If you're a grown-up, this is not the best time to be a cinemagoer. The last couple of years have seen a rash of films about children doing battle with magical beings, and the rash is showing no signs of clearing, with
The Spiderwick Chronicles,
Harry Potter,
His Dark Materials and the
Chronicles of Narnia all competing for the attention of infantile gawpers.
CS Lewis's
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was released last year to middling acclaim, and
Prince Caspian is due to receive middling acclaim at the end of June.
Inevitably, there's a mobile game to accompany it, and publisher Disney is evidently aiming for a decent reception by eschewing the obvious route of churning out a 2D platformer and choosing instead to release a full-on adventure game.
You play as Prince Caspian, working to liberate Narnia from the despotic rule of King Miraz. To achieve this feat, you need to walk around in a quasi-3D environment, speaking with other characters, pulling levers, opening doors with keys, and that kind thing.
Hardly original, no, but better than we've come to expect from games of blockbusters. On top of the fairly unusually adventure format, Prince Caspian uses an interesting combat system. Whenever remonstration is called for, the action switches to a close-up view and lets you do the swordsmanship yourself.
Using the '2', '4', '6', and '8' keys you can soft hit, block, medium hit and hard hit respectively. It's like a stripped down arcade fighting game.
It's looking promising, at a glance, with two fairly solid gameplay elements and some nice cartoon-like graphics. Of course, you'll need to read our forthcoming review to know whether the games bears these early impressions out. Click 'Track It!' and we'll conjure up an email to alert you of our definitive verdict.
