Wall-E review (Xbox 360)

I guess you’ve probably already got an opinion about this game, perhaps along the lines of ‘tie-in games of movies are rarely good, and as for Disney film tie-in games...'

To quote Waternoose in Monsters, Inc, “they stink”. Fun for the kiddies, but very derivative amusement with little originality or any of the creative spark that usually fuels the film. You’ll find none of the brilliance of The Incredibles in The Incredibles: The Game, for example.

All of which leaves poor little Wall-E in a sad position even before his little tracks first hit the sand. Even the film’s developers aren’t helping, with Pixar’s Ralph Eggleston (see here for details) talking about a lack of narrative story in games, suggesting that he’s only seen his own company’s games…

WORTH-E

The trouble is that there is a reason for all this prejudice, and that’s because Disney and Pixar have shown absolutely zero interest in assuaging our fears. Their games sell millions, while other more worthy games like Psychonauts or Zack and Wiki get left on the shelves, forlornly watching their lesser brethren fly into the arms of undiscerning shoppers.

And Wall-E: The Game does nothing to improve things, I’m sad to say. This game is a linear collect-a-thon.

I haven’t seen the film yet, but I highly doubt Wall-E spends 80 per cent of it searching for floating tubes to start vending machines that, well, vend junk (which makes sense on the junk-covered Earth, but why does a posh space station have a junk vendor, and a broken one at that?).

This junk can be compressed into various types of cube by the cute little Johnny 5-alike, which can be thrown.

Some of these cubes can also produce power to charge things like doors (which, once again, makes sense on the electricity-less Earth, but on the high-tech space station?), but on the whole that’s it.

The game doesn’t deviate much from this ‘collect things, bring things, use things’ template and can get rather tedious. There are plenty of platforming sections and a few flying levels where you play Eve, but on the whole you’ve seen most of the gameplay the game has to offer in the first few levels.

MAYB-E

One thing the game does get right is its characterisation of the two leading robots. Wall-E is still exceptionally sweet, as is his burgeoning relationship with Eve.

The animation is pretty darn good, as are the graphics (on the 360 anyway, maybe less so on the PS2, for example) which really makes you feel like you’re playing the movie – the first Pixar game tie-in to do that properly.

When Wall-E is trying to get to the rocket containing the deactivated Eve before it takes off, it really gives you the motivation to get him there.

And at least the environments don’t stay the same, which is something. To the game’s credit, despite the gameplay being quite repetitive, the game manages to keep bringing in new locations, features and even a boss or two.

It may be all very simplistic, and nips through the film’s story in no time, but it’s probably the most worthy Pixar tie-in yet – at the very least it captures the soul and look of the film, even if it fails to match its creativity.

After playing Lego Indiana Jones though, and seeing how decent kid’s games can be, Wall-E: The Game could only be a shadow of Traveller’s Tales’ sterling effort.

Recommended to young kids and non-gamers (the Wii version will undoubtedly sell the best) then, but that’s about it.

5/10

Chris ‘The Tingler’ Capel

UPDATE: I’ve seen the film now, and can confirm that Wall-E didn’t pick up a single tube or get anywhere near any sort of vending machine in the entire film. Another point off for lying to the children, you uncultured Disney swine!