Techotic

Nintendo DS, The Spiderwick Chronicles is clearly designed with the younger audience in mind. The controls are simple, as is, the artistic appearance at the game, the tasks easy to work your way through.

Even as an adult, it seems this game may be a little complex for its intended audience. After just a few minutes play, a set of goblins nearly always overpower the player, sending them back to the game over menu, time and time again. Perhaps children are more adept at this kind of game, but it seems far too challenging for its intended age group.

The explorative sections of the game flow, nicely. Touch screen controls allow the player to move around, click on objects, and move freely to the hints, to allow the player to go through the story line from the first Spiderwick, which was a successful recent movie, The player wanders about looking for items to unlock doorways and finding monsters to help you.

Tapping on the screen allows you to move through the woods searching for fairy spirits. These spirits assist the player by clearing the path of rocks and thorn trees, and can help in battle.

In true fairytale style the meadows and forest around Spiderwick are full of waiting goblins and ogres. When you come across these creatures, you move to a battle screen to ward off attacks in a turn-based action sequence.

Your characters named Mallory, Simon and Jared attack first, then, as many as 6 opposing fighters retaliate until a winner is found.

There seems like an obvious flaw here, as the players slide who appears to be far more likely to be defeated. There is always a lack of help, and the player is usually outnumbered by the other side who are capable of inflicting disproportionate damage. And if that wasn’t enough, if you lose a battle, which you inevitably do, most of the time, you then go back to the beginning of that section.

It is unfortunate that the battle sequences are relatively harsh, without that it would be an interesting game, pushing children to stretch their limits. Much the set dialogue is amusing, the characters background look like they are hand drawn. The background music is spooky, appropriate for the game and the audience.

The only real problem is the constant flashing back to the game over screen, which makes it just too difficult for the children it is aimed at.