Games and movies have a very long relationship. Often titles have tried to cross over from one medium to the other, mostly with terrible results. On the odd occasion a decent movie based on a game is released, and sometimes a game based on a movie is not too shabby. But very seldom do you get a title that stands out as a shining star once it has crossed that format barrier. You might never get the chance to play a movie tie-in game that can stand on its own merits. If you expected Pixar’s UP to be one of those games, think again.

Pixar Growing UP

Pixar’s movies have always been family affairs. It’s the ideal type of movie for the whole family to sit down and enjoy together. The last few of their movies have slowly moved towards an even more mature storyline. WALL-E already had undertones of environmentalist activism, and UP really deals with earthly possessions, loss and friendship. Yet it also maintains the quirky characters and jokes that the young ones enjoy. Games based on Pixar’s efforts have been pretty dismal, and as you might have figured by now, UP is no different.

UP the game ties in so deeply with the movie that it assumes you have seen the movie. It skips all background and character building and goes straight into the game. It picks up the story at completely random intervals, and in an effort to flesh out some scenes from the movie it adds its own scenes. I do not recall monkeys or crocodiles in the movie, and even though sometimes this sort of branching story works well, in UP it feels tacked on. The new characters feel oddly out of place, almost as though they were designed by a different designer.

Random

You will start off with an aerial dogfight (literally…the dogs are in planes). Then in the next scene, without any sort of story driven cross-over, you will be tugging your house along. The game is mainly a platform game with a bit of hacking and slashing thrown in for good measure. But since it is aimed at the younger folks who simply need to get all the movie merchandise, the game is very forgiving. Your jumps do not have to be pixel perfect, and the action sequences can be resolved with a good few button mashing stints.

Teamwork plays an important part of the game, and a lot of puzzles can be solved with one character assisting another. When you fall into a ditch, the second character can throw down a rope. When something heavy needs to be pushed around, both characters need to chip in. Hop in and hop out co-op is a great idea in a game of this type. Parents can play with their young ones, but when the food needs to be made or the phone rings, they can hop out without stopping the little one’s fun.

PS3’s day off

Graphically the game is pretty good, but it’s clear that it was developed for a multitude of platforms. The PS2 and Wii influences are plentiful, and only a few graphical adjustments were made to the PS3 version. Considering the target audience, this is not always a bad thing. Kids do not really care about triangle count and per pixel lighting. They are too delighted in seeing their favourite characters on screen again. And the characters are lovingly recreated and instantly recognizable.

UP is also very short, even by today’s short attention span standards. Kids will breeze through this in almost the same amount of time it takes to watch the movie. At least watching the movie will make more sense as the story is much more coherent.

If you are a fan of UP or any other Pixar movies, it will be better to avoid this game. You will be disappointed and feel cheated. It’s simple, short and not so sweet. If you have kids 10 years and younger and want a wholesome game that they can enjoy, then consider this. However, there are much better games out there for both you and your offspring.

The good: The characters are instantly recognizable
The bad: Where did the monkeys and crocodiles come from?
The ugly: Multiplatform release syndrome – PS3 is wasted here

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