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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Action/Adventure Developer: Midway Publisher: Midway |
decade. Of course, because there is one company that creates animated movies of this type there needs to be a handful of other
companies that try to beat the other company. One of the top contenders taking on Pixar head on is Dreamworks studios, known best
for their releases of Ice Age and Shrek, both of which turned into sequels. It is Happy Feet that had enough star power to be a
contender for the best animated film of the decade because of the lovable characters that grace the screen. Midway has brought the
film to a videogame format that was obviously designed for kids, most of whom will probably grow bored with after they discover that
there are only three basic level types that repeat themselves over and over again through the entirety of the game.
“Happy Feet,” which is available for a variety of different platforms, is a companion piece to the movie. In other words, for the those
people who enjoyed the story as it was told in the theaters, they may want the take home experience on their videogame system as
well. Years ago kid’s games were made as cheap as possible and were create as quickly as possible in order to make money as fast
as possible, but developers are trying a little bit harder there days. Many of these types of games have been created in a way that kids
can enjoy them and there are elements that older gamers will enjoy, but “Happy Feet” was created for kids and no one else, a fact that
is obvious from the very first overly simplified game play scenario in the game. Aiming towards a young audience is not necessarily a
bad thing, but the game is not exceptional or even very good effort for a kid’s title.
Players take on the role of Mumbo, a dancing penguin who finds himself as an outcast when his singing friends and family learn that he
has a terrible singing voice, which is unheard of for penguins. The game’s story line is told through a series of real time cut scenes,
although the majority of the top celebrities had nothing to do with the videogame, but the voice over work does a very believable job of
replicating the characters from the movie. The voice for Robin Williams’ character is very good, and his delivery is actually funny in a
majority of the cases. However, the game doesn’t replicate the charm of the film. The animation is shaded by the film and the
believable world of the movie is replaced by stiff models and sparse 3D environments, which is a bit of a disappointment.
The game play mechanics in “Happy Feet” are so simple and shallow that they can be learned and mastered at the exact same time.
There are a total of three templates, none of them very inspiring. Players have the Dance Dance Revolution style dancing levels where
they use the controller to dance left, right, up or down to match with the on-screen arrows which is done by using the Wii Remote to
motion the directions. The very easy nature of the dance challenges make them almost impossible to lose and end up being very
unrewarding. Meanwhile there are a few penguin sledding levels and penguin swimming levels, both of which are similar to one
another. Although Midway has attempted to diversify levels by including a few unique items, such as speed boosts and destructible
obstacles, the mechanics feel very weak and repetitive after only a handful of stages. The Wii version of the game presents slightly
more exciting challenges due to the controls difference of the console. Players tilt the Wii Remote on its side and simply rotate left and
right to steer Mumbo through the environments. It is a novelty for a few minutes, but after that there is very little that will hold the player’s
attention very long.
This of course isn’t to suggest that the play mechanics of the game are broken. Actually, what is in the game works well and players
will find themselves enjoying some of the sledding areas of the game. However, this doesn’t do anything beyond the ordinary and there
are a lot better games available to spend time with.
The audio and visuals of “Happy Feet” are just barely passable, where of course some areas are better than others. The 3D penguin
models look decent even when they are up close, but overall the animation is still, not very fluid. There are some extras including the
before mentioned destructible objects and some well implemented particle effects that help out the environments. However, textures
blur when they are up close and the frame rate of the game drops during sledding occasionally.
“Haapy Feet” as a videogame mimics the movie in that it falls a little short of the expectations set for it. While the title does feature the
same story and characters as its silver screen counterpart, it lacks the charm. The basic game play mechanics are simple and the
repeat so of them it becomes its own worst enemy by becoming boring. Unless the player or their child is a “Happy Feet fanatic, this
game isn’t worth checking out.
companies that try to beat the other company. One of the top contenders taking on Pixar head on is Dreamworks studios, known best
for their releases of Ice Age and Shrek, both of which turned into sequels. It is Happy Feet that had enough star power to be a
contender for the best animated film of the decade because of the lovable characters that grace the screen. Midway has brought the
film to a videogame format that was obviously designed for kids, most of whom will probably grow bored with after they discover that
there are only three basic level types that repeat themselves over and over again through the entirety of the game.
“Happy Feet,” which is available for a variety of different platforms, is a companion piece to the movie. In other words, for the those
people who enjoyed the story as it was told in the theaters, they may want the take home experience on their videogame system as
well. Years ago kid’s games were made as cheap as possible and were create as quickly as possible in order to make money as fast
as possible, but developers are trying a little bit harder there days. Many of these types of games have been created in a way that kids
can enjoy them and there are elements that older gamers will enjoy, but “Happy Feet” was created for kids and no one else, a fact that
is obvious from the very first overly simplified game play scenario in the game. Aiming towards a young audience is not necessarily a
bad thing, but the game is not exceptional or even very good effort for a kid’s title.
Players take on the role of Mumbo, a dancing penguin who finds himself as an outcast when his singing friends and family learn that he
has a terrible singing voice, which is unheard of for penguins. The game’s story line is told through a series of real time cut scenes,
although the majority of the top celebrities had nothing to do with the videogame, but the voice over work does a very believable job of
replicating the characters from the movie. The voice for Robin Williams’ character is very good, and his delivery is actually funny in a
majority of the cases. However, the game doesn’t replicate the charm of the film. The animation is shaded by the film and the
believable world of the movie is replaced by stiff models and sparse 3D environments, which is a bit of a disappointment.
The game play mechanics in “Happy Feet” are so simple and shallow that they can be learned and mastered at the exact same time.
There are a total of three templates, none of them very inspiring. Players have the Dance Dance Revolution style dancing levels where
they use the controller to dance left, right, up or down to match with the on-screen arrows which is done by using the Wii Remote to
motion the directions. The very easy nature of the dance challenges make them almost impossible to lose and end up being very
unrewarding. Meanwhile there are a few penguin sledding levels and penguin swimming levels, both of which are similar to one
another. Although Midway has attempted to diversify levels by including a few unique items, such as speed boosts and destructible
obstacles, the mechanics feel very weak and repetitive after only a handful of stages. The Wii version of the game presents slightly
more exciting challenges due to the controls difference of the console. Players tilt the Wii Remote on its side and simply rotate left and
right to steer Mumbo through the environments. It is a novelty for a few minutes, but after that there is very little that will hold the player’s
attention very long.
This of course isn’t to suggest that the play mechanics of the game are broken. Actually, what is in the game works well and players
will find themselves enjoying some of the sledding areas of the game. However, this doesn’t do anything beyond the ordinary and there
are a lot better games available to spend time with.
The audio and visuals of “Happy Feet” are just barely passable, where of course some areas are better than others. The 3D penguin
models look decent even when they are up close, but overall the animation is still, not very fluid. There are some extras including the
before mentioned destructible objects and some well implemented particle effects that help out the environments. However, textures
blur when they are up close and the frame rate of the game drops during sledding occasionally.
“Haapy Feet” as a videogame mimics the movie in that it falls a little short of the expectations set for it. While the title does feature the
same story and characters as its silver screen counterpart, it lacks the charm. The basic game play mechanics are simple and the
repeat so of them it becomes its own worst enemy by becoming boring. Unless the player or their child is a “Happy Feet fanatic, this
game isn’t worth checking out.
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