Megamind places you in a world where the unthinkable has happened: the villain has become the hero. The problem, however, is that the most interesting part of that story is developed in the movie and the game is far removed from it. The tagline for the game is “Bad, Blue, Brilliant.” Well, at least one of those descriptions is right.
The game takes place in the same universe as the film, although chronologically after the movie has ended. That small piece of information is important, as, if you have seen the film, the first thing you notice is that the two worlds don’t blend together at all. While a carefully crafted CGI intro would have been a nice touch, fans are treated to still images set to voices as they are lead in to their first mission. The rendition of Metro City is extremely poor, with sub par graphics, screen-tearing and choppy camera angles throughout the adventure.
Gameplay is a mixed-bag that barely changes. At times, the game flirts with a top down presentation, and a few side-scrolling elements which breaks the adventure up a bit. But, it seemed that these may have been ideas that were never fully realized.
This is a button masher – after a few minutes of playing, you will be hitting the same buttons again and again yielding mostly the same results. While you will level up, and obtain different weapons in your Blaster Arsenal, none of the them are inspiring or enjoyable — you simply get to destroy the same enemies quicker. AI is extremely poor and clearing levels takes little to no effort at all. Boss battles are relatively standard fare, and don’t require much planning to defeat which is disappointing. There is virtually no replay value once you have completed the game.
The one area that Megamind does well is in the execution of the main character. Megamind is the only truly believable and well-articulated character in the game. Granted, his character model won’t win any awards, but his comments, mannerisms and movements are wholly recognizable. Even though several other characters from the Megamind universe are present, such as Roxanne, the level of detail just isn’t there which takes away from the connection to the film, which, after all, is the reason you’ve considered the game.
If you enjoyed the movie then you are better off watching it again or buying it on Blu-ray. The PSP has had many excellent titles this year… Megamind: The Blue Defender isn’t one of them.
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
+ Experimentation in gameplay – Extremely repetitive – Poor connection to source material |
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