The Spiderwick Chronicles
Review
Another book, another movie, another game
by Keaton Arksey
reviewed on X360
Chasing the cam
The controls work fine, as does the camera. It is controlled much like a First Person Shooter. The only moment it fails is when the player partakes in a chase. At these times, the camera changes to a fixed perspective and the game shows you running towards. At times, the viewpoint doesn’t change and it is entirely possible to get caught on the corner.
Besides these minor annoyances, the game provides a fairly simple, easy to navigate system. At the beginning, it is incredibly dark and you are given the option to lighten things up, which is strongly advised unless you like your games dark.
Another interesting note is that game features no Xbox Live support. None whatsoever. Oddly enough there is a ‘multiplayer’ mode where 2 players can compete to capture Faeries for points. Occasionally some goblins will attack the player, which spices spice things up a little, but it’s more of a minigame then a full-fledged multiplayer experience. If you never play a multiplayer game, you’re not missing much.
Collect, collect, collect I tell you!
But there is some good news to be told as well. Collectophiles, raise your hands and cheer. This game practically oozes things to collect. Faeries, goblin teeth from defeated goblins, fruit, rocks, and items that you can collect to unlock more of the field guide. The rocks and fruit function as projectiles that can either be thrown by Simon or used in Jared’s slingshot. Goblin teeth are able to upgrade your character’s attacks and this may upgrade your attacks with an extra move.
The game also includes scenes taken from the movie, which is a nice touch. The music is very well done and fits the mood and genre of the game perfectly. The voice acting is fairly good. Though this is somewhat of a personal issue, I found the voice of Thimbletack slightly… annoying, possibly due to the fact that until the end of the game, everything he says rhymes.
Short
The game doesn’t take that long to complete. To complete 80% of the game, a good five hours of your life is taken up, which should include the entire main story and some of the side quests. Early on in the game most of the quests are spelled out for you in the Field Guide but later on some may be lost on where to go. It almost seems as if the game goes from ‘Hold your hand’ to ‘Forget your existence’.
Secondary quests aren’t that exciting, ranging from completing a few tasks for a hobgoblin, catching every Faerie in the game, and finding evidence of creatures such as the phoenix. A strange quest as this mythical creature never actually appears in the game. The side quests provide a distraction, but don’t expect to be at them for long.
Audience
The game is meant primarily for children. For a movie based game it offers a fairly decent gaming experience and doesn’t disappoint. It does have some problems and once the Field Guide is completed there is little much left to do. Older gamers will get bored of the game before the end, but if you are shopping for a younger audience or fan of the books, don’t pass it up simply because of its movie tie-in status.
6.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
