(andPOP) - Never before in the history of video games has the monotony of being an insect been replicated as effectively as it has been done in The Bee Movie Game. Even Will Wrights 1991 classic Sim Ant (the only insect game I could think of off the top of my head) is able to provide gamers with even the most fundamental of game play elements which make a game fun as well as challenging; just a few of the things The Bee Movie Game is not.
The Bee Movie Game does have one thing that Sim Ant does not; the ability to force the player to ask themselves some pretty philosophical questions. Questions such as: Is a game still a game if it isn’t fun? At which point does one draw the line from supposed entertainment to self inflicted torture of the utmost cruel and unusual nature? While The Entertainment Software Rating Board gave The Bee Movie Game an “E for Everyone” rating, I think it deserves more of an “E 10+” rating: Everyone 10 and up should stay away from this game.
That, I suppose, is the game’s greatest downfall: it caters to too young an audience. This is most evident in what I feel is one of, if not the most important aspect of any video game, the dialogue and story. The guys at DreamWorks have brought us classics such as Shrek and Madagascar (to name a few) which are able to entertain both children and adults alike by seamlessly offering something for both audiences. The studios behind The Bee Movie Game should have followed DreamWorks example and offered a little bit of something for everyone. Instead the dialogue between characters is either dry or unbelievably cheesy and almost every attempt at comedy is an enormous failure.
A perfect example of this failure in funny is during the cut scenes which occur at the beginning of every story mission. The reporter will often begin by asking Barry a question, usually one that relates to his movie adventure that the player then plays through, which he will then answer only to have the reporter make some silly comment on, or just wildly go off on a tangent. On multiple occasions I was left with that feeling that you get when someone around you says something awkward and you can only look down because you don’t know how to react and you just want it to be over with. Now that I think about it, that’s how I felt during most of the time I spent with the game.
The problem with The Bee Movie Game is that it really is as boring as I am making it out to be. The root of the problem is the game’s mission structure. After completing a story mission, the player is forced to play a variety of mini games (jobs) to unlock the next mission. This is possibly the least amusing aspect of the game. It’d be easy to applaud the developers on the variety of mini games available to the player for him to choose from, but to do so would be like applauding a government that allows convicts on death row to choose how they would like to be executed. Death by boredom induced by playing The Bee Movie Game anyone?
The mini games are seldom challenging to begin with, and often fail to become more difficult as the game progresses. Instead the player just does more of the assigned task. Repair five cars instead of four. Collect fifteen tanks of honey instead of ten. This is the case with almost every mini game that you have to complete in New Hive City. As a reward, Honex (the only employer in New Hive City) will reward you with honey drops which serve as the game’s currency.
Unfortunately, all the items which are available to purchase do not give the player any added bonus what so ever, the items are only aesthetic changes like clothes and cars. A player can go through the entire game without purchasing a single item. This only adds to the unrewarding experience that is completing jobs which become long and time consuming as you progress.
I had the benefit of playing The Bee Movie Game on the Xbox 360 which made the prospect of an achievement almost worth the pain and suffering which I was subjected to. Ironically, once the player has completed enough jobs and unlocked the next story mission the player feels relieved that he or she can finally do something a little different only to remember that the story missions are almost as repetitive and boring as the mini games they were just playing.
There are roughly six or seven different things to do during story missions, and each story mission is usually a mixture of two or three of those things. Story missions don’t usually increase in difficulty either as the player progresses through the game. He or she is simply forced to do more of it. Kill more wasps, travel further in the rain, pollinate more flowers etc. As a result the story missions also become repetitive and to make matters worse, the use of quick time events (pressing the button displayed on the screen or face the consequences) removed the need for even the slightest degree of skill during any kind of encounter.
The mini games at least had a time limit or some sort of element that the player had to contend against which could potentially lead to failure. Barry B. Benson it would seem is invincible, with players having to go out of their way to fail. There is no indication of your status and should you fail to press the correct button in time, the worse thing that could happen is that you have to restart the encounter (which are typically very short) with virtually no penalty.
Moderately amusing were the dog fight with the hornets and wasps. But even then the game play suffered due to over simplifying. The player could simply hold down the lock-on button and shoot anything that was in range and would never miss. Again, Barry is nearly impervious to attacks and is able to survive a barrage of attacks from enemies. The ability to perform basic aerial manoeuvres like barrel rolls or loop-de-loops are more of a novelty since there is typically no need to use them.
When you’re bored from the mini games and bored from the main storyline you have to option to be bored by just being in New Hive City. Aesthetically speaking, New Hive City is just like the rest of The Bee Movie Game: colourful, but otherwise unremarkable. While the player is given the ability to hover while in New Hive City, Barry is unable to fly. Instead, like all the other bees, Barry’s preferred mode of transportation is a car.
New Hive City is full of the same four or five models of car, any of which the player can freely hop into. The same can be said about the bees that inhabit the city. There are plenty of them but they are all very generic looking and the player is never given a reason to interact with any of them. For a metropolis, New Hive City feels awfully abandoned. Nevertheless, the player is free to explore the city to his hearts content while not on a job which can serve as a pleasant and sometimes required distraction.
With the exception of the excellent voice acting, there is nothing redeeming or unique about this game. You may think that because I am not part of the target audience, I am biased and will naturally not appreciate the game. That is not the case, as a journalist it is my job to remain unbiased. I believe, that to have developers create sub standard products and call them acceptable simply because it is targeted at children is absurd. To do so is like feeding a child food that you yourself are not prepared to eat. Creating a good movie licensed game is not impossible, Cars is a perfect example of such an achievement. The Bee Movie Game could have been an infinitely better product had the focus not been put on exploiting a movie license for a quick buck.
Graphics: 2.5 / 5
Gameplay: 0.5 / 5
Sound: 2.5 / 5
Replay Value: 0.5 / 5
