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Gamers
have always been spoilt for choice when it comes to Platform-genre
releases. It therefore comes as no surprise to see a movie tie-in
for the forthcoming Jumanji spin-off Zathura.  The
film, basically kids in space, is clearly aimed at a young audience,
and was a natural candidate for a Platform adaptation. With the
plethora of Platform games on the market across all-formats it is
rarely left up to games like Zathura to make groundbreaking
advances in the genre. Considering the game is aimed at a young
audience, it’s not looking to do anything new, or be particularly
challenging. The big question with Zathura would always be
whether or not it was to provide an adequately fun experience for
both fans of the film, and other gamers.
To
begin with, the game is painfully easy; most young children would
not struggle to complete the game well inside five hours. It is
simply quite hard to die. Health pickups are absolutely everywhere,
far more than would be required even by the poorest of players. In
addition, when attacked by large groups of enemies each kill heals
the player about half his health-bar, which makes dying something of
a feat. Not that dying is a cause for concern, there is no limit to
Continues, and the player usually respawns almost where exactly he
left off. At a couple of set-pieces it appears to be quicker to
commit suicide and respawn rather than play on. However there are
some difficulties, unfortunately all of this is provided by sloppy
programming or poor controls. The Lock-On  System is atrocious, with
the Lock-On regularly changing target at the most inopportune
moments. Irritatingly entire commands do not appear to work at all,
often leaving the player with extreme difficulty in having to find
other ways of getting past obstacles.
The
story of Zathura much like Jumanji, involves kids
finding a board-game that sucks them into another world. In this
case two brothers Danny and Walter are sucked into space, and embark
upon an archetypal Sci-Fi adventure. However it seems little
imagination has been used as far as the story-line is concerned. We
see three main worlds; one with robots and lasers, one with lava,
and finally one with giant lizards. None of this is new, and while
it may be built for children, it still seems rather patronising to
repeat the age-old formula, much like with the Xbox360’s Kameo:
Elements Of Power. The player plays as one of three
characters at the various stages; Walter, his little brother Danny,
and the Protect and Serve Robot. Whilst all of the characters are
different, none of them are overly imaginative. Each is capable of
having some form of ranged attack and a close attack. The attacks
however seem overly powerful in comparison to that of the enemies.
Whilst Danny or Walter  is capable of being hit by laser fire
multiple times, a couple of hits from Danny's hand held catapult
will destroy everything from turrets to lizards. It is also rather
comic to see Walter deflecting in-coming fire with the robot arm he
wields as his close combat weapon as if he carried a Light-Sabre.
The
animation appears initially to be reasonable if uninspiring, but
graphical errors soon become a major problem. There are Frame-Rate
issues when attacked by multiple enemies, this gets increasingly
frustrating as the game progresses. Polygon Pop-Up is also a
problem, especially during the lava-based Stages. There are also
several other problems caused by sloppy graphics; it is not uncommon
to see the characters standing on thin air a little above whatever
is below them. It is also irritating to see various limbs pass
inexplicably through solid items. Worse, and unforgivably, the
characters in places pass through solid walls or floors and are
unable to get back out, leaving the player no choice but to restart
from the last Save Point. Overall the graphics seriously harm this
game. Dated simply doesn’t do it justice, nor does sloppy: the
graphics are major problem, and are inexcusable.
The
sound is something of a mixed-bag. The music comes from the film and
creates a truly epic atmosphere, somewhat at odds with the on-screen
goings-on. The Voice Acting also seems pretty competent and is no
cause for complaint. However the rest of the sound effects seem to
be copies of every Sci-Fi film and/or game ever. They add nothing to
the game and can become rather tiresome after a short while.
Zathura
is game with major errors and with no real redeeming factors. Not
only has it been unable to bring anything new to the Platform genre,
but has also failed to do most of the basics a player would expect.
THQ’s attempts through-out 2005 may have aligned themselves
between “alright” and “good”, but with efforts such as Tak
2: The Staff Of Dreams and Nintendo's Kirby:
Power Paintbrush remaining
stable whilst pushing minimal boundaries, almost anybody paying for
this game is destined to be disappointed, and wishing the had spent
their hard earned cash elsewhere. Even kids will find the game easy
for the most-part, and will quickly bore of it. Zathura is
nothing more than a shameless cash-in and never deserved to be
published. Having approached the game with high hopes, only to have
these dashed, Zathura should rank only amongst the Hall of
Shame of worst games ever. 
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