Buckle up folks, it’s movie-based videogame time again. Yes, this is a port, and not only that but a port of a kid’s movie, a kid’s movie that is itself a port of a kid’s book. As dire as that may sound, things here actually aren’t all that bad. They’re not always that great, though, either.

Not Those Robinsons

Mention of the name Robinsons might bring to your mind pictures of another family-oriented Disney property, Swiss Family Robinson. But, where that story involved shipwrecks, tigers, and treehouses, this one is about time machines, T-rexes, and crazy gadgets. Here you play the role of Wilbur Robinson, son of inventor Lewis Robinson. Lewis has a number of inventions to his credit, perhaps the most important, at least in the scope of this game, being a time machine.

After a rather lengthy series of tedious fetch missions you as Wilbur inadvertently manage to get your father’s time machine stolen by a mysterious man in a black bowler cap (known quite cunningly as the Bowler Hat Guy). After that the intrigue begins as you steal a second time machine and start racing around through the ages trying to retrieve the first.

Through the course of the game you’ll visit a number of different times, from ancient Egypt to a few different versions of the (generally) utopian future, with a number of stops in the middle, like visiting to the young Lewis Robinson. As the game ping-pongs around it intersects with the storyline of the movie, but it doesn’t directly follow it, resulting in a title that actually complements the film without just copying it. However, fresh content can’t save this game from its biggest problem: tedium.

Repetition is the Key to Boredom

Your first introduction to Meet the Robinsons the game will be a fast-paced jaunt through a crumbling Egyptian tomb, fleeing for your life as everything falls down around you. As it’s the first level it’s terribly easy, but at least it’s somewhat exciting and will make you think that far more exciting things are bound to be coming your way soon. Sadly, it’s all rather misleading, as your next mission is taking out the trash.

Now, you’d think that, while boring, it would at least be over soon. Unfortunately that’s not the case either, as the simple task of getting the garage door open turns into a nearly hour-long series of fetch quests that will have you running all around the Robinson manor looking for everything from escaped aliens to Grandpa’s missing dentures (stolen by singing frogs, naturally). Even this can be excused as a sort of prolonged tutorial as you meet the important people in the game and collect the primary Ratchet & Clank style gadgets that will make up your arsenal. However, the boring tasks don’t stop here.

Much of the rest of the game is slow paced and full of generally tedious puzzles and challenges. You’ll often find yourself covering the same ground multiple times as objective send you back-tracking to where you’ve already been, or soldiering onward to a new area that looks an awful lot like one you just left. Thankfully, those gadgets you collected in the beginning of the game do make for some interesting gameplay despite the tedious objectives. One, a disassembler, breaks objects you’ll find in the levels into component parts that can then be fed into a machine, along with a blueprint, to create powerups and the like.

Another, a Chargeball glove, enables you to shoot balls of electricity, energizing and activating items while also serving as your main attack. Finally, there’s a scanner that, like in Metroid Prime, tells you all about a certain object. Scanning enough things will open up a slew of unlockables like action heroes, concept art, and more blueprints for building new goodies. The game itself, despite being suitably easy for younger gamers, provides a reasonably lengthy main quest, but someone dedicated enough to want to unlock everything will surely find dozens and dozens of hours of gameplay here.

Look of Disney

As you would expect, the game takes its stylistic queues from the CG movie, sharing its overall look and sound. Voiceover work is provided by the film’s actors for the most part, which sounds good, but unfortunately it’s all accompanied by what amounts to a very repetitive soundtrack that will grate on your nerves in short order. Many audio effects, too, just sound weak and generic.

On the graphics side things are very good for the most part, with massive environments that look straight out of the film. As you explore the massive Robinson homestead you’ll find everything from Wilbur’s room full of toys to a back garden that features a Super Monkey Ball-style rolling obstacle course. Obviously these areas are sometimes lacking in detail when compared to their CG big-screen counterparts, but on the whole this is a good looking game full of good looking and well animated characters.

Film Fans Need Apply

Disney’s Meet the Robinsons, with its solid look and feel, succeeds in being lot better than 95% of the film-based games you’re liable to play. However, it still doesn’t stand up to the better action/platformers out there, primarily due to objectives and levels that too often drag on to tedium. It’s a solid game and, with plenty of unlockables, it has the potential to be a rather long one too. Most who aren’t serious fans of the film, however, will get tired of this one before the credits roll.

Article by: Tim Stevens