The estate you're fighting to escape from also has a good fantasy look to it that is populated with portraits of deceased family members and your traditional grandfather clocks that complete the haunted mansion setting. My only main complaint with the graphics is the villains don't look all that spectacular as the main cast of characters, with little to no extra detail noticeable about them.

The audio is a bit of a mixed bag. The sound effects are average on almost all fronts, and there barely seems to be any background music whatsoever during gameplay, but the good voice acting nearly makes up for these shortcomings to a mild extent. Activision managed to get the entire cast of the film down to record lines for the game also. I was surprised they managed to get mega Hollywood star Jim Carrey to get this involved, to my knowledge this is his first game he lent his voice in this huge a role. Carrey and the narrator deliver their lines the best, while the children are mediocre at best, and at times seem to not sound as terrified as they should be.

It's too bad the better-than-expected graphics and voice acting could not make up for the ridiculously easy difficulty and short length of the game. Of course the developers were aiming this towards the younger crowd, and I'm sure your kids or younger siblings will eat this up much as they did the film. It seems developers lately are making movie-licensed games that are for the younger crowd more appealing to the younger crowd by toning down the difficulty and making the adventure shorter, and in my opinion that doesn't justify the $50 this title is asking for. I remember back in the day when the kiddy movies actually resulted in great games (see: Aladdin and Lion King during the 16-bit wars), the only guys that seem to be trying this now are EA with their Harry Potter titles. As this is right now, leave Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to the audience it was aimed for. So that means if you're over 10 years old, you probably should avoid this game.

RATINGS

Graphics: 8.0
Sound: 6.7
Gameplay: 3.9
Replay Value: 1.5

Overall: 5.0

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/04