Up is the extremely charming Disney Pixar movie featuring an old man on an adventure of a lifetime who unwittingly takes a small wilderness explorer along with him. Up: The Video Game is based on this movie and is full of adventure. The game follows Carl Fredrickson, wilderness explorer Russell, Dug the talking dog, and Kevin, a huge exotic bird, and is really charming. For a while at least!
The game is one big adventure through the jungles of South America spearheaded by “Mr. Fredrickson” and “Russell”. Carl Fredrickson, a balloon salesman has set out on an adventure which takes his whole house up into the air by the use of hundreds of gas filled balloons. Somehow wilderness explorer Russell gets carried away with the house too, thereby kick-starting the duo’s adventure.
The house eventually touches down and both Carl and Russell can go along interacting with the environment and with each other. The game is like a pseudo-3D platformer with a lot more interesting features. Each playable character has their own unique abilities and can be used to do certain things that others cannot. Carl has a walking stick which he can use to climb higher obstacles, while Russell can be catapulted, using “naturally occurring” catapults.
Gameplay is pretty immersive for a game of this type. The game offers two player gameplay and along the way players can collect butterflies, playing as Russell and photographs, playing as Carl. The old man can also help Russell climb up over higher obstacles using his walking stick and together they can push aside objects that they wouldn’t be able to, individually.
There are also mini-game competitions in each stage or level of the game. As a wilderness explorer Carl must collect bugs that come out from under rocks, while playing as Mr. Fredrickson, players must squash the bugs with their walking stick.
Apart from just exploring the environment, there are levels in which players must navigate the South American river waters using hollow, emptied out trees, as canoes. Players can control direction and speed of their canoe and must dodge crocodiles and angry monkeys, as well as tree trunks coming right at them. These levels are really fun, but do get seriously challenging. Maneuvering around obstacles in the water while escaping a pursuing croc is one of the biggest challenges, and each time you get caught, you fall into the water and must start again from the last automatically saved checkpoint. This can get tedious.
The graphics are way above par from what you should expect with a game like this. Disney Pixar’s influence can be seen there. Normally games intended for younger audiences are not needed to be so graphically advanced. Just the kiddie theme and fun-filled plot should be enough. But the game features some really good graphics and the cut scenes are even more brilliant and cinematic in style. Graphics gets a solid 8.5 out of 10.
The environments in Up: The Video Game are constructed well, almost too well. And it makes it seem like the game is forcing you to follow a set line through, or a set pattern. Not very adventurous, we reckon. But the game being adapted from a movie, its environments get 6.8 out of 10.
Gameplay, you would think will not cut it in a game adaptation of a movie, especially an animated movie targeting a younger audience. But the gameplay is challenging enough and at the same time interspersed with funny dialogue which makes it less tedious. Even so, it does get meticulous every now and then, when you have to keep repeating sections of the game due to certain unavoidable (in certain circumstances) sequences. The canoeing/rafting is a really thrilling experience. The game even allows two players to play co-operatively which can get tricky. But in the end it is so much fun. Gameplay receives a 7.4 rating on 10. Although you would never want to play some levels again, certain levels have a great replayability value. And you can even pick out these levels quite easily. A definite plus point.
The game’s sound and music is really pleasing and puts forward everything that the movie wants to portray. The creepy and scary sounds, coming in at the right time heightens the excitement in the game, and the grunts from Mr. Fredrickson and the cute lines from Dug and Russell add to the adventure. Game sound gets a well-deserved 8 on 10.
The Final Word: Up The Video Game is very charming and loads of fun to play casually. It may not satisfy the hardcore gamer; but then what is a hardcore gamer doing playing Up? Delivering an extended experience to the movie, the game more than cuts it, if you watched the movie and just want to kick back with some casual gaming to adventure across jungle environments.
Graphics: 8.5/10.
Environments: 6.8/10.
Gameplay: 7.4/10.
Game Sound: 8.0/10.
Overall (not an average): 7.5/10.