ZTGD writes: "DreamWorks has been on a roll lately, both in the box office and in the world of gaming. Last year we received Kung Fu Panda; a delightfully hilarious comedy that coincided with a surprisingly excellent videogame counterpart. This year they have delivered yet another top-tier film and Activision and developer Beenox return to deliver a complimentary interactive experience to accompany the movie. Monsters Vs. Aliens is a classic idea of pitting some of the world's most inventive monsters against an impending alien threat. Much like the movie each character in the game possesses unique abilities that assist in taking down the extraterrestrial threat. This has worked out to Beenox's advantage as they split the game into three unique sections to keep things fresh from beginning to end."
Pros:
+ Three game types
+ Lots of extras
+ Dialogue is great
Cons:
- Co-op disappoints
- Repetition hinders
- Visuals are lacking
Chris B. of TGF writes:
"By now most gamers are immune to being sucked in to purchasing a video game that is based off a movie. For the most part the games aren’t based off the movie itself, and are usually a side story created using loose parts of the movie to tell it. Developer Beenox and Amaze Entertainment, with publisher Activision decided to throw their hats into the ring and take on the project of creating the home based console and handheld versions of the movie by DreamWorks Monster vs. Aliens."
Movie-tie-ins are almost always universally panned by critics and are seen by the majority of the industry as an opportunity to cash in on something big at the box office. Usually criticism levelled at said productions is due to poor game play elements resulting from a short development time and a rush to release the game on a tight schedule, unfortunately for Activision Monster vs. Aliens fits this trend to a tee.
PGNx writes: "Monsters and Aliens battle it out in Activision's latest title. The game, based on the upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens feature film, is developed by Amaze Entertainment for the Nintendo DS. The general plot and gameplay is fairly similar to its console cousins though the game was obviously adapted for the handheld."
