I was very touched by the movie Up, though it's tug at the heart message is probably more meaningful to adults than children. I was, therefore, very disappointed by THQ's lackluster video game. This is another sad example of a license being slapped on to all-too-familiar videogame forms. As with most of this ilk, the game lacks depth or precision, feeling rushed out the door as just another piece of merchandising.
The first sign of trouble came as soon as the game began. There is no set up. There is nocontextualization. Without so much as a cut scene action begins with you riding a biplane, shooting at other planes. Testers found the controls imprecise and the spoken instructions and snippets of dialogue confusing.
Much of the game is a platformer. For a young audience a strictly 2-D scroll or might have been more appropriate. Here, the action requires the user to move forward and back as well as up and down on the screen - sometimes getting stuck in the process. Players reported having difficulty figuring out puzzles, citing repetitive and misleading audio clues as more than unhelpful: downright annoying.
The best feature of the game is its two player drop in and drop out co-op gameplay. This enables mom or dad to jump into the game at any time. Unfortunately, playing alone or with your child is unlikely to be a great deal of fun for either of you
