Despicable Me: The Game Review for Nintendo Wii

System: Wii, PS2, DS	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Vicious Cycle	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: D3 Publisher	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: Jul. 6, 2010	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-2	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

The aerial-combat sections are also surprisingly hard for a kids’ game, but they’re a lot more action-packed. In one mission, you have to follow another airplane that’s filled with your minions, shooting threats out of the sky until you arrive at the boss. These scenes aren’t as inventive as the puzzle-platforming, but they break up the more intellectual sections with some good old-fashioned explosions.

Despicable Me: The Game screenshot

The multiplayer is done well enough that it will entertain small children, but it’s nothing too impressive. All four modes are set in the flying levels instead of the platforming ones. One is a simple dogfight, another is a contest to destroy your enemy’s fortress before he destroys yours, the third entails flying around to pick up minions, and the last one requires you to fly through as many rings as you can before time runs out (flying through your enemy’s rings changes them to your color).

The graphics in this game are, as we reviewers like to say, “not bad . . . for the Wii.” Despicable Me is no Super Mario Galaxy or The Conduit, and it’s certainly no Gears of War 2, but the visual style reminds us of the movie, and each level has a little bit of personality. The cutscenes are too long and not very impressive (it’s usually just someone telling you about the next mission), but they’re skippable, so no harm done.

The sound has its ups and downs. The voice acting isn’t bad, and the music and sound effects capture the spirit of the film, but Gru says obnoxious things all the time (“How could you be so terrible?”) that get old long before you’ve finished the game.

For someone who enjoyed the movie, doesn’t mind slightly difficult gaming, and is willing to put up with a few flaws, Despicable Me would be worth maybe $10㪬. Unfortunately, the asking price here is $40, so we can say without reservation that you shouldn’t drop your hard-earned money on this one -- unless you find it in the discount bin. And if there’s one good thing about movie games, it’s that you can almost always find them in the discount bin eventually.

By Robert VerBruggen
CCC Freelnace Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

3.5

Graphics
They don’t take full advantage of the Wii’s capabilities, but they look good and give a sense of personality.

3.0

Control
During the platforming sections, wonky controls for double-jumping and aiming your gun up and down can result in unnecessary deaths.

3.7

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music is good, the voice acting is great, and the sound effects capture the vibe of the movie. However, Gru makes obnoxious comments way too often while you’re playing.

2.5

Play Value
Relative to the $40 price tag, there isn’t a whole lot of game here. This would be a solid buy in the $10㪧 range, and an acceptable one at $20.

3.2

Overall Rating - Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Become Despicable Me’s mastermind, Gru, as he sets off on a series of incredible heists to obtain components for his awesome rocket.

Command an army of minions to complete puzzles and missions.

Use an arsenal of never-before-seen weapons and gadgets like shrink rays and freeze rays.

Master air combat: Fly Gru’s aircraft in daring flight missions against his nemesis, Vector.

Play as Gru or Vector in a variety of multiplayer air-combat modes.

Based on Universal Pictures’ new 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me.