Earlier this month, Nickelodeon and Paramount released a video game version of the children’s movie Rango for the Wii. The story line of the game picks up sometime after the events of the film with Sheriff Rango investigating the disappearance of his friend Bean’s father. The player needs to guide Rango through a series of nine new adventures based on his tall tales about a mysterious meteor and battles with villains that range from Bad Bill and his gang to Rattlesnake Jake. Each of these tales is a chapter within the overall storyline.

The game play alternates between third-person shooter and platforming challenges combined with richly-done cut scenes. This is a kid’s game (which my six year-old loved) so the action never gets too complex and the shooter scenes are completely separated from the platforming. The shooting scenes are all fixed position and involve clearing both fixed position enemies (who attack with guns and dynamite) and moving enemies (who attack hand-to-hand). It takes a steady hand to take out some of the smaller fixed-position enemies so some of these scenes may be challenging for the ‘smaller’ gamer. Shooting targets though reveals both health and weapons upgrade power-ups so the challenges are reasonably surmountable with a little bit of patience.



The platforming scenes are likely to be a bit more challenging for a young gamer as they require some precise movements when jumping from train car to train car (a la Indiana Jones) or between cliffs and the camera can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help. This too is not insurmountable as the controls are very responsive and the ‘Continue’ feature of the game is extremely forgiving and often lets the player restart from the point where they had died.

The graphics, audio narrative and cut scenes are all impressive and the cinematic feel is sure to impress young fans of the movie. While the backdrop is predominately set in and around the town of Dirt, the game designers keep the backdrop from getting stale by adding some unusual settings which include an outer space scene and a scene where Rango goes inside a video game world. Adding to the visuals, the actor who provides the voice-overs for Rango sounds indistinguishable from Johnny Depp as he spouts off a number of humorous one-liners.

While the game action is too simplistic for older gamers, Rango should hold the interest of the younger gamer and the well-executed movie tie-in might even bring some new converts into the gaming world.

Links:
Rango The Video Game