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Rise of the Guardians Review

 
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Rise-of-the-Guardians
Rise-of-the-Guardians

 
At a Glance...
 

Formats: PS3, Xbox 360, 3DS, Wii
 
Genre:
 
Publisher:
 
Developer:
 
Final Score
6.5
6.5/ 10


User Rating
no ratings yet

 

We liked?


  • Interesting use of the license
  • Looks good and captures the look of the movie

Not so much?


  • Ultimately very shallow
  • Couple of frame rate issues in larger battles
  • Pitched at the wrong audience
  • Repetetive gameplay and mechanics


Final Fiendish Findings?

Rise of the Guardians is not a bad game. What it does, it manages well. The game plays smoothly enough (baring the odd little slowdown on some larger fights) and comes at a reduced price to other products.

I can’t help but think the target audience of the game and the movie are at odds though and this will fall between the cracks of both. What is here is simple, fun for a time and inoffensive.

I can’t help thinking this was a downloadable title that ended up getting stretched to a disc release. As a £10/$15 download title then it’d sit a bit better in the pocket, but the other issues would remain.

0
Posted December 23, 2012 by

 
Full Fiendish Findings...
 
 

Rise of the Guardians might be a cash-in for the new Dreamworks movie, but is it a phoned-in license?

Rise of the Guardians sees you taking on the dark and slightly annoying Pitch who is hoping to remove everyone belief in the magical five. As you choose one of Jack (Frost), North (Santa), Tooth (Fairy), Bunnymund (Easter Bunny) or Sandy (Sandman) to play you’ll notice not a whole lot is told about each characters unique skills.. IS North stronger, but slower? Is Sandy a ranged character but with poor health levels? Who knows!

The game involve es you trying to reclaim the Guardian Gates in each of the five guardians home areas. You make your way through a vast world map in each area slowy taking over these gates and taking on side battles as and when you feel like doing the quests. These invariably just involve a battle of some sort taking place. For example clear all of Pitch’s Nightmare creatures from a small area and then release your friends from the cages they’d been captured in. The game then repeats these mechanics all the way through its lifespan making it highly repetitive, but not exactly taxing.

The game manages to look good enough though with large colourful areas showing each distinct region of the map. The characters and enemies are all well animated but the zoomed out over-head view does make it more than a little difficult to see what is actually happening in amongst all the colourful pyrotechnics on screen. The general style of the play area, the small characters in fierce combat against hordes of enemies… this is Gauntlet… or at very least Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance!

The game offers a rudimentary upgrade system that allows you to slowly upgrade every character . You can choose a favourite character and only play them, or choose to dynamically swap between all of them on the fly during the game. This means you may want to spec each character differently so they are suited to different combat/missions.

The game is not challenging in the slightest and it throws achievements at you like confetti in the opening hour or two. The game carries a 12 certificate, for a PG rated movie. This means the majority of movie goers that would want to play this game are NOT able to actually get their hands on it. The ones that can, the 12s and over, will most likely find it little challenge and tire quickly of the repetition. This is a shame as D3/Namco have not just gone the quick and simple route with this title. It shows they’ve put thought and care in to the production – and then repeated that same care and thought four more times to make each world.

Co-op play with others on the couch is entertaining enough and the kids did like the colourful look and feel but, as predicted, my 12 year old soon stalked back off to play Minecraft.

Final Thoughts

Rise of the Guardians is not a bad game. What it does, it manages well. The game plays smoothly enough (baring the odd little slowdown on some larger fights) and comes at a reduced price to other products.

I can’t help but think the target audience of the game and the movie are at odds though and this will fall between the cracks of both. What is here is simple, fun for a time and inoffensive.

I can’t help thinking this was a downloadable title that ended up getting stretched to a disc release. As a £10/$15 download title then it’d sit a bit better in the pocket, but the other issues would remain.


Zeth

 
Zeth is our EU ninja and Editor in Chief. He's been writing about video games since 2008 when he started on BrutalGamer. He's pretty old and has been a gamer since he played Space Invaders as a young boy in the 80's. His genre tastes lean towards platformers, point-and-click adventure, action-adventure and shooters but he'll turn his hand to anything.


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