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On the Nintendo DS, Buena Vista Games delivers a solid adaptation of the film, even if the title is a bit long. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fundamentally solid game that does a good job of integrating the material of the film with solid gameplay. The presentation is especially impressive for a portable game.
The game’s story mirrors that of the upcoming movie, which itself is based on the book. Essentially, it centers on four siblings: Edmund, Lucy, Peter and Susan. They discover a magical land hidden inside a wardrobe. This land, called Narnia, is populated by magical creatures including minotaurs and centaurs. The game begins with Narnia under the evil rule of a queen named White Witch. There is a legend in which four children will overcome this evil witch and restore the power to the land’s fair kind, Aslan the lion.
The game is presented in an isometric viewpoint. You’re able control the four characters at some point after the introduction, although they’ll be separated at some points for story purposes. Like the console version, the different characters have special abilities. Peter is the strongest and can use regular swords, Susan is skilled with the bow and arrow, Edmund is good at melee attacks with a variety of swords, while Lucy, the youngest, can use magic to cast spells but is the weakest.
The game’s combat system is simple yet fulfilling. The characters can be selected by tapping the bottom screen, and have three options: attack, defend or heal. As you progress, you’ll gain special abilities and finishers for the characters to make combat more interesting. These upgrades help make combat more than a simple monotonous thing. You’ll also be able to level up in other ways and increase the characters’ hit points, power, dexterity and strength through virtue points that are awarded when a level up occurs. The different dungeons are made random dungeon system similar to the one included in Untold Legends for the PSP. These dungeons don’t have maps which is a bit frustrating later in the game as they get more complex. Each dungeon ends with a boss and some additional experience being gained.
The developers at Griptonite Games did take some artistic freedom with the combat system. Instead of individual health bars, the game includes one health bar for the entire team. As long as it isn’t empty, all of the characters will fight. Once it is empty, they’ll continue to fight until they’re hit. If you run out of characters, you lose. Additionally, being in the cold affects the performance of the characters. They’ll take a hit to their stats if they’re in the cold for too long. Although initially annoying, this feature adds some depth to the game and keeps things interesting.
The production values are truly impressive, especially for a portable game. The character models are reasonably good and animate well. The environments are amazing and are true to life to those found in the console versions. The dual screens of the Nintendo DS are used effectively, allowing players to quickly switch between various interfaces using the bottom touch screen. Unfortunately, the visuals aren’t perfect since there is some slowdown when a lot of characters are present onscreen.
The game’s sound is equally impressive. The musical score is very impressive for a portable game and sounds great. The sound effects are equally good, though the game doesn’t have voice acting.
The Chronicles of Narnia for DS is a solid game with an amazing presentation. The combat in the game works very well with enough new additions to keep gamers interested. Overall, this is a great effort from Griptonite Games and Buena Vista Games. -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Dec 7, 2005
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