In THQ’s Wii game Ratatouille (pronounced Rah-tah-too-ee), players control the hapless Remy as he devotes himself to his life-long dream – to become one of Paris’ most accomplished chefs, just like his idol, the late Auguste Gusteau. It follows the upcoming Pixar film, taking gamers on an exciting adventure filled with danger and fun challenges. Just don’t expect depth. While it offers several hours of enjoyment, kids will get the most out of this light hearted and easy game.

Ratatouille opens on a farm, where Remy’s lazy brother teaches him the basics of moving about and collecting things. Remy has several skills to hone, including maneuvering along fences and wires, sniffing out objectives with his sense of smell, swinging his tail to attack and using objects such as a “ratapult” or a wooden spoon. Most of these gameplay elements were yanked from previous games, such as hiding from enemies in a box (Metal Gear Solid 2), jumping from post to post (Sly Cooper), interacting in a Wii-exclusive cooking game (Cooking Mama) and swinging along poles (Prince of Persia).

That being said, developer Heavy Iron Studios blended all these gameplay pieces together into an above average playing experience. The practice of hitting the A button to jump, hitting the B button to interact with the object and then repeating the process to move to the next object may baffle inexperienced players, but after a few tries it feels like second nature. Impatient gamers can also hold down the Z button to perform a neat little dash, although Remy can trip quite easily over rocks in the street or objects in his path while doing so. Other activities come into play, including sliding down pipes and chase sequences where gamers must keep moving to avoid getting caught. The only real complaint centers around the camera, as players must hold down the C button and maneuver the Wii remote to look around, instead of using buttons.

While the visuals may not look up to par with the film, it comes very close. The animations look very good with no nasty skips in the frame rate. The “speed” effect when Remy performs a dash gives off a great impression as well. Sound-wise, the game features a relaxing mix of music, along with suitable voicework by the cast of the film. It gets repetitive, to the point that players might wonder why Patton Oswalt (Remy) thanks them so much, but it never gets irritating.

Players collect coins during the adventure, used to purchase items from Gusteau’s shop, including film clips, cheats (Remy’s jumping farts are a bit overkill, but they’ll still produce many chuckles) and a diverse bunch of mini-games and several Dreamworld levels. In these bonus stages, Remy must face numerous timed challenges through a heavenly world of food. These extras actually provide a surprising amount of replay value to Ratatouille – maybe even enough longevity to hold up until the film’s DVD release.

Overall, Ratatouille won’t astound those looking for something more original. On the other hand, it still gets by with a healthy portion of fine content, enough to be worth a rent – or a purchase to those with young kids. This rat hasn’t quite produced a prime rib, but at least the meal didn’t stink.

Originally from GameDaily