Ratatouille

If the Iron Chef competition could accept rodents, Remy would be a prime contender. He knows food better than anyone. With his skills and talent, he’s able to turn any item into the most talked about dish on the table. In Ratatouille, the console adaptation of Pixar’s hit movie, players are told to re-enact Remy’s greatest moments. You’ll visit the sewers, explore the streets of Paris, and stop Linguini from ruining a pot of soup.

Knowing that the movie’s length is just under two hours, the developers were ready to fill out the remaining moments. Hence the addition of combat (a tail-swipe attack), explosive vegetables (chili peppers), interactive chase sequences, and a coin-collecting system that turns the game into a scavenger hunt. This is common stuff for an action/adventure. Still, fans of the movie do have some reasons to proceed – and a few to run in the opposite direction.

Pixar Charm

The PlayStation 3 version of Ratatouille is essentially a port of the Xbox 360 version released in June. Did the extra development time make a difference? If you've played the game before, you won't be overwhelmed.

Remy, the brilliant chef and star of the film, more closely resembles his CG iteration on PlayStation 3 than he did on Wii or PlayStation 2. The fur textures are great. It's hard to tell if his body is comprised of individual hairs or one large clump, but it looks like the former. The artists, animators and programmers have done a terrific job of making him move like his movie star counterpart, while additional animations fit right in with the existing move set. Background details are more defined, with high-res textures and brighter colors that make the game look sharp on any screen.

The voice work hasn’t changed but its quality is still worth noting. As with the original Cars game, all of the film’s actors were a part of this project. Since Ratatouille’s game storyline is close to the movie, you won’t hear as many new lines as were featured in the Cars game (which was a continuation of the film, not a retelling of the same story). But everything sounds good. The voice-overs and quirky sound effects are improved by a mesmerizing soundtrack, courtesy of Lost and Medal of Honor composer Michael Giacchino. His past work has been very distinct and memorable and this score is no different. You will find yourself humming the title screen theme, which, like the rest of the music, appears in the film at some point.

The downside, however, is that none of these elements, no matter how stunning, are able to push the game into PlayStation 3 territory. Overall, Ratatouille looks good. But if you take out its current-gen competitors, which are far less attractive, the only action/adventure to compare it to is Ratchet & Clank. Ratchet’s rich, near-movie-quality visuals win hands down.

Infestation Plantation

Ratatouille’s gameplay is a mix of the expected and uninvited. Coins, the primary collectible in this game, work as Ratatouille’s achievement pieces. They’re obtained in two ways: by scavenging and by completing missions. Missions take many forms and range from level-integrated (ex: find a chess piece and return it to the board to unlock a coin) to level bonuses (mix ingredients with Linguini, run away from a villain, etc.).

There are also mini-games that are playable within the main quest (and once unlocked, from the main menu) for increased replayability. The objectives aren’t that surprising: collect coins, roll over bugs, etc. One has Remy scurrying up the side of a large cylinder, which will no doubt remind players of the mother of all action/adventure, Super Mario Galaxy. These mini-games are a lot like those featured in Fuzion Frenzy, so if you’re a fan of that game, this is something to look forward to.

Remy’s controls, while far from perfect, are mostly smooth. Players will be able to run around, double-jump, and climb walls and wires without any technical difficulties. However, you will have problems with the camera, which is very defiant and makes even the simplest task a chore. You’ll also have problems with the levels themselves. Not all poles, walls, ropes or wires may be climbed on or walked across. The game defines those that may be used for navigation with a faint blue highlight.

Since the highlight is hard to see, you have to get close before it’s visible, and because the game is selective in applying climbable areas, you’ll come to many that will appear to be helpful and walk away disappointed once the truth is revealed. I suppose there’s no sense in making every wall useful, but why not half of them? Why have only one path (two at best) to every pile of boxes that must be climbed? It might extend the length of certain levels (because players can’t go wherever they please), but it also sends players down a strict path.

Given that these issues are left over from the Xbox 360 edition, the PS3 version of Ratatouille is a game that diehard fans will want to check out if they haven’t already done so on another console.

Gameplay: 6.7
Ratatouille is a moderately entertaining (and exasperating!) game that could have been unforgettable.

Graphics: 7.0
The graphics look good until you compare them to other PS3 games. Then they’re barely average.

Sound: 9.0
Great voice acting, an excellent score, and fun sound effects make Ratatouille one of the better-sounding games of the year.

Difficulty: Easy
The most challenging objective: the camera!

Concept: 6.5
Pulled from the previous versions, Ratatouille doesn’t visit any new places on PS3.

Multiplayer: 6.7
A solid set of mini-games for the party game crowd.

Overall: 6.7
The technical issues that held back the previous versions were somewhat excusable during the summer. Movie games are often rushed to meet a specific release date. But this version was held until fall, giving the developers time to remove the said problems. At least, that’s how those extra months should have been spent. There must have been another reason for the delay, because the game is not much different from the Xbox 360 version.