When a children’s CGI (computer-generated imagery) film is released in the theaters, there is very little doubt as to whether there will also be a video game involved as well. This year we’ve already seen titles like WALL-E on the Wii that, while not exceptional, managed to provide players with a decent gameplay experience that complemented the film nicely.
The Wii has also been host to the likes of Space Chimps, a game that didn’t appear to be entirely finished but could still be amusing to play at times. While the quality of these kinds of games can vary greatly, in the case of Igor: The Game, the acronym CGI seems to stand for complete garbage incoming.
Igor: The Game’s storyline remains consistent with that of its movie counterpart, a lowly laboratory assistant named Igor sets out to prove the worth of all Igors (name for all hunchbacked lab assistants). With the help of friends, he is able to do so by uncovering an evil plot by King Malbert and eventually saving the Kingdom of Malaria. Unfortunately, awkward and repetitive character animations during in-game cutscenes mixed with the game’s lackluster graphics guarantee that the story will fail to engage the player. That and the fact that there are absolutely no cinemas from the movie included either.
Even the original voices from the film aren’t able to salvage your interest, as there are next to no facial animations present, and you’ll be forced to hear the same phrases repeated more times than you’ll care to count. The audio, in general, is very poorly done. While you’ll get quality voice clips and some music from the film, the game’s sound effects are difficult to hear most of the time. Even when you can actually manage to hear them, they are underwhelming. There are also several times during the game where there seems to be no noise at all, leaving you playing some segments in relative silence. This is just one of many clear indicators that this game was rushed to the market to match the film’s release date.
As briefly mentioned previously, Igor’s graphics are another one of these signs. While nobody expects a Wii game to look like what can be found on a PS3 or an Xbox 360, this game is verging on being ugly for an N64 title. Besides the main characters and a few other pivotal characters in the game, there is a serious lack of detail put into everything. Most of the enemies in the game are incredibly simplistic-looking, ranging from walking brains to robot chicks. It is also often rather difficult to tell what is even attacking you, as your enemies always come in massive swarms such that they all blur together. The environments in Igor don’t fare much better, consisting of many generic-looking and mostly empty rooms and hallways. The emptiness of these environments is only further accentuated by the game’s terrible camera, which is often pulled out so far that I began to question if it was attached to a blimp that just happened to always be flying overhead.
Unfortunately, Igor’s gameplay is just as poor as its presentation. The game supports one to four players at a time, with players two through four having the ability to drop in and out whenever they like. When playing alone, you will have the choice of playing as Igor, Eva, Scamper, or Brian, with the ability to cycle between these characters with a button press.
Igor can fix cog switches, Eva can break heavier objects, Scamper can jump high and electrify switches, and Brian has a fiery projectile attack. These abilities are used to solve this game’s incredibly simplistic puzzles, if you want to call them that. A door won’t open? Look, a cog needs to be placed in this hole. An oddly colored wooden fence blocks our way? It’s a good thing Eva has one powerful arm to break it with. The “puzzles” in this game never get more complex than this.
Aside from Igor’s “puzzles,” the rest of the gameplay is made up of finding items, endlessly walking around, and combat. Finding items in the game is ridiculously simply, as they are often in plain view or in the very next room you enter. You will also find yourself traversing a ton of ground in Igor, which takes forever since the game moves so slowly you’ll think the air in Malaria has been replaced with molasses. There is no ability to run, sprint, or speed up your experience in any way, so expect leisurely walking about to constitute much of your play experience.
Combat itself is an exercise in futility for a variety of reasons. The first is that most enemies seem to take a huge amount of punishment before finally dying and often just continuously respawn anyway. The second is that with the blimp-based camera view, you can’t even tell which direction your character is facing, let alone be able to actually aim at an enemy. The third, and most crucial, reason the combat in Igor is pointless is there is absolutely no way to die. Each character has a health gauge that will deplete when they receive damage. Once your character’s gauge has been depleted, they will fall to the ground for a short period of time before just getting back up with a full health gauge. There are no lives whatsoever, so if you feel like making a sandwich while playing the game, don’t bother pausing the action; I didn’t. Nothing bad can happen. In fact, your A.I. controlled teammates may even clear out a few of your enemies by the time you come back.
From beginning to end, Igor is a perfect example of poor presentation, lousy execution, and what can happen when video games based on movies get rushed to the market to match their film’s release date. Fans of the film, or anyone planning on watching Igor for that matter, will want to steer clear of this mess, as it may manage to sully the movie for you. Even if you aren’t planning on watching Igor, I would still beseech you not to touch this game and perhaps even discourage others from doing so as well. They may not understand immediately, but if they ignore your warnings they will thank you for trying after only a few minutes of playing the game.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 1.7 Graphics
This game looks incredibly rough and lacks detail throughout. 1.3 Control
While the controls are simple, they are incredibly sluggish and unresponsive, making a bad experience worse. 1.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Some voice work and music from the film are present, but it quickly becomes aggravatingly repetitive. Also, expect to find segments in the game with absolutely no sound. 1.0
Play Value
The game is made up of seven levels full of incredibly simplistic puzzles, annoying fetch and find quests, and clunky combat, all without the ability to die. Since the game itself isn’t any fun to play either, there is absolutely no enjoyment to be had here, even for fans of the film.
1.3 Overall Rating – Avoid
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
Game Features: