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Igor
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Graphics & Sound:
Where shall I begin? When it comes to graphics and sound, Legacy Interactive's Igor: The Game looks like it had first been developed on the PlayStation One. The environments come across as very basic, with none of today's technology built in, especially for a PC title. Everything in the game also appears to have a very low polygon count, which makes the game call for even better texturing. It does not have this texturing, with the exception of the main characters.
In any case, even the bosses sometimes have poor texture quality, which is unfortunate because the visuals could have helped pull this review score up a bit... something the gameplay could not (see below).
As far as audio goes, Igor fairs a little better. The voice acting may not be the greatest in videogame history, but it isn't terrible. What does stink is some of the timing and writing of the voiceovers, and that the voices often don't match the characters' mouths and gestures during cut-scenes.
In addition to these let-downs, Igor also boasts some terrible animations at times, and quite basic animations for most of the game. One creature that sticks in my mind is the minion rat, which will often slide a great distance when attacking, foregoing any leg animations. Igor's eyes also have problems with sticking through their eyelids while
he blinks. Considering that Igor's face is very prominent during many
cut-scene close-ups, this isn't something that the developers should have overlooked... yet they did. |
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Gameplay:
Leaving the last category aside, the gameplay is what truly matters in any videogame. Unfortunately, in Igor, it is more of the same ugliness. Igor has you controlling not only the main title character, but also three of his evil cohorts, Scamper, Brain, and his evil invention, Eva, who is a sort of a giant female Frankenstein. Igor is on a quest to prove to the world that evil inventions don't have to be created by only Mad Scientists, but can also be mastered by Igors.
In Igor: The Game, you'll take control of all four characters, switching between them at will. This is a main difference between this PC version and its console and handheld counterparts (the Wii allows co-op for up to 4 players; the DS for 1-2 players). While you control one character, the others will follow and fight, although not very well in either case. Each character does have its own special abilities. Igor can manipulate gears, Scamper can jump extremely high and shock enemies, Brain has an elongated arm that shoots missiles, and Eva is extremely strong and can break down barriers. Eva is also the best character to take for boss fights and close-combat situations in general. There are some inconsistencies with the game and the characters as well. For example, even though Eva can barely jump due to her size, she will pop up to higher locations if your controlled character gets up there (which is very noticeable when you jump to heights with Scamper).
The gameplay of Igor consists solely of hordes of baddies attacking at triggered times. Along the way, you'll play typical platformer fetching games, but the level of brainpower required isn't that high, which is good for younger kids, yet not so great for a little bit older children. There are a few different items to collect, but the most notable are flowers and gears/cogs, with which you can recharge your characters' energy. There is also no death in Igor, as your characters will be stunned when their energy depletes, but will regain full health afterward.
I have yet to see the movie, but apparently it has a similar story to the videogame. Hopefully the movie faired better because Igor: The Game is exactly the reason that film-based games have such a bad reputation. The game is riddled with annoyances, from the un-skippible cut-scenes to the mindless and repetitive fighting. Any and all puzzles have the answer given to you as well. Most annoying has got to be the camera, however. While it does follow the action fairly well, it is somewhat fixed and you have no manual control, resulting in the camera often getting behind objects and obstructing the player's view. In general, it feels like Igor was simply an afterthought and rushed out the door to coincide with the movie release. |
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Difficulty:
Igor: The Game is definitely geared toward the youngest gaming crowd. Its puzzles are very simple and the endings and steps to solving them are all shown to the player immediately before taking on the... ahem, challenge. The stages are also very linear, making for a relatively unentertaining experience.
It is a plus that the bad guys do seem to get a tad more difficult as you progress through the game, but not enough to concern yourself about. This is because your four anti-heroes actually never die, but instead only get stunned for a length of time. After the characters revive (whether your controlled character or a computer-controlled one), they will again have full health and start kicking baddie butt immediately.
Unfortunately, the A.I. characters don't fight all that well. The simplest way to get past the waves of evil Hench-things is to (usually) take control of Eva, and with her powerful arm beat them all senseless. This is all done by way of simple one-button mashing, making it simple for children, but again, highly repetitive.
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Game Mechanics:
The controls of Igor are extremely simple, yet by default, performed with the unfriendly keyboard. Unfortunately, controlling characters throughout a fully 3D world with the arrow keys (or WASD) is the equivalent of trying to drive a car with square tires. Because of the controls, as well as the lack of shadows to help signify their locations, jumping to collect floating items is extremely and frustratingly difficult. The only other buttons are that of attacking (and other actions) and switching characters. However, these buttons are laid out all over the place and it is not possible to remap the controls.
Fortunately for anyone out there with an Xbox 360 controller and its USB PC wireless receiver (or likely a wired 360 controller - untested), you'll be able to play Igor with much greater ease. There was nothing to set up and nothing to change; it worked out of the box. If you don't have this USB adapter, it is highly worth the twenty dollar price tag if you play PC games regularly, as shown with Igor. You still can't control the camera, however, but the smoothness of the analog stick makes a huge difference in playability.
As much as I would love to give Igor: The Game more of a chance, it is the epitome of movie-based games. The reputation of horrible games released at the same time as their film counterparts holds more than true with Igor. Except for the youngest of gamers, I cannot recommend this monotone game to anyone. In fact, it likely deserves a spot next to the Atari 2600's E.T. in the bottom of a landfill somewhere. |
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-Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele |
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows XP SP2, Pentium 4/1.2 Ghz Athlon, 512 MB Ram, Geforce 5200 FX 256 MB/ATI 9500 pro |
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Test System:
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz, Windows XP Home Edition SP3, 2 GB RAM, NVidia Quadro NVS 140M Graphics, Internal Keyboard, External Wireless Logitech Laser Mouse, Xbox 360 Wireless Controller with PC USB Adapter/Receiver |
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