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> Results: Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo
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This game needs to go back to Wallaceﾒs drawing board. Wallace and Gromit, stars of three award-winning claymation specials (A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave) have won the hearts of millions worldwide with their zany madcap adventures mixed with a bit of childlike innocence and imagination. Brought to life by Nick Park (Chicken Run) and the geniuses at Aardman, the plasticine pals Wallace and Gromit have set new standards in stop motion animation. Wallace, the cheese loving inventor of wacky contraptions and his silent but expressive (those eyes) dog Gromit have rocketed to the moon, stopped a mechanical pants-stealing penguin, and battled a robotic sheep rustler. But are they ready for video games? If thereﾒs one thing that this game does right, it matches the tone of the animated specials perfectly in the story and cutscenes. Itﾒs almost like watching a brand new Wallace and Gromit special (a welcome treat for any fan). Wallace and Gromit have adopted Arnie, a baby polar bear at the zoo. Nick Park fans may recognize Arnie as the polar bear in Creature Comforts. Anyway, Wallace and Gromit are set to visit Arnie on his birthday, but when they get to the zoo they notice it is closed. Upon further inspection, they discover that Feathers McGraw has taken over the zoo and is keeping visitors out. Feathers McGraw is the evil penguin from The Wrong Trousers, whose plans were foiled by Wallace and Gromit and he was sent to do time at the zoo. Using Wallaceﾒs newly invented ﾓTrojan Penguinﾔ (patent pending), the inventor and his dog sneak into the zoo and discover that Feathers is working on a Diamond-O-Matic machine, and is forcing the other animals to work for him by trapping their babies in cages. Now itﾒs up to Wallace and Gromit to free the caged baby animals, save Arnie, and teach Feathers another lesson!  In this 3-D platformer, you control Gromit. Just like the animated specials, Gromit does all the real work most of the time. Youﾒll explore several areas of the zoo, like the jungle house or the ice habitat. In each area you must collect nuts and bolts scattered around, as well as tools. Wallace will use these items to invent things for you to help Gromit get past obstacles. You donﾒt control Wallace, but he does follow you around, and will try and reach you if Gromit whistles for him. In most cases, itﾒs your job to make sure Wallace has a safe path to get to the next broken machine that needs fixing. Sometimes youﾒll have to flip a switch to lower a bridge for Wallace to cross, other times youﾒll have to clear a room full of Feathersﾒ robotic minions for Wallace to have safe passage. Most of the broken machines that Wallace will fix for you will open up a door or a bridge to the next area, but other times Wallace will invent a tool or weapon for Gromit to use. Some include a banana shooter for distracting pesky monkeys, a rapid fire porridge gun, or a radish bazooka. You usually use the porridge gun to gum up gears in machinery, and the radish bazooka to break down walls. Graphics in this game are amazing and really make it look like everything is a Nick Park clay creation. Even when moving Gromit around, his eyes show more expression than most talking characters, and the voice actor who does Wallace is on hand to give you hints and tips. Obviously the makers of the game did their research of the animated specials, as many of the things you see and do in the game make references to them. Gromit hides in a Meatabix dog food box with eyes cut through the dog picture (like in The Wrong Trousers) to do some Metal Gear-like sneaking around zookeeper guards. When Gromit waits for Wallace to finish fixing a machine, heﾒll start reading a magazine that looks like Time, but on closer inspection players notice itﾒs actually called ﾓTame.ﾔ Itﾒs little instances like this that make the game a treat for fans. You can also unlock movie clips by collecting hidden coins. While the charming story and characters will make fans want to play the game simply to see what happens next, unfortunately at some point in the game they will get frustrated. Thatﾒs because, on a basic level, Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo is a horrible game. Play control is sluggish and unresponsive, and Gromit is one video game character in desperate need of a double jump. Youﾒll die A LOT simply because you never know if Gromit will grab onto that next ledge or plummet to the bottomless pit below. Worse yet, the camera angles are absolutely atrocious, and youﾒll wrestle with moving the camera around more than controlling Gromit. I guess fans will have to wait for the upcoming feature film to get a real new Wallace and Gromit fix. Kid Factor: Kids will love the charming characters and story, and rescuing those baby animals is a very rewarding experience. Thereﾒs hardly any violence in the game, as all the characters you fight are robots. No animals were harmed in the making of Project Zoo. Unfortunately, at some points kids will probably get frustrated with the sluggish controls and camera angles. Itﾒs sad, too, since the production values of the story clips and visuals are so great. It may be best to try and find the DVD or videos of the animated Wallace and Gromit specials for your children instead. Reviewer Recommended Ages: 6+ Genre: 3-D Platformer ESRB Rating: E for Everyone Producer: BAM! Entertainment Developer: Frontier Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Wallace and Gromit in Project Zoo |
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