Reviews > Napolean Dynamite
(DS, PSP) Hands-On Preview
June 29, 2007
It's been almost three years since the release of the cult film Napoleon Dynamite, and finally the offbeat comedy is getting the videogame makeover. Crave Entertainment is set to deliver Napoleon Dynamite to gamers on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.
GameWad recently had the chance to sit down with Crave for a hands-on preview of both versions of the game, and what we found was a product much like the movie - sans-plot, with humor that appeals to the movie's following, but not so much to everyone else.
The game is, at it's core, a menu of minigames from which players create their bite-sized gaming snack of the day. The PSP version will feature 30 minigames, while the lower-capacity carts will restrict the DS version to only 22. Each game represents some portion of the movie, such as feeding Tina the llama, tossing a football with Uncle Rico, or busting a move on stage, as in the movie's (heroic?) final scene. Crave representatives assured us that all of the movie's familiar characters will make appearances.
The game will offer players two modes to chose from. Story mode requires the minigames to be played in sequence, following the movie's plot. Successful completion of earlier games unlocks later ones, until everything is available. Crave director of brand marketing Douglas Panter describes it as a "day in the life of typical things [Napoleon] might do." The other option, Notebook mode, allows players to choose individual games that have been previously unlocked via story mode.
While the DS version has a few neat touches, such as more stylistic gauges and meters, the PSP will clearly be the more robust version, with more minigames, better graphics, and more fluid controls in certain portions of the game.
Look out for Napoleon Dynamite this fall.
*Eddie R Inzauto - Senior Editor, GameWad.com
