|
When
I found out that a game (and a movie) was being made of The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, my
heart sank. There goes another of my childhood memories down the
pan. But I was a little pleasantly surprised by this title
currently in development for the Game Boy Advance (and many other
consoles).
You
begin the game playing as Lucy, although through various parts of
the game you play as different characters depending on where you
are in the plot and sometimes you control one character while the
others are on screen.
For
those of you who don’t know the plot (shame on you!) a group of
four children are sent away to live at a relatives house and on a
rainy day discover a magical land inside the wardrobe. I won’t
give away any more but from what I saw it seems to follow the
general plot of the book quite well.
The
controls are simple to master and work well with this game; new
controls are explained to you as you come across them usually by
characters you meet in the game. It doesn’t look like there is a
levelling-up system as such but different items will increase your
strength and abilities. For example, a furry coat you begin with
gives you protection +2 against the cold, which can make you go
slower and maybe decrease your health should you stay out in the
cold
land
of
Narnia
for too long.
One
of my concerns with this game was that it would lose the books
inherently English feel. My fear was dispelled, though, when Mr
Tummnus the Fawn offers you a drink and one of the replies you can
give (some responses are multiple choice) is “ooh tea would be
splendid”.
Apparently
it helps in this game if you know the story, just with what answers
to give and such like but it certainly wouldn’t hinder you if you
didn’t and indeed the title seems to tell a lot of the story
quite in-depth so you don’t miss out on what happens in the plot.
I
thought I would hate this game just because, as I said, I thought
it would ruin the story, but instead have ended up looking forward
to this. I’d just hope it would maybe inspire people who enjoyed
the game to go and read all of the enchanting Chronicles of
Narnia books which have made it into the modern day classic we
love.
|
