The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a RPG for the DS that is based on the movie of the same name. Players will spend most of their time fighting battles, playing as various characters from the movie. There are collectables as well, but most of these are just lying around waiting to be picked up – there is not much challenge to collecting them. The battles are designed cleverly and it’s clear that the designers took some thought on how to make the battle system interesting and different. However, the actual battles aren’t all that fun or interesting. Since the battles are the main part of the game, this means that this game just doesn’t match up to the design intent.

At first glance, the battles look to be fairly easy and simple to execute. The first levels of the game spend time explaining and demonstrating how to accomplish the actual battle moves, and the accompanying mini-games that power up the weapons during the battle. The battles are fought in real-time, with varying numbers of enemies in a group, and the player’s group of three heroes. The basic moves are simple enough in theory, but awkward to execute. The player must first select a hero for the attack, then the enemy to attack. But, clicking once on a hero doesn’t seem to work, as this just highlights all the heroes with circles on their bodies. A second click is required to actually select the correct hero which will show a starry circle under his/her feet, before touching the enemy with the stylus. The manual simply says to select the hero then the enemy with the stylus, so I am not sure if I am doing something incorrectly or not. However, each time I’ve played I have to touch the heroes twice to select them.

As this is real-time, and sometimes the touch screen doesn’t seem to register the stylus touches on the enemies, this can get frustrating at times. It’s a good thing there are plenty of health items available, as often it is hard to get in the first hit. However, the game is forgiving enough with a high hit count for the hero’s attacks, and also lots of health items, that it’s still pretty easy to win. If players lose the battle, it’s back to the beginning of the level, which is where the save locations are.

After the heroes and enemies have been selected, the battle mini-game begins. These mini-games are six different types of games which involve tracing lines or aiming with the stylus. They are fun at first, but become repetitive fast. Upgrading items at the forge will result in the mini-games becoming more difficult, which increases the hit power of the attacks.

The other main aspect of the game is collecting items for either powerups or health benefits, or to take to the forge to trade for upgraded weapons. Again, this seems like a cool idea, but it doesn’t really add much to the game. Most of the items aren’t needed until a boss battle, except for the health ones. There are side quests available to undertake for some of the game characters, but they aren’t necessary and since they aren’t very entertaining, there’s not a whole lot of incentive to do them.

Each time a level is completed, a movie segment is shown. The DS has to be turned on its side to read the accompanying story. The story has illustrations, but no animations.

Besides these two main gameplay features, there is a DCGamer mode which is an online feature that lets players compare their stats from battles and wear costumes gained during the game. This is a cool feature, but it is not enough to make the game any more entertaining on its own.

This is one of those games that has some good ideas, but the actual execution isn’t quite as planned. The battle design is innovative, but it doesn’t seem to work as expected all the time, at least for me. Requiring players to touch the heroes twice to select during a real-time battle is not a good idea, especially for those of us with slow reflexes. For children, this could also be a problem. The collection aspect isn’t much fun and the items aren’t very necessary. And, the game is pretty short, too. Prince Caspian is probably better for older children who are experienced with real-time battles. Adults will probably be bored by the sameness of the battles.

Gameplay: 6.5
The game is mostly battles, which are fun to play for a while after the mechanics have been learned. However, the sameness of each battle soon whittles away at the fun aspect. The side quests aren’t very interesting, nor are they necessary, so many players will opt to skip them. The items are varied and plentiful, but again, aren’t necessary most of the time, except for boss battles.

Graphics: 7.0
The graphics are decent, but nothing very wonderful.

Sound: 7.0
The music is average but not annoying.

Difficulty: Medium
The battles aren’t very hard once the actions are learned. The game is short, and not too difficult.

Concept: 6.5
The battle design is well-thought out, but isn’t quite as fun as it first appears. The reality is less than the idea.

Overall: 6.5
This game is a good representation of this type of casual puzzle game. The theme is fun and the puzzles are entertaining. While there isn’t anything really new or different, the overall package is fun and is a good choice for family fun.