Journey to the Center of the Earth
SCORE: 72
Journey to the Center of the Earth on the Nintendo DS follows the New Line Cinema movie of the same name. Trevor, Sean, and Hannah go on a quest to find a lost relative who had last been seen at a volcano. The player gets to easily swap between the three characters in order to solve certain puzzle elements of the game. Sean can climb certain rock walls, Hannah can throw a rope that can be used to swing across divides, and Trevor can set explosives to open certain blocked paths. The game starts out with a lot of exploration of these caves (in an intense maze). Smaller animals can be kicked, and the larger ones get a thumping from the player's pickaxe. In a lot of ways Journey to the Center of the Earth feels like a portable Tomb Raider video game.
The graphics are done in a 3D manner with a lot of grainy details. There are some fascinating colors throughout Journey to the Center of the Earth, and some rather stale ones as well. I am pretty surprised the ESRB did not include any descriptors since there is violent action in this Nintendo DS video game. Most of it can be avoided, but I found doing so may lead to a quick death by messing up a jump (when the creatures attack).
Journey to the Center of the Earth is really lacking in the sounds department. There is music that I found pretty forgettable. The player will fall off edges (a lot) hearing the “Aaaaaah” cry for a few seconds. The sound effect for pulling a character up from a ledge sounds like a frog. Certain aspects just did not make a lot of sense to me.
Journey to the Center of the Earth will give you your moneys worth in time of length of play. None of the mazes are difficult, they just take time. Certain areas are more difficult to traverse than others and the layout does not always help the player. There are a lot of fossils to find for those interested.
I applaud THQ for what they tried to do with Journey to the Center of the Earth. Unfortunately some of the areas are difficult because of the camera. The 3D layout does not always function like 3D. At times the camera would move on me, and I would have to adjust. I also had problems figuring out how to jump to certain platforms when they were not lined up perfectly. Hannah’s mini game never made much sense to me.
I think its cool that
Journey to the Center of the Earth is about finding a lost relative. The
player is part of the group that is trying to save him. This is one of
the most admirable things one can do. They are laying down their lives
for another. The violence is lighter in this Nintendo DS video game than
similar action adventure exploration video games.
- Luke
Graphics: 71%
Sound: 66%
Replay/Extras: 76%
Gameplay: 72%
Family Friendly Factor: 74%
System: Nintendo DS
Publisher: THQ
Rating: 'E' for Everyone
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