If
I were to be so bold as to provide a one-sentence summary of the
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to save
myself the trouble of actually writing a review -- the 4th Quarter of
the 2005 pretty much drained away my will to live, nevermind my will to
write -- would be something like: Chronicles of Narnia is like a
more kid-friendly version of the much-ballyhooed Lord of the Rings
action games from EA, which incorporated clips from the film into the
action and featured a videogame retelling of the film source.
(Even though both are rated "T" (for Teen), Chronicles of
Narnia definitely feels more kid-friendly.)
If
you're familiar with the film or the C.S. Lewis book on which the film
is based, you'll feel right at home controlling the Penvensie kids:
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, each with their own special
abilities. Lucy is the smallest of the bunch and can access small
spaces; Susan's forte is ranged combat; Edmund can climb trees; and
Peter -- kind of the brawler of the bunch -- can lay waste to enemies
and clear out barriers. In single-player mode, you can switch
between characters on the fly and in some situations character switching
is absolutely necessary. To further heighten the aspect of in-game
teamwork, is that characters can be "combined" to some extent
for more powerful attacks or defensive moves.
The
game leaves little in the way of guesswork as to which character should
be used. As you approach objects and locations a character icon
pops up that indicates which character should be used on the object or
location. It makes the experience more accessible for younger
players but for older players it will feel a little too much like you're
being led by your nose.
Chronicles of
Narnia manages to keep the action moving at a good clip and mixes
it up with straight hack 'n' slash action and "on rails"
sections (i.e. zipping down ice "rapids" while avoiding gaping
chasms). It's not going to win any awards for originality
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but
developer Traveller's Tales (of Lego Star Wars fame) did a good job
capturing the major confrontations from the film, particularly the
climatic battle scene, and that's what counts when it comes to licensed
games.
On
the graphics and audio front, Chronicles of
Narnia does a good job recreating the feel of the film. As
mentioned before, clips from the film are integrated into the game.
All the main characters lend their voices and likenesses to the game to
provide that much more authenticity.
At
the end of the day, Chronicles of
Narnia is an above-average movie tie-in. If it left some of
the exploration and discovery up to the players instead of laying things
out it would have scored higher. That said, it's still a good gaming
experience.