Ratatouille

"A half way decent game based on a movie"

Ratatouille is the latest creation from Pixar and Disney and of course we get a game. I must admit that maybe Cars was the only Pixar film to have a half way decent video game. Does this one hold up or is it just movie cash in? Read on!

I haven't seen the film this game is based on so I can't compare them. Ratatouille tells the story of a young rat living in Paris who enjoys cooking. The plot starts off simple with him having to help his father with some random things but as you do you run into a hapless cook. You need to help this cook become a true chef. It's a fairly cute story, almost interesting and to be honest it almost makes me want to see the film.

Graphics in the game are actually top notch and while they don't match the animation in the movie it's a far representation. Character models look good if they are main characters. Other wise they seem a bit bland. The levels look good as do the water effects. It's a pretty impressive kid's game.

Sound in the game was pretty good as well. Voice work from the films actors (wow, I'm playing a lot of movie based games lately) really adds a special touch to the game. The music fit the game nicely but not sure if it's the same as the music in the film as I haven't seen it yet. Sound effects were decent but I didn't find them all that great.

The games control is easy. A jump button and an attack button. You really don't do anything else. I never complained about the control and while the camera sometimes had issues with getting stuck on walls and stuff, it really didn't cause me any other problems.

The game offers 5 open world areas to travel around. They are filled with climbing segments, some light enemy action and lots of items to collect.

The collectable items are used for unlocking some of the side missions... Hey, did these guys make the Transformers game? Anyway, the entire game is about finding the hot spots for missions. Each area has 5 or so missions.

While I liked the idea of an open world and then running into these problems (by choice since you need to agree to start them) it gets a bit annoying because you can't tell which ones you have completed or anything and they all remain there after completion. It gets a bit annoying and caused me a number of problems and I'm sure some kids will have problems with this.

The missions are kind of interested and varied. There just aren't a lot of them. And I know it sounds silly but the missions really don't provide a challenge except for the cooking stages. The cooking stages would have worked much better if there was some direction in the first few but you have to guess what everything means. If it's shining then you either knock it over (it will if that's what you do) or you need to pick them up and carry them to a spot. The game just doesn't tell you that.

Replay value is alright in this game. A fair amount of items to find. A decent amount of side quests and stuff. Achievements are easy enough but require you to do everything in the game. The game is fairly long as well, typical length I mean not like 10 hours.

Ratatouille was one of the better movie based games I've played lately. It has some flaws that do detract from the actual game but it was mildly enjoyable except the whole trying to find the missions once you've done most of them.

Story - 7/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 8/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 7/10
Replay value - 7/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/07