Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

It seems like many of the computer animated movies that came out this year had some kind of animal in it.  This year produced Flushed Away, The Wild, Happy Feet, as well as Over the Hedge.  Not surprisingly, most of these have a game associated with it, and Over the Hedge was no exception.  While some games are released with the movie, Activision has released a sequel to its original Over the Hedge game with the DVD release.  The new game lets you find out how Hammy Goes Nuts.

In Hammy Goes Nuts (HGN), the cable for the TV has gone out so the critters can’t watch any of the local TV stations.  You follow Hammy the squirrel and his forest friends as he gathers junk food and fix the satellite dishes for the TV.  Does HGN actually make an interesting puzzler, or does the gameplay fall flat?

The main characters are all rendered in 3D.  While the characters are blocky, the action is far enough away that they aren’t too bad.  The textures of the characters do look good, even when you see them close up during the cut scenes.  The low polygon count really shows during these portions of the game though.  The animations for the characters could use a few more frames.  While you get an idea of what is going on, they could be a tad bit smoother.

The backgrounds in the game are bright but very plain.  While the characters are in 3D, most of the background is in 2D.  Certain objects can be interacted with, which will be 3D objects.  Other objects like chairs and tables are just drawn in and can’t be interacted with.  There will be areas that you think that you can get to, but you can’t.  The 3D objects stick out like a sore thumb against the 2D backgrounds.

If anyone who saw the movie remembered just one character, it’s Hammy.  Part of his charm was his voice that went with his wild antics.  It sounded as nutty as he was.  Sadly, there isn’t any kind of voice acting within the game at all.  With the amount of space available on the DS cartridge, this is disappointing.  Even a small number of clips would have been better than nothing.

The music is jovial during the game, but it gets repetitive very quickly.  It loops so much that it is almost hypnotic to the point where it’s easy to fall asleep.  While the music is different while in the game and during the cut scenes, that’s the only difference you’ll notice.

The controls for HGN are completely driven by the stylus.  You touch the screen to move to an area.  You touch objects like switches and trash bins to interact with them.  If you have an item, you tap on the item to let go of it.

While the controls are simple, sometimes they are frustrating.  It doesn’t feel like the touch-screen doesn’t register the exact place where you touch the stylus.  When you want to get rid of an item it’s sometimes difficult to touch the item because of how the character is facing.  These issues occurred several times while playing the game.

Every level is based on a specific channel to repair.  Each level has an elaborate plan laid out to fix the satellite that broke.  A plan is laid out and the critters head off to the area to put the plan into motion.

The top screen shows the overall map of the level.  It shows where Hammy and the other critters are on the map, as well as the areas that you need to complete the objectives.  Sometimes you need to grab an item and bring it to another place.  For instance, in one area you need to grab a glue bottle and then use the glue to fix a shovel.  In another instance, you need to gather pieces of a rock star costume and then use that to fool a Rock Star Scanner.

Once you complete the challenges for the level, you exit the level and head back to the forest.  Hammy gets to watch traps set for Dwayne the exterminator.  That is your reward for completing each mission.  You watch Dwayne come onto the screen and move to a certain point.  Once he gets to that point you press a button on the touch screen and POW!

The biggest issue with the game is that it holds your hand the entire way through the game.  The exclamation points on the top-screen mini-map help you know where on the map you need to go.  The items in the objectives list must be completed in order.  There isn’t any flexibility and gives you a lack of feeling like you are exploring the area.  The maps are very small too, so it doesn’t take very long to cover the entire area.

Also, the characters occasionally seem to get stuck at times.  Sometimes you feel like the character should be able to go to certain areas, but apparently they can’t.  The path finding sometimes doesn’t work very well either.  Sometimes it was easier to control Hammy by keeping the stylus close to Hammy and just keep the stylus down on the touch screen, moving it the direction you want to move Hammy.

HGN is so short that most adults could finish it for a couple of hours.  While it might take longer for kids to play it, it will probably only take them a few sittings to complete it.  It is nice that the game controls so easily so that parents don’t have to constantly be watching over their kids.  Still, it’s a bit too short to really justify the purchase. While there have been some glimmers of hope in the quality of licensed games, the reality is that these games are usually a quick cash in.  Kids who were fans of the movie will probably enjoy Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts.  If you’re older than ten and not a fan of the movie, this is an easy pass.

Gaming Trend Score

46

1. Graphics: 48
2. Audio: 36
3. Controls: 64
4. Gameplay: 40
5. Value/Replay: 46
6. OVERALL:46