WALL-E Xbox 360 Review

I have to admit that I’ve played a lot of so called awful film licences over the years and have rather enjoyed them. But not so for WALL-E, a below average game (though not without its highpoints) based on the critically acclaimed Pixar film of the same name.

To start on a good note, perhaps WALL-E’s visuals are the biggest strength of the game. Much attention has been lavished in this area, resulting in a nice looking and generally smooth running game, that sadly doesn’t look as nice as the film, though to be fair game visuals haven’t quite reached that level yet. More importantly, why hasn’t such love been given to the gameplay itself?

WALL-E is best described as perhaps a 50/50 concoction of puzzling and shooting, but without the most important and succulent ingredient of any game, fun.

A typical level in WALL-E, has you controlling the titular little robot, navigating hazards and solving block puzzles, none of which are particularly taxing, which is fair enough when you consider the target audience of both the movie and the game.

Later stages see you taking charge of the much more action centric EVE (though it has to be said that WALL-E obtains a gun later on). These moments are marginally more enjoyable than the puzzle aspect, but simply can’t compete with the best action games on offer.

At times the two characters must work together. These sections are some of the most enjoyable and intense moments in the game. EVE’s laser can be fired, whilst she can pick up WALL-E to get him across gaping chasms, but it’s still not enough to make for a far better game.

Multiplayer is an entertaining enough distraction and is surprisingly rich in its options, but is ultimately a bit throwaway. There’s regular death-matches, a mode where the objective is to fly through rings and one where you must work together. But it’s all been done far better in a host of other games.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of WALL-E’s mechanics, it’s bug free as far as I could see, it looks nice enough and is easy to play. It just doesn’t have that all important fun factor and in the end that’s the very reason we all play.

4/10

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