Despicable Me (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

It you happen to swing by Apple Movie Trailers, on a regular basis you will have caught the teaser for Despicable Me quite some time ago and the films seems to have taken an eternity to actually get released in the UK. The story of a Mad Super Villan (and his Minons) is hardly an original one but producing anything other than a platformer is at least refreshing. Of course we'd expect nothing else from Shantae developer WayForward but is a puzzler really what the younger gamer wants?

Gameplay

Like the classic Lemmings, Despicable Me is all about getting a bunch of hapless Minions to safety although how you actually go about this is somewhat open ended. Things begin easy enough and the first level challenges you to guide a Chief Minion to safety whilst avoiding a life threatening trap. This simply a case of activating a spring and, before you know it, your Minion is out of danger and on his way to the exit. After only a few levels you'll need reinforcement and in order to get the Chief Minion out of harms way, you'll need to recruit Fire Resistant Minions and Incredible Shrinking Minions. These will help clear the path but setting them off at just the right moment is the key to success.

Once you do have more than one Minion on screen, things can get a little confusing and given that you'll only have between 60 and 90 seconds to work things out, you'll have to work fast. To add little more pressure, once you have managed to get your Chief Minion to the right place, you'll only have an extra 10 seconds to get the rest of your team there too. If all this wasn't enough there are other challenges along the way and collecting items such as 'robot Potatoes', coins and other items gives you more points. This, in turn, opens up even more levels and should you still have energy left they are there for the solving.

Controls

The only real use for the D-pad is to allow you to scroll around the levels. While this seems like a wasted opportunity you will quickly discover that the ability to survey (and plan) the level before you enter the game is essential because while the initial levels only really occupy a single screen they do become much larger very quickly.

Graphics

Visually the game has a wonderful retro style and while this should be one of the games strengths, it does begin to one of the titles downfalls after spending some time with it. The problem is that the simplistic design structure starts to make all the levels appear the same and while the objectives may be different every time, you'll swear you've already played some of the challenges before. The Minions are still well animated though and it's easy to distinguish between the various types. The top screen fares much better and here you get a variety of characters which have been lifted directly from the movie. The animation here is minimal although you do get to see their expressions change as they show their joy or dissapointment with your performance.

Sound

The audio here is great and it's nice to see developers taking some time on this important part of the games overall design. This mostly consists of a kind of 1960's TV detective series soundtrack although you'll also be treated to a whole collection of grunts and groans as the Minions move about the levels.

Dual screen

Controlling your Minions is a simple as tapping the screen to select which one you wish to set off on their journey. The only real problem you'll have here is when you mistakingly select the wrong one which could result in your Chief Minion walking to their death and remember as soon as you tap the screen the countdown will begin. We also occasionally had the problem of Minions not responding to our instructions and given that you are dealing with a very tight time scale here that can be a little frustrating.

Final comments

While most movie tie-in's take the safer platformer path it's nice to see developers taking a bit of a risk and it's been some time since anyone's even attempted the 'Lemmings' style approach. While we applaud originality we also believe that making games for your intended audience is just as important and although Despicable Me is a wonderfully crafted puzzler (if you ignore so of the control quirks) it's simply too difficult for the younger gamer. As a result of this you will find that after only a few levels you may discover that you just can't go any further. We usually end reviews by commenting that the game is 'too easy' or 'not long enough' but the problem here is of difficulty and if you are a pre-teen who enjoyed the movie you may not find this as entertaining as you should do. Adults, on the other hand, will love the weighty challenge on offer here and solving a level, after spending half a day trying to work it out, can be incredibly rewarding.

Pro: Better Than Your Average Movie Tie-in, Lots of Gameplay
Con: Very Challenging for Younger Gamers
Final score: 7.1

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