Happy Feet (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

I'm sure I've mentioned before just how many CGI movies there are this year and just when you thought it was all over, along comes another one; Happy Feet is undoubtedly this festive season's big film. Warner Brothers even invited selected members of the press (and us) to a preview in the sweltering July heat. In a nutshell the story revolves around Mumble, a young penguin born into a nation of Emperor penguins - where each needs a Heartsong to attract a soul mate. Unfortunately Mumble is the worst singer in the world... however as it happens he is a brilliant tap dancer! Whether you anticipate this as a must see or not, it's certainly causing my nieces and nephews some excitement but what's the game like?

Gameplay

Your general movie platformer usually takes the platformer route or, if the developers are feeling particularly creative it may even include a handful of mini-games that in some way link into the movie's plot. Happy Feet on the DS is none of the above and instead the whole movie is told through two types of game: rhythm and racing. Fortunately both of these have been well executed with the rhythm section in particular becoming more difficult as the game progresses. This is a 'touch screen' game where you are challenged to tap various parts of the screen at the exact moment in order to maintain the penguin's dance moves. Fail and he'll simply fall over and you'll have to start again. The race section involves you sliding on your belly at great speeds downhill either against the clock or collecting items along the way. These can both be played as multiplayer games but you are unlikely to enjoy this given that each gamer requires their own copy of the game and once you've unlocked all the levels you may revisit them to better your high score but again there is little incentive to actually revisit the game once completed.

Controls

Given that there are only two games this isn't the most difficult thing in the world to control although the racing section is definitely better suited to the more traditional control system.

Graphics

As with the GBA version the visuals really are one of the game's highlights, only the 2D engine has been replaced with a far more impressive 3D one. This is most noticeable on the well-designed downhill sections, which keep up a pretty decent frame rate given the speed you are traveling and especially when you hit one of the ice loops. This doesn't mean that the dancing penguins are not also impressive. With animation lifted directly from the movie, you almost wish that you could simply watch the penguins as they try to impress with their moves instead of having to put all that effort into controlling them.

Sound

As you'd expect with a title based around singing and dancing the audio is spectacular. It includes five sampled tracks ranging from Stevie Wonder's 'I Wish' to Brittany Murphy's rendition of 'Boogie Wonderland' and also has the DS' sound chip working overtime producing a range of incidental music. Unfortunately there's little speech from the penguins themselves but when the soundtrack is this good we can let minor details slip.

Dual screen

Not a great deal going on here unfortunately and while both the 'rhythm' and 'downhill' sections can both be controlled using the stylus it's only really essential when assisting penguin dance moves. The racing section is simply too clumsy so stick with the standard control system.

Final comments

When the DS was first unleashed on the public they were promised bigger, better handheld titles and while it's true both the sound and visuals are superior to the GBA version of Happy Feet, it seems to be at the expense of the gameplay. I use gameplay in the loosest sense of the word, as there are only really two parts to this game, which really isn't enough to tell the rather confusing story. What is there is very well executed and there's no denying the incredibly high production values on display. It's just not enough to justify the asking price

Pro: Great Audio and Motion Captured Penguins.
Con: Only Two Modes, Very Repetitive.
Final score: 5.5

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