Another excuse for a movie-based videogame hits shelves, this time ready to take advantage of the consumer’s nostalgia.
Grease (Wii)
[starreview]
Developer: 505 Games
Release Date: August 27th, 2010
ESRB: E10+
Movie games. They usually fail, and there have been few times when there has been one that has kept you hooked. When the movie Grease was released in 1978, it took the musical world by storm, and there’s no reason it wouldn’t; it had memorable characters, gave society a dose of nostalgia, and had great tunes. Did they have to make a videogame out of it? No, they really didn’t, a pack with tunes from the musical for currently successful karaoke games such as LIPS or Singstar would have sufficed, but no. When something makes more money than expected, companies are then expected to milk the cash cow. This milk from the cash cow then is sealed, boxed, and sent to my home to review (courtesy of 505 games).
One of the first things you’ll notice when you look at the box of the game is that A) The characters are cartoons and B) it says “The Official Video Game”. How would this affect the gameplay and storyline? Well, for one thing, you won’t get some half-assed storyline that tries to go beyond-the-game, which is always a great thing. However, in the process of maintaining the storyline, they manage to confuse me as well, with little flaws of the storyline. For example, why is Rizzo’s hair blonde, or is that just Sandy making fun of herself in “Sandra Dee”? If you like the movie, you’ll enjoy the story like I did. If you didn’t see the movie, they present it nicely with brief descriptions and clip montages before each level, to make sure you’re not completely lost. However, the storyline is unbearably short, only taking under an hour: but I suppose that’s what you get when you make a game off of a musical.
As for the gameplay, it’s just a series of minigames. Unfortunately, the box and presentation makes it seem like so much more; the inclusion of balance boards (which I didn’t get the opportunity to play with), usb microphones, and multiple players fool the consumer into thinking that this is the ultimate party game. The truth is, you’d be better off buying any other multiplayer game and playing that. There’s no real singing, which was the main frustration I had with this game; it’s more of a karaoke/dance game…why? It’s a musical, so wouldn’t you think they would make an effort to at least stay true to what you think when you hear Grease? If you’re still not frustrated about that, the minigames are really not fun. They don’t vary too much, with most of them requiring players to fling the Wii remote in different directions, and others to do tasks and dances.
Your moves are not received correctly half the time, which can make the game frustrating. You also choose a character which becomes extremely pointless due to the fact that you still play the character the level is based on, so it would only make real sense in the game’s multiplayer mode. I’ll give them props for letting you play with up to 8 people, but it still seems flat-sided, having players play through levels in the storymode and with songs/characters they’ve unlocked along the way.
The graphics are not fun nor entertaining at all, and have some huge flaws in them. First off, why don’t their lips actually move along with the songs? Right off the bat this caught my attention, and it just looks ridiculous. The graphics are nothing up to par, and some of the characters don’t even resemble their movie counterparts, which brings up the question: why?
The music is great, but that’s only because that it has songs from Grease, and that’s in my top 5 musicals list. If I had to include other sound effects throughout the game, then I’d also like to give recognition where it’s due: the main menu sounds to “Summer Nights” while you scroll is great, and made me smile at least. However, if you think about the other sound effects, they are really sub-par, even for a cartoon mini-game frenzy. Also, the lyrics displayed on the screen are censored in awkward ways, especially for an E10+ game…why is this? I haven’t gotten a weirder look than I did when my little brother read “it’s a p*ssy wagon”. I’m against censoring, but if you’re not going to give it the rating it should have, at least cut out the entire word and/or replace it.
Grease manages to provide mediocre party fun, but you’d be better off renting the movie and singing along with your friends. Now, there are some features I didn’t have the opportunity to try (mainly the balance board compatibility), but I don’t see how that could make the game any better and less frustrating than it already is.
