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Ratatouille


Could use some more lessons in the kitchen

We say almost because the Wii controls feel as intuitive as playing with your feet. As gamers, we’ve been conditioned to use the right thumb stick to move the camera for years and now it’s been inconveniently mapped to C on the Nunchuck, where you’ll need to hold it and point the Remote somewhere to shift your view. It’s slow and clumsy, and to make matters worse, Z is the dash button. So, when you run, you need to alternate your left index finger between C and Z in a confusing mess that doesn’t work.

Before the gameplay becomes boring, Ratatouille serves up fresh minigames that don’t feel tacked on. Admittedly, the cooking minigames - DDR-style button mashing or correctly matching ingredients by pointing at them - are a bit lame. This last one especially because it takes nothing to gesture at the screen. The chase segments (running at the screen all Crash Bandicoot-like), tunnel sliding and even rafting down a sewer creek, feel fun and don’t outstay their welcome. Our favorite minigame on the PS2 and GameCube is the series of platforming challenges reminiscent of Mario Sunshine’s bonus stages, complete with rotating fruits and vegetables. On the Wii, it’s a hard-to-control, clunky platforming mess.

Ratatouille on the Wii sports better visuals, but only slightly. The character designs and levels are smoother and more vibrant, while it’s easy to confuse the pre-rendered and the in-game cutscenes. The difference is so slight though, that it hardly matters.


 
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The Knowledge
Ratatouille
Ratatouille

Genre: Adventure
Release date: Jun 26, 2007
Published by: THQ
Developed by: Heavy Iron Studios
6 DECENT
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