Napoleon Dynamite: The Game Review
"I'll do whatever I feel like I want to do... Gosh!"
December 17, 2007 - That's the quote on the back of the Napoleon Dynamite game and the instruction booklet, both of which aren't the actual quote from the movie. Even if you excuse the fact that this is a game based on a movie that has long since burned through its share of social relevancy or catchphrases, there's still the fact that it's a mini-game collection.
That's not to say that there can't be good games made up of nothing but mini-games, but 7 Studios managed to not only assemble a mostly forgettable group of almost 30 bite-sized offerings, but it force fed painful wanna-be Napoleon-isms into the game. The result is a licensed title that completely misses the charm and quirkiness of the movie's well-intentioned vibe and instead defaults to regurgitating catchphrases that have long since died.
Yes you are.
The "story" in the game is delivered through a series of either text boxes with disembodied heads or jointed sprites with flip-flop arms and legs that converse dryly with each other. Rarely do they actually follow the script of the movie (and when they do, it's usually horribly out of context), but the game only loosely follows the movie anyway.
And so, after Tina, Napoleon's pet llama, escapes out into the wild, the off-kilter lead heads into town, all the while participating in "wacky" and "outrageous" mini-games. These games are broken down into chunks corresponding at least in a basic way to stuff that happens in the movie: you'll tow Kip on a bike (though not into town like the movie, but instead out of town), and participate in Rex Kwon Do (sadly, you'll get no disembodied Diedrich Bader head here). There's also whack a piñata. In the game's defense, it does incorporate quite a few moments from the movie, like a dance-off rhythm action game or the ability to defend Nessie when Japanese scientists try to blow her up. However, especially in the case of the former, it's recycled so many times that by the end you don't really care too much about winning a multi-stage dance competition.
Other concepts, like a side-scrolling shooter, are just given a face-lift and repurposed. Yeah, sure, in one you're driving a lowrider, in another you're flying on Pegasus and in another you're feeding Tina, but you're still lazily shooting at stuff. Ditto for the parts where you ride a bike and hit jumps/tow Kip/use a horse to launch over a lake. Throw in a couple of instances of using a bow and arrow or throwing a football with the same basic strength and angle gauges (the football game in particular is eerily similar to the whack-a-penguin or whack-a-student Flash games that were popular a while back), and the supposed collection of 30 or so games shrinks quite a bit.
Move busting.
Admittedly, there are a few of the mini-games that are tolerable. The Pipe Dream-like computer hacking game is decent. Assembling the time machine requires that Tetris-like shapes have to be crammed perfectly onto a gridded set of connectors, and even if it is a bit of a biter, the football game offers some nice variety thanks to the objects you can hit or pressing the X Button at the right time to keep the ball bouncing.
I realize I'm harping awfully hard about a value-priced game, and one that at least tries to embrace its inherent budget status. After all, it has visuals that look like paper cutouts all taped, paper clipped or thumb tacked together. Unfortunately, the lack of things like voice talent from the cast (there are sound clips used, but the few that are there are recycled constantly) and an overwhelming feeling that the game just missed the mark -- both in timing and in approach -- permeates the whole experience. Little things like staring at a loading screen for a few seconds just to see someone say, "great job" and, "thanks" just exacerbate things.
Closing Comments
Forget the fact that Napoleon Dynamite isn't really a hot commodity anymore. Forget that the game is budget-priced. Forget that it doesn’t even do justice to the license it's based on. The real reason why you should just forget the game in general is that it's simply not fun. There are moments where the mini-games approach mild entertainment, but you can have just as much fun -- if not more -- playing a free Flash game. Gosh.
IGN Ratings for Napoleon Dynamite: The Game (PSP)
| 3.5 | Presentation
Some of the menu options are an absolute mess, with no in-game explanation as to what the icons actually do. And why the hell is the game loading everywhere for mostly static screens? |
| 6.5 | Graphics
The paper cutouts and flip-floppy characters are quaint, but obviously they aren't pushing the PSP too hard... which makes the odd instance of slowdown all the more confusing. |
| 5.0 | Sound
How long can you stomach constantly repeating catchphrases and the same half-dozen or so lounge-sounding background tracks? |
| 4.0 | Gameplay
Most of the mini-games are mind-numbingly lame, and the ones that aren't can often be found for free online. |
| 6.5 | Lasting Appeal
There's quite a bit of extra stuff in the game, but finding all the little half-finished ideas requires that you slog through those menus. |
4.5
Poor
Napoleon Dynamite: The Game Review Yeah, it's pretty much like the best Napoleon game ever. November 13, 2007 - Licensed games have got to be the worst things to ever happen to the gaming industry. Rushed, buggy, uninspired, it's rare that a game can both capture the essence of the license and offer up some enjoyable gameplay as well. Somehow Napoleon Dynamite: The Game from developer 7 Studios avoids the pitfalls of most licensed minigame collections and delivers a product that's surprisingly polished and occasionally as inspired as the film it's based on.
