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Many movie to game transitions unfortunately go bad. There are those few exceptions that actually turn out good. Examples of these that come to mind are Lord of the Rings (The EA series) and Spider-man 2. Bad examples are from games like the recent released Catwoman. This turns the page forward to my current review based on the short lived at the theater, and coming to DVD in December, King Arthur. This was a big budget title that did poorly despite being a “Bruckheimer” produced film. There must have been obvious hype around this film to do so well, thus having a game designed around it. Alas, the movie bombed and now KROME studios is hoping to salvage most of the damage caused by the backlash and lack of attention the film received. In many ways, they are successful, as they took a mediocre film, and made it pale in comparison to the game. Unfortunately, the stale game play, bland visuals, and poor camera angles will deem this game the same fate as its film, forgettable. The visuals in King Arthur do not please the eye, as one would hope with the wealth of information and creative moxy that could come from a tale like Arthur. What you get are scenic countrysides, crowed woodland, and typical castle atmosphere. The character models save this game from total wasteland material. Each character is thoroughly designed, look remarkably like the actors from the film, and have fluid animations for what little variety of animations is available. The camera is not controllable, letting you become the prisoner of the game’s mercy, and just to clarify, it has no mercy for the likes of you. Lastly, cut scenes from the film that put the story together top off the visual presentation. Once a portion has been told, the game quickly blends from full motion video to CG…sadly already done by EA and LOTR.
Audio is actually quite charming with well-spoken dialog and a ripping score that sounds as if it came straight from the film. In reality, it was a score specifically written for the game by Jason Graves, Rob Abernethy and Dave Adams at Rednote Audio. Each of the main actors from the film supplies their own roles with dialog, which comes off remarkably well. You can definitely feel the emotion in their voices in each performance. Accompanying the talent is a brilliantly orchestrated score that captures the mood, from the gripping battle scenes, to the peaceful serene, you will become captivated by the soundtrack as it is one of Arthur’s shining points. Game play can be summed up in one word…repetitive. When will game developers learn that hack and slash games are out. Sure the LOTR series made decent use of it, but honestly, when the Third Age was announced as an RPG, I got on my knees and thanked the gaming gods that I didn’t have to play another monotonous hack and slash, no matter how well designed. What else can I say? The A.I. does not lend a helping hand in the matter, as they are just grunts that are laid for the slaughter. This makes the game overly simplistic and after a few levels, you will become weary of the stale game play at hand. King Arthur even offers up multiplayer modes, but even with this addition, cannot save this game from the trenches of the budget bin. When I boot up a game claiming to live the story of a true legend, I expect legendary results. As far as this, film and game go hand in hand when it comes to killing a legend. I would rather watch Monty Python’s depiction of King Arthur, at least the entertainment value more than makes up for the mess that Bruckheimer did to this character. Unfortunately, KROME receives the bad end of the deal as they put hard work and money into what should have been based on a good film. In their defense, they only had so much to work with. At least we still have Ty 1 and 2 to give us remembrance of what KROME is capable of.
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