Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Top Ten Animated Movie Tie-In PlayStation Games #1





#1: A Bug’s Life (PS1)

Summer 1998 saw the release of Pixar’s second triumph, branded an ‘epic of miniature proportions’, the fun-filled, feel-good ‘Flik’ (get it?) A Bug’s Life, and though it isn’t universally perceived to be as engaging or interesting as their previous feature, the ground-breaking Toy Story (1995), Disney/Pixar’s follow-up nonetheless proved to be a worthy successor. With stunning visuals, sublime animation and top-notch voice acting, the film proved to be another winner in Pixar’s canon, albeit one of the least praised in subsequent years. Coinciding with the release of the movie, Disney Interactive and Traveller’s Tales produced a movie tie-in of the same name for the PlayStation One, and the game was met with reviews varying from mediocre to somewhat decent. However, in retrospect, this game is one of the very best Disney have to offer. I might be a tad biased, being as I’ve played this game since I was knee-high to a grasshopper (so to speak). But hear me out.

First of all, the graphics, for the time of its release, are fantastic. The environments are particularly gorgeous, with many locations looking almost as though they are exact replicas of those in the film. The eerie inner tunnels of the ant hill, the vast riverbed plain, the clover forest – they really did a great job capturing the look and feel of the movie, granted some graphics are better than others. In addition, the animations for the characters are also quite cute and fun.

Furthermore, the voiceover work is some of the best I’ve heard in a video-game. Although not all the voice actors from the movie reprise their roles in the game, the impersonators who replace them don’t do a bad job at all. Atta, voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the movie, is here voiced by Ariel herself, Jodi Benson, and I have to say, as percipient as I usually am, I didn’t even notice. Hopper’s voice was fairly close too. The highlight of the game, however, is Flik, voiced by Dave Foley. His constant interactions with the player are a delight, and it really helps to capture the light-hearted, upbeat aesthetic of the film.

The soundtrack, while hardly up to the standards of the grand orchestral score of the film, nonetheless maintains a certain charm, and fits the gameplay nicely. It does not feel imposing or irritating; for the most part, it’s fairly melodic and enjoyable. Moreover, it maintains a certain atmospheric quality, the music accompanying the riverbed levels and the final showdown being particular highlights.

That is not to say, however, that the game is without its flaws. For starters, it follows a certain structure – the game is composed of five ‘lands’, each one comprised of three levels, resulting in fifteen levels in total, with every third level being a boss battle. Now, initially, this does not seem to be a problem. In fact, it seems to work well, and manages to follow the plot of the movie surprisingly accurately. On the other hand, certain events of the film have been reworked and even reordered, which wouldn’t be a problem unless they affected the story. For example, in order for the game to adhere to the set structure, Flik has to defeat the bird prior to finding the ‘warrior bugs’. Hell, if he can do that, why is he even bothering to find them?! Another alteration is that, later on in the game, Hopper takes Atta hostage rather than Flik, as it was in the film, but these are really the only major changes, and I have to admit I’m being nit-picky here. For the most part, the structure works and manages to stay very close to the plot of the film.

Yet I’m afraid that that is not the only issue I have with this game. The camera control, though it doesn’t require too much getting used to, is awkward and fairly slow. What’s more, you can’t turn the camera while on the move. After a while, however, this doesn’t seem much of an issue, but it is a little problematic. In addition, close combat attacks are pointless. The kick is weak and far too slow to respond, so much so that it barely warrants using it at all.

All in all, however, these are just minor setbacks in an otherwise brilliant game. This is probably the closest video-game adaptation of a movie I’ve ever played. The gameplay might not be perfect, but it’s filled with vast, free-roaming environments that are fun to explore and interact with, and ultimately, that’s what makes A Bug’s Life a great and criminally underrated game. It manages to not only be fun but faithful to the film – a tremendous feat.

8.5/10

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