Movie games can be incredibly hit-or-miss, so after a random re-watch of the 2004 film adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with the game version but I was sure curious.
The game is a 3-D puzzle platformer which has the Baudelaire orphans running about various environments from the films to complete objectives (usually involving unlocking doors or getting some sort of item in a hard to reach place). None of the game's puzzles or platforming challenges will give older players much trouble at all- I got stuck for maybe ten minutes at a couple of points but never got befuddled to the point of needing to look something up.
I was surprised by the genuine effort by the development team to be faithful to the movie's world and characters. Most scenarios in the game have the player searching for some objects which are then put together to create some sort of invention Violet has thought up to help the orphans overcome some obstacle. The inventions get pretty zany, from stilts that pop out from under Violet at the push of a button to propeller shoes which give Klaus a floating jump. I do wish that the objects needed for those inventions were harder to find- a lot of them are just laying around in plain sight and are the only interactive objects. Not to mention, the act of putting them together is almost insulting in its puzzle simplicity. There is really some potential here in the core design, but I suspect the developers expected their audience to be very young children and made everything as easy as possible.
Fortunately there is a decent amount of gameplay variety to mix things up, including the occasional and pretty fun 2-D platformer segment as baby Sunny, and some mindless but enjoyable on-rails shooter sections. Boss battles against Olaf's goons have the occasional interesting idea but are usually far too simple- only one memorable tangle with a snake charmer really stood out, probably because it actually took me a handful of attempts to learn his pattern. The game got Jim Carrey and the actors for Violet and Klaus to provide their voice acting talents, though it doesn't add much. Carey's lines feel dull and lifeless and many are ripped straight from the film's script.
Even for 2004, the game's textures and character models are quite ugly, which is a barrier to jump. The game takes in the ballpark of 4 hours to complete, so for a few bucks I felt like it was a worthwhile experience- a solid movie game title with a team who seemed to actually care about capturing the film's spirit and finding interesting ways to create game environments out of the plot’s locations. But at full price back in the day, I would only have recommended a purchase to only the most die-hard of fans because of its short length and lack of any real challenge.
The game is a 3-D puzzle platformer which has the Baudelaire orphans running about various environments from the films to complete objectives (usually involving unlocking doors or getting some sort of item in a hard to reach place). None of the game's puzzles or platforming challenges will give older players much trouble at all- I got stuck for maybe ten minutes at a couple of points but never got befuddled to the point of needing to look something up.
I was surprised by the genuine effort by the development team to be faithful to the movie's world and characters. Most scenarios in the game have the player searching for some objects which are then put together to create some sort of invention Violet has thought up to help the orphans overcome some obstacle. The inventions get pretty zany, from stilts that pop out from under Violet at the push of a button to propeller shoes which give Klaus a floating jump. I do wish that the objects needed for those inventions were harder to find- a lot of them are just laying around in plain sight and are the only interactive objects. Not to mention, the act of putting them together is almost insulting in its puzzle simplicity. There is really some potential here in the core design, but I suspect the developers expected their audience to be very young children and made everything as easy as possible.
Fortunately there is a decent amount of gameplay variety to mix things up, including the occasional and pretty fun 2-D platformer segment as baby Sunny, and some mindless but enjoyable on-rails shooter sections. Boss battles against Olaf's goons have the occasional interesting idea but are usually far too simple- only one memorable tangle with a snake charmer really stood out, probably because it actually took me a handful of attempts to learn his pattern. The game got Jim Carrey and the actors for Violet and Klaus to provide their voice acting talents, though it doesn't add much. Carey's lines feel dull and lifeless and many are ripped straight from the film's script.
Even for 2004, the game's textures and character models are quite ugly, which is a barrier to jump. The game takes in the ballpark of 4 hours to complete, so for a few bucks I felt like it was a worthwhile experience- a solid movie game title with a team who seemed to actually care about capturing the film's spirit and finding interesting ways to create game environments out of the plot’s locations. But at full price back in the day, I would only have recommended a purchase to only the most die-hard of fans because of its short length and lack of any real challenge.