Monsters VS Aliens PS3 & Nintendo DS
Monsters VS Aliens is the video game from the hit movie that typifies the game from movie genre, licensed game, with some interesting but too repetitive gameplay.
Ratings:
Graphics & Audio: 20/25,
Gameplay: 15/25,
Creativity 20/25,
Fun 15/25
Total: 70/100
Monsters VS Aliens can be a fun game whether you play the PlayStation 3 or Nintendo DS version but they do drag on and get a bit too repetitive. The games on both systems do follow the same story line with a pretty good graphic and audio scheme but the story is just not varied enough to make it fun for long.
The film has released and we all love those animated features that appeal to kids as well as adults but does it have to follow the movie so well. The game is fine for a few levels but after awhile they do not vary enough of the gameplay to make either version worth more than a passing rental.
Monsters VS Aliens has three characters you play as in the PS3 version and four characters you play in the Nintendo DS version; Ginormica (my name is Susan), The Missing Link, B.O.B., and Insectosaurus. Each character has its own unique talents, attacks and features like Ginormica skates around on vehicles and punches things while Insectosaurus just tramples everything.
In the PS3 version the three characters you play are Ginormica, B.O.B. and The Missing Link while the Nintendo DS version adds Insectosaurus as an additional trampling level. There is an additional co-op mode in the PS3 version that adds Dr. Cockroach as a turret shooter or other weapon controller but more on that later.
Using each character you push along in the story from the group introduction of the five Monsters to the alien invasion and the five thwarting the attack. Each level involves using one character and moving that individual to the end of the level with its own unique attacks and movements.
You start off with Ginormica after a rather long introduction in both versions and simply skate her through various obstacles using jumps, wall skating and punching obstacles while skating on cars. You move to B.O.B. who slides along and falls through grates unless you swallow something solid which brings a unique gameplay technique to movement.
B.O.B. and The Missing Link can crawl up walls but B.O.B. can crawl around on ceilings as well so most of his maneuvers are simply getting from point A to point B using a very twisted path. All the characters have some kind of fighting combat move with B.O.B. swallowing stuff and spitting it at opponents while The Missing Link simply spits on opponents using his own fluids.
Ginormica simply punches things while Insectosaurus simply runs things over as he is the largest of all the Monsters but Dr. Cockroach has no attacks, after all he’s the smart one. His portion of the PS3 game is a co-op mode where a second person uses his smarts to blow things away or use other weapons further along.
The story of the attacking alien is played out pretty much following the movie story and you simply move from one character to another through the story to finally defeat the alien. Each character has its own special attacks and features as well as its own segments of the story but the moves, story and what you do with each character is replayed after the first level.
When playing the game I found each character for the main four, not Dr. Cockroach, enjoyable to play through the first two sets of levels but after that it was wash, rinse, repeat over and over. The backgrounds would change and the main play area would be slightly different but each one was the same with no changes in anything other than the actual field.
Ginormica skates along roads, corridors, and other long areas from level to level while The Missing Link, Insectosaurus and B.O.B. all do the same things in their same environments. Dr. Cockroach just does the shooting as a second player in the PS3 version to give an additional mode to the gameplay but it does not add that much to the game other than a little extra fun.
Monsters VS Aliens is just so repetitive to make things get really boring really quickly but the game does pretty well with what it has. The game also has some very good graphics and audio with well made 3 dimensional colored background and foreground scenes and good effects.
The levels are well made but they added every possible attack and defense as well as gameplay technique in the first levels and then simply repeat them. This repetition makes the game pretty boring and that about sums up Monsters VS Aliens, too repetitive to make anything other than a onetime affair as a rental.