Conclusion - don't buy
The 15 levels in Zathura offer little variety; you’ll fight only two bosses and engage in a million jumping puzzles. The combat has a steady progression but never really challenges and the graphics offer little charm to the game.
From the dull brown colour of crates and floorboards, to the murky grey colours of the techno-industrial environments, Zathura is graphically a non-event. The in-game cut scenes show promise with colourful graphics and sharp animation but, as soon as the game begins, it’s all out of the window. Zalthura prefers to wallow in the depressing dullness that shrouds the game like a blanket of smog. It’s a kid’s adventure for Christ’s sake!
Click for larger imageWalter and Danny have a few animations in their repertoire but after a few minutes of gameplay you’ll have seen them all. On a positive note the Zorgons are well animated and detailed. But why the severe change in graphical quality? The developers are obviously capable of producing decent graphics, but choose not to in favour of capitalising on the movie release. Zathura is ugly from beginning to end.
I’m at a loss to find anything within the game that may appeal to youngsters; it’s fairly frustrating and difficult at times, mainly due to bad camera angles, looks awful, has slow framerates, uninspiring gameplay and tons of glitches.
Zathura: A Space Adventure is yet another sub-standard game in a long line of dreary movie licence spin-offs. It takes the theme of the movie, which essentially is a decent story, and delivers a distinctly under-par kid’s adventure worthy of any bargain bucket. Penny pinching developers can often complete the production of games like these in relatively short periods, making Zathura another cheap guarantee to boost the company’s coffers. It’s strange that a game such as this can still slip through ‘Quality Control’.
Pros
Some script from the movie
Not as bad as Charlie & the Chocoalte Factory (also published by Take-Two)
Cons
Poor level design Bad graphics
Bad camera angles
Repetitive
Don’t spend your money on this game, go buy yourself a dozen movie tickets instead!
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