Before you make a snap judgement based on the movie this game is about, Rango The Videogame happens to be the biggest surprise of the year. After spending about a year in development, Paramount Digital Entertainment spent countless hours expanding on the movie’s premise to deliver a game that is part movie, part platformer and every bit as entertaining.
As Rango the sheriff, your job is to keep the local citizens safe from Bad Bill and Rattlesnake Jake. These villains are constantly kidnapping, staging heists, and making life difficult for our little lizard friend Rango. Things really stir up when Bad Bill and his gang discover glowing stones that Rango believes are meteorites from outer space. Plenty of in-game narrative occurs between stages – or as Rango would call ‘days’ – and he explains the events that eventually lead to the gameplay segments.
At its core, Rango The VideoGame plays like your standard platformer. There are plenty of platforms to climb, walls to scale and pits that must be avoided. What sets the action apart from other offerings, though, is how the in-game elements are arranged. What could start out as standard platforming fare, quickly transitions into riding a rail across a wide chasm or dodging falling cacti while chasing a train.
There’s also plenty of shooting (you’re a sheriff after all) and gritty close combat with Bill’s hoodlums to keep you busy between puzzles. The action never seems to end; Bill’s henchmen are constantly shooting at you, tossing dynamite, pushing boulders off cliffs, and even getting killed in the process of trying to eliminate you. It’s enough to raise a few chuckles as you punch, kick, and shoot your way through the scripted chaos.
Luckily for Rango, he can upgrade his skills along the way by visiting a skill vendor that appears in each level. Skills are purchased with Sheriff Stars that are abundantly available. The aforementioned stars can be easily obtained by destroying crates or defeating the countless enemies in the game. Rango can upgrade his abilities to shoot, smash objects. mine, and even increase his health (and that is only half of it).
Boss encounters are challenging and very creative in their approach. When fighting Bad Bill during the train sequence, Rango must shoot the dynamite that he is holding. This is where some of the issues occur. While Rango has near-perfect controls during the platform sequences, the first-person camera for using Rango’s gun is a bit too sensitive.
You can enter first-person mode by holding the L1 button. Additionally, you can fire Rango’s gun by holding the R1 button. To strafe, press and hold the L2 button. Jumping is achieved by pressing X button; rolling through narrow areas is done by pressing Circle button; and melee combat is assigned to Square button.
The strafing ability is useful when it actually works. Rango will sometimes turn around for no apparent reason, making it difficult to target enemies. This usually results in releasing the L1 Button to reset your gun’s crosshairs and Rango’s direction. In all fairness, the strafing glitch is completely random and doesn’t happen very often.
With complaints aside, the in-game controls are near-perfect. Combat is fluid and never feels disjointed; rail riding is responsive; and climbing has never been easier.
The puzzles are fairly simple and require little thought to complete. In most cases, you’re pushing boxes over buttons or shooting at switches to deactivate electricity (to climb an area that would otherwise be unsafe). There are a couple of puzzles that require some thinking (like walking on a floor pattern that lights up to mimic the diagram of a fish), but nothing too challenging.
The graphics are just as beautiful as the movie they portray. The world comes to life with vibrant colors, clean textures and 3D objects that don’t suffer from plane clipping (a staple in most movie-to-game adaptions). You can tell that countless hours were spent modeling the characters; they resemble their movie counterparts and do a respectful job of honoring the film.
Rango The Videogame will really take you by surprise with its charm and wit. There’s plenty of cinematic appeal, but unlike other movie-to-game adaptions, it doesn’t take priority over the gameplay. Whether you enjoy platform games or want to relive the movie, Rango The Videogame will not disappoint. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a game this good based on a movie.
Mike Pittaro
Platform: Playstation 3 (Also available on Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS)
Developer: Paramount Digital Entertainment
Publisher: EA
ESRB: E 10+
Price: $49.99
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| The graphics are just as beautiful as the movie they portray. | |
| Sound | |
| Great music and funny sound effects round out the experience. | |
| Gameplay | |
| Aside from strafing, Rango's gameplay is perfect. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Rango The Videogame is a wonderful experience for gamers of all ages. | |
