The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (DS)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.0 stars Mediocre
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 4.0 (2.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Joe Dodson
• Reviewed on: 05/22/2008
• Released on: 05/15/2008
• Originally published on GameSpot: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (DS) Review

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a light role-playing game for the Nintendo DS based on the movie of the same name. Though it employs interesting timing-based combat mechanics, its repetitive battles, short play time, bad graphics, and senseless item system combine to make a poorly paced experience that quickly goes from decent to dull. Due to its uneven difficulty and lackluster version of the Prince Caspian tale, this game cannot be recommended for children. Its repetitive nature and poor pacing will likely bore adults as well.

The game commits itself to telling the story of its source material, though it does so without gusto. You're no doubt familiar with the Pevensie children from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but you'll also be able to control more than a dozen other characters in your repetitive exploits, including Trufflehunter the badger, Reepicheep the mouse, and, of course, Prince Caspian himself. Prince Caspian fights alongside such a motley crew of forest friends because he's been forced to hide in the outlying forest. He has fled his kingdom because his uncle, King Miraz, wants him dead. Caspian's death would clear the way to the throne for Miraz's newly born son. However, Caspian escapes then meets up with a badger and a dwarf to start building an army of fantastical creatures. He inadvertently summons the Pevensie children, and they are drawn into the struggle as well. Even though the game has you flip the DS on its side to mimic the act of reading a book, the plot in Prince Caspian is delivered without style or drama.

The battle system is more interesting. At first glance, the combat scenarios resemble those found in turn-based RPGs, such as the Final Fantasy games. However, characters (friend or foe) can attack at any time, as long as their stamina bar is full. After each attack, stamina empties, and that character must wait to catch its breath before attacking again. To attack a foe, you simply point at one of your heroes with the stylus and then point at an enemy. Once you've successfully entered an attack command, you'll enter a brief minigame corresponding to one of six weapon types. With a bow user, for example, you'll draw back arrows with the stylus and shoot them at bull's-eyes; where you hit decides how much damage is done. When an enemy is about to attack, the earth beneath its feet momentarily turns orange. If you attack within this orange window, you'll cancel your enemy's turn, deplete all its stamina, and do the damage of a normal attack.

The benefit of this system is that you're forced to time your attacks, but the problem is that there's little else to do. Once you learn to preempt enemy attacks by hitting them in their orange circles, you've basically mastered the game and nearly all of the foes in it. The first half hour you spend with this system will be frustrating because the enemies won't wait for you to figure things out before attacking. For a little while after you get the hang of the game, the combat is fun. You're tracing sword slash lines, shooting arrows, and generally kicking butt. But the game and its gameplay quickly enter a deep rut never to emerge because every fight begins to feel the same.

For instance, you'll fight trolls, werewolves, minotaurs, and soldiers, but aside from a few minor details (attack strength, hit points), they are all effectively the same. Their numbers vary from fight to fight, but after a couple of hours, you will have every permutation down pat. Then, you'll start to get really bored because you'll be tired of fighting the same bad guys, yet the game will tell you to backtrack all the way through repopulated areas you just cleared.

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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (DS): $17.99 - $18.99

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RadioShack.com	$17.99	Yes

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