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Summer blockbuster season is well and truly underway, hotly pursued by the perennial flock of movie-tie in video games. So far we’ve been completely under whelmed by Iron Man and borderline insulted by the less-than-incredible-Incredible Hulk, both of which showed all the traits of rushed, bodged software design and lazy implementation. Hopes for WALL-E, as you can imagine, were pretty low.

A quick overview for those who haven’t been to the cinema or bought a dodgy copy of the film from a bloke in the pub- WALL-E is a robot (looking like the bastard offspring of Johnny 5 and a toaster) who crushes rubbish into cubes (using his helpful chest cavity crushing equipment), and lives all alone on earth after people abandoned the planet due to too much pollution. How very topical. THQ have assumed that you know all this, having seen and enjoyed the film, and proceed to follow the course of least resistance: Animated Film to Platform Game, in as few moves as possible.

Things actually start fairly well, in a slightly-better-than-rock-bottom expectations kind of way. Graphics on the X360 are fair (allowing for some patchy animation and rubbish particle effects) and the characters certainly look and sound the part. However, within minutes of taking control any vaguely experienced gamer will have a fair indication of what is to come- (sub)standard linear platform gaming scattered with a few child-friendly challenges along the straight-ahead-only route. These challenges comprise mostly of carrying and throwing the cubes of rubbish that WALL-E compacts in his crusher, and a variety of materials can be crushed to create these; heavy metals can weigh down scales, and radioactively charged rubbish recharges power points, for example. It’s a vaguely reasonable idea that is never fully expanded, and never progresses beyond this game’s equivalent of finding a key to unlock the path onwards. It’s also a shame that WALL-E is only every able to collect pre-determined piles of rubbish- on earth at least, the game world is almost exclusively comprised of mounds of detritus which cannot be interacted with, and it’s disappointing to have to hunt down a rubbish dispenser when you’re surrounded by likely-looking piles of junk. 

WALL-E’s levels are basic-but-bearable, but on a couple of occasions the player is forced into the lozenge-shaped sarcophagus of EVE, the blue eyed plant-hunting love interest of the movie. These sections involve copious free-flying exploration and a little bit of shooting, completely hamstrung for a proportion of players by a simple design flaw- on the review code at least, controls are permanently inverted. I for one am completely lost when it comes to up-is-down/down-is-up control schemes, and had to endure EVE’s offerings with teeth gritted, although those who prefer this set-up (freaks!) may find them more enjoyable. In line with WALL-E’s sections, EVE only introduces the bear minimum in terms of new ideas and clever design, content to revisit oft-repeated tasks including checkpoints, hunting down certain items and time trials.

In keeping with the recycling theme, longevity is attempted via collectable tokens (in this case obscurely named ‘wallops’), another in the long list of clichés and second-hand inspiration displayed. This is unlikely to be a game that lingers in the disk tray beyond a single play-through, however, and the rewards for collecting more hidden items (concept art etc) are unlikely to tempt any but the most anally retentive completist. In fact, take away the 3D graphics and hi-definition wrappings and the gaming content is pretty consistent with that of movie tie-in from the Megadrive / SNES era, hardly a glowing recommendation 15 years on…

Of course, as a 27 year old gamer none of this matters, for THQ are not aiming at my wallet- they know that their sales will largely be made up of pocket money purchases for the under 12’s and parents vainly hoping to keep their offspring quiet for a small proportion of the summer holidays. To this end, I suppose WALL-E is more successful, as the majority of criticisms revolve around a lack of originality and flaws in presentation rather than any fundamental game-breaking disasters. As a simple platform game WALL-E is mostly serviceable, and retains enough of the charm from the movie (including welcome appearances by WALL-E’s pet cockroach) to satisfy younger, less cynical fans. WALL-E is not a total disaster, just far too familiar to demand anything more than faint praise.

Score: 5/10

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