Zathura 2005 Published by: 2k Games   Developed by: High Voltage Software   Buy It Now

Platform: Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameBoy Advance

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

Another kid friendly movie hits the big screen, and so naturally, another video game based on that movie hits store shelves. This time, it is Zathura, and like most movie based games to come before it, it offers little to distinguish itself from the crowd, relying solely on its license to push a less than mediocre game on unsuspecting consumers- consumers who should know better than to buy movie licensed games by name alone by now.

Zathura the game is a 3rd person action platformer that, like the movie (and presumably the book that the movie is based on) has a couple young boys stumbling onto an old board game that, when they play it, sends them on all manner of out of this world adventures. In order to get home, the boys have to continue playing the game- every turn, however, leads to another real world dilemma they have to punch, shoot, jump, or duck their way out of.

You play as the two brothers, Walter and Danny, and as a third character, a robot that, after you outwit it early in the game, becomes playable. Each character has slightly different abilities, such as the older boy, Walter, having stronger mêlée attacks, while Danny can use a slingshot. However, you don’t actually get to choose who you want to play as; the character is native to whatever sequence you are currently playing.

The control scheme is fairly simple, consisting of an array of basic moves, such as locking onto a target, strafing, dodging, jumping, and mêlée attacks. It takes little time to get the swing of the controls, but the perspective is another issue. The third person camera does not often turn as you turn, so you constantly have to adjust it with the right thumb stick. It slows down game play quite a bit, and often the camera will stick in an unfortunate location, making certain obstacles harder than they would otherwise be. Even still, the game is so easy that experienced gamers will waste little effort putting to rest in a few short hours. That is, if they are not prone to motion sickness. Generally speaking, I am not- a couple hours of a 1st or 3rd person game will make me start to feel a bit ill, and that is how I know it is time to take a break. Zathura, on the other hand, had my head and stomach reeling inside of a few minutes. I had to take a Dramamine and sit down for a while before I could take another crack at it. I can only assume this was due to the constant camera spinning I had to do to keep myself aware of where I was. I won’t go so far as to say that playing this game will make you physically ill, but for those that are prone to motion sickness, be warned.

As far as difficulty goes, there is very little. As I said, an experienced gamer can blow through it rather quickly, but even less experienced or younger players won’t have a lot of trouble. There simply isn’t much in the way of challenge offered, and I assume that this is due to the fact that the game really is designed for children. Even then, unless they are very young or not familiar with video games, it will probably be too easy. There is no difficulty setting to mess with, either- in fact, the only options at all are basic audio, controller, and autosave.

The Xbox version of the game offers a single player mode and in game Dolby Digital sound- that’s it. No hi-def output of any kind, no multi player of any kind, no “other” of any kind. No multi player option means little reason to play the game once you have beaten it, and the paltry bonus for beating the game- a few trailers for Zathura and Jumanji- are not exactly enough to motivate one to finish it in the first place.

Graphically, the game is functional. While the characters are animated decently, they have very few moves, and they get old quickly. Backgrounds are bland, with the standard array of boxes and switches and items to pick up, but lacking any kind of hi-def display, even these simple objects don’t look at all impressive. Sound is better, with decent voice acting and a pretty good soundtrack and effects, but still, nothing to get worked up over.

Clearly, Zathura is targeted at younger players who loved the movie and want more. However, at an asking price of $40, this game offers less than budget title game play at a more than budget title price. Parents who have kids who must play this game should rent it, let the kids play, then when they have beaten it in 3-4 hours (if that) decide if it really worth the cash. You might be better off going to see the movie again, instead.

-Ed-