Ratatouille review

For all the greatness of the Pixar studio, Gamestyle has always found the video game tie-ins to be disappointing. The enjoyable Monsters Inc. received little more than a poor mini-game and the Toy Story series was just a little too long ago to take advantage of the medium. Previous developers did not focus on the possibilities and instead used the distinctive characters alongside the bland generic stereotypes weve come to loath. Thankfully at last Heavy Iron Studios have succeeded where others have failed, but while they have not achieved greatness, Ratatouille is a playable and entertaining Wii title.You take the role of an actual rat, which is a first for Gamestyle, although this chap is the good guy albeit on four legs. Remy as he is know, is a rat with a taste for the finer things in life and it is this extraordinary palate that prompts his dream to become a wonderful chef. Arguably the cuisine capital of the world is Paris, so luckily its not too much of a trek along rivers and down sewers to reach the centre of the culinary universe. Teaming up with a disastrous trainee chef in a famous kitchen is far from anyones idea of a dream team, but somehow they managed to produce tasty dishes. And this is the path that you take through the game including helping your fellow rats on their adventures and making sure food is available and dangers are kept at bay.It would have been easy for Heavy Studios develop a constant platform release, or one that followed the principles seen in Cooking Mama. Instead Ratatouille features a little more than we expected. This includes good use of the Wii Remote and some entertaining obstacles to overcome, with plenty of bonus missions on the side. The environments from the film have been utilised effectively and built upon to increase the size of the Ratatouille world. Gamestyle managed to complete the main mode in around seven hours, which given the bonus content and multi-player aspects is a decent main mode offering for a licensed release. Quality not quantity is a motto we have in the Gamestyle hall and it applies to any release. Ratatouille has some interesting multi-player games and theyre not of the ilk seen in EA Playground. The bonus content is unlocked through points you earn in the main mode. While the majority of this extra stuff is images and interesting videos from Pixar, more sustainable options can be bought in the form of cheats, dream worlds and new modes.The most visible flaw with Ratatouille is the in game camera that rears its unsightly and frustrating head during the platform elements. As with most poor camera exponents, it requires supervision and adjustment. After the debut of Mario 64 it seems incredible were still seeing releases that fail to implement such a feature. Visually being a multi-format release already puts the game at a tremendous disadvantage, but despite some poor textures and resolution, Ratatouille captures the look and feel of the film remarkably well. However the earlier missions feature some dubious tactics with the river run, being nothing more than a constant stream of looped obstacles repeated until the end. Many of the levels are short and not fully realised, with a linear route made all too obvious with Remys rat sense. The sliding tunnel levels are at times just reliant on luck rather than any real ability from the player, but somehow never frustrating when you fail to reach the end. Ratatouille is one of the best-licensed releases Gamestyle has played in 2007, although looking back thats not a very difficult achievement in the context of whats gone before. On its own merits it is a steady adventure with plenty of content and modes making it an outside bet for any younger Nintendo Wii owner. Heavy Iron have no doubt played it safe within the confines of the license but against all odds managed to create an enjoyable experience.