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Journey to the Center of the Earth Review for the Nintendo DS (NDS)

Journey to the Center of the Earth Review for the Nintendo DS (NDS)

Journey to the Center of…

One of the biggest blockbusters of the summer, and the game’s only being released on one system. Journey to the Center of the Earth will only be available for the DS. The shame of that is the game actually might have shown some improvement if developed for a console system. The gameplay is too ambitious for the DS; the seams show.

Journey to the Center of the Earth screenshot

The controls lack finesse, the production values are very low in some areas such as audio, and there are gameplay mechanic flaws that make it very frustrating to play. You would think the developers responsible for Tomb Raider would be able to perfectly capture the essence of such a cavern-exploring adventure game, but instead it seems like this game just crawled out from a cave.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Journey as it will referred to from now on), is based on the movie of the same name, which is based on the 1959 movie of the same name, which was based on the novel of the same name written by Jules Verne in 1864. The story has inspired many TV series, cartoons, and sci-fi spinoffs including video games. Presented for the first time in 3D, the movie does the story justice with incredible action sequences, which could only have been hinted at in print or in cartoons. The game does little in regard to relating the story. The brief cutscenes give us an outline of the plot development, but no more so than what you would expect from a Mario game. There is no in-game dialogue, but there are plenty of annoying grunts, groans, and death yells – and you’ll get your fill of those audio treats in short time.

Journey to the Center of the Earth screenshot

Trevor is the story’s protagonist. He’s on an expedition to find his brother, who is missing after researching a mysterious volcano in Iceland. He assembles a team and descends into one of the craters to embark on an adventure of a lifetime. Filled with a labyrinth of passageways that lead through the Earth’s interior, the team not only has to traverse treacherous terrain but also fend off a variety of dangerous creatures such as dinosaurs. Trevor is joined by his nephew and Hannah, who is a skilled spelunker (cave-exploring enthusiast). She’s also a girl, if that makes any difference. Actually all three characters have something different to offer and can be switched during play. Trevor is strong and is best suited for moving heavy objects and swinging his machete around. Hannah is good at climbing and throwing ropes across chasms. Sean, the nephew, comes armed with explosives.

There is no shortage of gameplay elements. Characters are intended to explore, climb, jump, swim, fight, collect, ride in vehicles, and solve puzzles. Unfortunately, not all these elements are polished. The characters are not easy to control thanks in part to the D-pad that just isn’t designed for platforming. The stylus is used for some activities such as climbing. It works fine; you point out the pathway by tapping above the character’s hands to direct them to a safe and sturdy ledge. Jumping is another story, and there’s a lot of it in this game. You often don’t seem to get enough room to make a running leap to have enough momentum to reach the other side. Fortunately, the characters automatically grab the ledge and pull themselves to safety, but not all the time. You have to be very precise on some of these take-offs and landings, making it difficult to create any sort of rhythm when jumping over multiple platforms like a series of rocks in a lake of lava.

Journey to the Center of the Earth screenshot

Another big problem is the fixed camera angle. There is a lot of backtracking involved in this game, unnecessary backtracking I might add, but more on that later. When you actually have to turn around and make a jump in the opposite direction, the camera does not anticipate your about-face and consequently does not give you the necessary visual screen space to see in the direction that you’re pointed. So, that first jump is a leap of faith, unless you can remember exactly where the last platform was. Good luck.

Journey to the Center of the Earth screenshot

Checkpoints are not exactly plentiful but there are enough of them in each level to ensure you can make progress while negotiating the leaps of faith and trial-and-error gameplay. A compass is included to help guide you, but it must be adversely affected by the magnetic core of the Earth’s interior because it seldom points you in the right direction; this game takes exploring literally. There are many different paths that one can take when you arrive at a junction. Your direction is never entirely clear and getting lost is a common occurrence. Nor is it clear as to what your objective is. In one level, I discovered my objective near the end, which caused me to backtrack to the beginning. Not cool.

An archeological kit allows you to discover various items through excavation. You will dig or hammer at a certain spot by tapping the screen in an attempt to unearth various treasures such as gold or fossilized dinosaur bones. Care must be taken to extract fossils. Various sized brushes are required to clear the rock and dirt away to free the artifact and keep it from getting damaged by the hammer or shovel. It’s a repetitive gameplay element that breaks up the pace. You won’t have to worry about breaking dinosaur bones that are attached to live dinosaurs. Large and small prehistoric creatures will attack you. You can kick the small ones out of the way, but the larger ones will require the use of weapons such as the shovel or machete. The weapons respond instantly, but getting the character in the proper position when attacking can be painfully difficult.

Graphically, the environments are impressive. They are large and fully realized in 3D with a decent draw distance, except when you face in the opposite direction. The characters are another story. They are lifeless both in facial features and animation. They don’t look anything like their movie counterparts, nor do they sound like them. The voice acting is incredibly weak and the sound effects consist of an embarrassingly annoying array of grunts and yelps. It’s a continuous cacophony of guttural utterances. The music is good but it’s looped. It’s best to turn the sound off; better to turn the game off; best not to consider the game at all.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.2 Graphics
Good environments, large and colorful. Characters are bland. 2.0 Control
Awkward control system hinders gameplay. You just can’t get the “jump” on it. 2.1 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Music is good but looped. Sound effects and voiceovers are incredibly weak and annoying. 2.2

Play Value
Some elements of the game are playable but not all. Overall, it’s too inconsistent.

2.1 Overall Rating – Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Relive the excitement of the summer blockbuster, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, based on the classic book by Jules Verne!
  • Trapped in a mysterious cave, play as Trevor, Sean, or Hannah to explore exotic worlds, navigate through rock slides, ride a runaway mine cart, surf a raging river, and encounter terrifying creatures as they find a passageway to the earth’s surface.
  • Three Playable characters: Trevor, Sean, and Hannah, each with unique abilities.
  • Players will be able to swim, surf, fall, climb, and jump their way through thrilling levels.
  • Utilize the stylus to control the characters to swing on ropes, battle creatures, and to race away from danger.
  • Explore all of the different worlds from the movie.
  • Mini-games: dig for dinosaur bones or decipher ancient symbols.

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