In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends. Last night, I experienced something new: an extraordinary game from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the game and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine gaming is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Dev Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can game." But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now gaming at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest dev in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.

Ratatouille on GameCube was my favorite game on the sixth generation. I have so many fond memories of playing it. I’ve been craving to replay it for a while.

I was so excited to play the PS3 version since it’s included in PS Plus Premium and you can only imagine my disappointment… I got to the first chase and abandoned the game.

Will definitely get myself a copy of the superior Asobo Studios version for my Wii.

Ratatouille for Nintendo DS is a 3D platformer spiced up with touch screen cooking mini-games. The platforming aspect is decent enough, you can wall scramble by mashing the A button and wall jump by pressing B. Your objective in most levels is to find required items which involves a little bit of exploration, or the levels can be a linear (or non-linear) A to B affair. I think the level design in this game isn't as dull as it is in GBA version, I kinda enjoyed myself, but this game does have a big issue. There aren't many unique levels, so you'll find yourself playing the same levels a few times, which becomes a bit repetitive. Another issue, which is similar to GBA version, is that it's lacking in challenge. There's plenty of hazards, but the health pickups are also almost everywhere. There are also stars, with 100 earning an extra life and lives themselves can be occasionally found. By the end, I've earned more than 30 lives, and only died a single time. The only challenging part of this game is cooking. You use touch screen to draw different patterns in tap in some way to prepare ingredients, which is timed. Then you cook the dishes by stirring the cooking, then throwing some stuff in when its time. You can use a microphone to cool down the dish if its about to burn. Unlike GBA version, I have not burned a single dish. Lastly, you finish the dishes with more touch screen action. These mini-games aren't as common and serve as a nice break from 3D action. Even though I failed finishing the dish/preparing an ingredient a couple times, I didn't feel like there was any sort of punishment, I guess the only punishment is spending more time doing these, since the cooking is on a time limit. Still though, it felt more stressful than the 3D platforming, that's for sure. The graphics look pretty decent with few slowdowns, but the music is pretty much the same as in GBA version, it has that French style but I didn't think it was super special. Also, it doesn't loop properly in this version, transitioning into ambient noises. In the end, repetitive platforming does knock this game from being decent to average, but I do think it's vastly superior to Ratatouille GBA. If you wanted to play a Ratatouille videogame, this DS one wouldn't be a terrible pick, though Asobo's version is still a much better option.

I'd started this game the day I watched the movie, but I thought the game broke so I gave up on it.
The next day, I downloaded a ROM of the rare (in Europe) GameCube port, but it was in French, and while playing it I was like "...what am I doing with my life?" and turned the PS3 version back on and completed it.

The GameCube version corrupted a 64GB USB drive and the PS3 version almost lost me a decades worth of save data and other precious digital items when the hard drive got dislodged.
Obviously it's not the games fault but it's just funny that every time I tried to play this game, the systems I tried playing them on just broke.
I blame that damn rat.

Ratatouille for PS3 is a pretty decent 3D platformer game that's not dissimilar to Battle For Bikini Bottom (although it's done by the same developers). I enjoyed it, but it still had its hangups.

The game predates the DualShock 3, so the primary "cool function" of the PS3 at the time this release was the Sixaxis tilt controls, which is used annoyingly often here.
Luckily, you can switch it off, but that doesn't help much.

There's a bunch of objects you can interact with but they blend in too much with the environment, the only thing distinguishing them from other objects is a thin, glowing, blue line.
Like most thin blue lines, they don't do the job they're meant to be doing.
It needs to be more distinct because I thought my game was broken at first.

A lot of these interactable objects are also really hard to use, you basically have to spam either Jump or Interact until something happens.

The game itself features 5 "levels", each with 5 missions, plus a hub world.
There are charms in most, if not all of the places you visit throughout the game but you don't actually need to collect them all to complete the main story (I thought you had to at least grab a certain amount to progress but that's not the case).

Once you complete a set amount of missions you have a "heist" mission where you have to do a few things in a time limit (usually 10 minutes), and then you get a Crash Bandicoot style running segment where the camera is facing towards you and you have to do annoying parkour.

Those running segments are the most annoying part of the game and I'm glad I'm through with them. Some objects kill you instantly while others only remove one health point, and you can never tell which.
You can also just up and die out of the blue sometimes.

Do this stuff enough times and you complete the game.
Hidden around the game, however, are little Ratatouille icons that unlock extras.

These extras are just concept art for the movie and game, but completing the game gives you a 2-part short documentary on the making of the movie.

Overall, this game is fun on PS3 but it can be a little unforgiving at times.
I'd recommend you use an original PS3 controller (as in, a DualShock 3) for the best experience.