The game's story is largely a rehash of the film, with some extra plot points thrown in to motivate Napoleon to wander around town, thus unlocking the game's twenty-five minigames. In typical minigame fashion, the player must complete each game (to this third difficulty level) before unlocking the next area and next batch of games. Along the way, Napoleon encounters familiar characters from the film and gets himself into wacky situations like accidentally releasing his grandmother's llama Tina.
The game has a very distinct visual style, meant to emulate the scrapbook look of the film's posters, DVD covers and Napoleon's crude classroom sketches. The game is bright and colorful and while it hardly pushes the limits of the DS, it does a nice job of capturing the spirit of the film. Some of the characters and animations are surprisingly funny, such as when Tina the llama shakes and moans each time she catches casserole in her mouth. Cutscenes use a paper doll approach, converting Napoleon and his friends into big-headed scrapbook versions of themselves. Artistically this is a very smart approach to the game, as it almost requires shoddy, rushed-looking artwork. It's as if Napoleon is designing these games in his trapper keeper with sketches and magazine cut-outs, so when a dog and a cat in one game are completely out of proportion from one another, it makes sense.
Dialogue doesn't translate as well, unfortunately. Although the writing accurately captures the voice of the film's characters, reading the word "sweet" isn't nearly as funny as hearing Napoleon utter it. Text scenes are surprisingly bland with a wrinkled text box of paper on the bottom screen and often nothing on the top screen. The game features still image cutscenes as well, but I can't help but think though how much more engaging these could have been with just a little bit of animation. Some simple, paper-doll movement of Napoleon and his peers would have greatly elevated the comedy and made these scenes worth watching, instead of skipping.
The twenty-five minigames in this collection range from rhythm games to combat, space shooters, sports and many other oldschool arcade genres. Some of the games are button control only, some touch only with most offering the option of either. With few exceptions, the control scheme in each game is kept mercifully simple, making some of these games as enjoyable as the arcade classics they take inspiration from. A pet peeve of mine in DS games is when, especially in shooters, the action and enemies span across both screens but the player is only allowed to inhabit the bottom one, usually without any rationale for this. Thankfully, most of the minigames in this collection that span across both screens offer full dual-screen mobility for the player. Sure, the player will want to keep to the bottom screen most of the time anyway, but it's always nice to have options.
The development team has to be commended on the quality of the programming in this game. Although the minigames are all pretty shallow and played for laughs, they've got very tight controls and excellent balancing. When Napoleon is flying through space on his unicorn, firing arrows and rainbow explosions at fighter jets and laser-equipped dolphins, it's a laugh but it's also one of the better space shooters to hit the DS.
That's not to say that this collection isn't without its gameplay flaws. Dodgeball for example feels a little poorly thought out. In it the player controls both Napoleon and Pedro in a game against two other students. The game ends if both Napoleon and Pedro are hit too many times. However, the player can only control one character at a time, and the other character's AI doesn't do much to dodge incoming balls. When Napoleon is dragging his toys behind the school bus in another game, the player is warned to avoid cats and dogs. Later however, cows are fine to hit while tool benches are not. A few of the games suffer from unclear components, due in large part to how eccentric the game is. These are more design issues than programming ones, however, and once the player learns a game it can be played reliably.
After each minigame, a score card lists player accuracy, points, medal earned, high score and per-round achievements. This feels a bit like overkill in a game where the player will be paying more attention to the art and characters than their leet gaming skillz, but it's all wrapped up in a single post-game screen and isn't intrusive.
Music in the game does a good job capturing the laid back feel of the movie and carries a real sweetness to it, even if there are actually very few songs here. Audio is strangely absent in some areas, such as menus and some of the cutscenes. On the plus side, the game features frequent one-liners from Napoleon and Pedro, and some surprisingly funny sound effects.
The game offers two difficulty settings: normal and hard, with hard unlocked after playing through the normal setting first. There are a few extras modes that can be unlocked by playing through the game. The player can dress characters up in unlockable costumes (it's a shame these selections don't affect the cutscenes), view their scores and medals, re-watch cutscenes and mess around with unlockable trinkets. None of these extras are very engaging, but with twenty-five enjoyable minigames in here already, this package is fairly robust. Closing Comments
7 Studios really nailed the license on this game. Although the presentation is as times a bit bland, the minigames are generally well done and capture the spirit of the film perfectly. This isn’t the best minigame collection on the DS, but it’s better than most. Diehard fans of the film will probably enjoy this collection, and gamers looking for some enjoyable, bite-sized gaming might be surprised by what they find here. IGN Ratings for Napoleon Dynamite: The Game (DS) | 5.0 | Presentation
The art style is cute, although menus and cutscenes are a little lifeless. | | 7.0 | Graphics
It could be called ugly, but it perfectly matches the spirit of the film. | | 4.5 | Sound
Sweet tunes, although a bit repetitive. Some sections are oddly silent. | | 7.5 | Gameplay
A nice selection of charming, well-programmed minigames. | | 6.0 | Lasting Appeal
The extras are somewhat lame, but the minigames are worth replaying. | 7.0
Decent | OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average) |
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