Journey to the Center of the Earth is the kind of game that is responsible
for giving movie-based games such a bad reputation. Granted the source
material is far from being Oscar-caliber material, but the movie itself is
basically one videogame style sequence after another so you'd think that it
wouldn't be too hard to make a decent game out of the film. However, the
game can only manage to deliver a collection of mediocre mini games tied
together by just plain poor platforming sequences.
Even if the mini games were a lot of fun, most people would give up on the
game before playing them at all. That's because the platforming sequences
are so lame and frustrating that most gamers will give up on the game pretty
early on. I'm not sure why platform jumping became pretty much the de
facto standard for movie-licensed games because very few movies feature
characters that spend the majority of the film jumping over one gap after
another. Whatever the reason, you spend a lot of time jumping over
bottomless pits in Journey to the Center of the Earth. All of this jumping
is made more difficult than it should be by the game's attempt to force a pseudo
3D environment onto its platform levels. It's often very hard to discern
areas on the path that require shimmying or wall-hugging, or when you must turn
a corner to avoid running off of a ledge. Control is a little shoddy and
in the underwater swimming sequences it's just plain frustrating. There
are also occasional obstacles that can only be passed by switching to the
correct character. X can blow up boulder obstructions, Y can swing a
grappling hook across a gap, and Z can free climb up walls, among other things.
The game tells you exactly when you need to us a character's particular talents,
and selecting the required character and then pressing X will launch you into
some invariably lame mini game that must be played to get you passed the
obstacle. There are other mini game sequences sprinkle throughout the game
but none of them are really compelling or enjoyable. Sliding down a slope,
riding in a mine car, and using the stylus to mine cave walls for fossils and
minerals are some of the exercises you can look forward to in the game.
Journey to the Center of the Earth is long on frustration and short on fun.
Not even the film's most diehard fans should torture themselves with this one.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
30%. This game is on a journey to the center of
the bargain bin.
