Ratatouille

Ratatouille has just been released to theaters, and of course, there are the obligatory games and other merchandise released simultaneously. Ratatouille is available on most console and handheld systems, and also the PC. This review is of the NDS version.

Ratatouille the movie has been garnering rave reviews, and the consensus so far on the console versions appears to be that the console games are standard representations of platform games, that while not particularly exciting, manage to present Ratatouille in all his charm in a solid game that kids will enjoy. The DS version is also a typical platform game that we’ve all seen a million times on handhelds systems, but it, too, manages to impart a particular charm. It’s an easy game to pick up and play, it’s cute, and kids will enjoy it. It’s also extremely short, and not challenging enough for older kids and adults.

The game’s premise is very simple, Ratatouille the game basically follows the main elements of the movie, without really presenting the story behind it. Ratatouille will collect various food items and/or avoid detection from chefs and other enemies. There are eight missions, and in them will Ratatouille will have either set quotas of items to gather, or will have to avoid detection, or will cook up some food in fun cooking mini-games.

Ratatouille has lots of different moves and actions: He can wall jump, wall scramble, jump, balance, sniff, and hide. Most of the time players can accomplish these actions with ease, but the wall jumping can be a pain at times. Often players will have to keep trying over and over again to get Ratatouille all the way to the top of the wall. Other than that, the movement and jumping is pretty easy and just requires the A and B buttons. The balancing is handled particularly well and it’s funny to watch Ratatouille sway from side to side as he travels across the beams.

There are eight missions, each with various tasks, mostly involving collection quotas. Everything is easy to spot and retrieve for the most part. As this game is designed for kids, it’s all pretty easy, but it’s also too short. My 12-year-old niece was already 77% through the game after only a couple of hours of gameplay. As I’m a little “jumping” challenged at times, it was taking me a little longer, but not by much. It’s entirely possible that the kids will finish up this game in one or two days after purchase, depending on how long they spend on it at a time.

Graphically, the game is a treat and captures the charm of the movie very nicely. Ratatouille is cute and moves smoothly around the levels. The environments are drawn well, but don’t have a whole lot of objects in them, other than what needs to be collected. The music is good and not annoying. The sound effects are realistic and timely.

Besides the usual platform and collection features, there are also cooking mini-games that are pretty neat. Players will use their stylus to cut up food items and stir, and blow into the microphone to cool the food. These games are fun and help break up the gameplay a bit, but could be more varied, they’re pretty much the same. These games are also available for multiplayer and only require one cartridge, which is great, but playing the games themselves with others isn’t all that big a deal. These types of cooking games are designed more for solitary play.

The bottom line is that this is an easy-to-pick-up game for younger players, and one that is faithful to the movie. Young children will enjoy it, but older kids won’t find it challenging enough. And, for the price tag of $30, it’s entirely too short even for kids. There are only a couple days of play for the money. Best for families with lots of little kids that enjoyed the movie.

Gameplay: 6.5
The gameplay is fun enough, but not very challenging. Everything is pretty easy to understand and accomplish and kids will enjoy seeing Ratatouille run around. However, there isn’t much to this game and it is very short. More challenges and variety of gameplay would have helped.

Graphics: 7.5
The animation and environments are nice to view, and the lighting is also nice and bright. The levels are a trifle barren, though.

Sound: 7.5
The sound affects are good and fit the movie well. The music is average, but at least not annoying.

Difficulty: Easy
The gameplay is very easy, which is good for young players.

Concept: 6.0
The game doesn’t offer anything new at all, but it is well-presented.

Multiplayer: 7.0

Overall: 6.5
Ratatouille is a decent platform game based on a movie. It’s the same as most every other handheld game based on a movie. It’s better designed than a lot of them and easy to play. But, it suffers from a lack of challenge and variety, and is too short. Families with multiple young children may want to pick it up if their kids are clamoring for it, but everyone else may want to wait.