While Ratatouille - the story of a French rat who loves good eatin’ - may be winning over critics and ankle-biters alike at the movieplex, it’s a different case on your PSP. Instead of a thoroughly enjoyable adventure or a platforming nightmare, we get a game that steals ideas - good and bad - from both versions to create a rudimentary, paint-by-numbers adventure that would feel more at home six years ago.
Playing as Remy - the bipedal rat - your goal is to find stolen recipes littered throughout the sewers, restaurants and a nerdy Frenchman’s apartment. Your arsenal consists of double-jumping, swinging from coat-hangers and punching spiders to foil rival, stout Frenchman, Skinner. You can access different levels from your lair in the sewers, but only after you’ve beaten the five-or-so missions contained in each one to unlock the next.
Where the consoles featured wide-open areas that forced you to traverse most of the level to reach your goals, the PSP version uses smaller environments such as the sewers or an apartment. The sense of scale feels diminished and claustrophobic especially considering each level is just a slightly tweaked take on the level before it; go outside to find the recipe, race for the recipe, etc - making it all feel bland and repetitive.