Based on Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films' movie adaptation of the best-selling book series that’s doing the rounds at the moment comes this 3D adventure that plunges you into a fantasy world full of mystical creatures. You play as one of the three Grace children (Jared & Simon who are twins, or their big sister Mallory) on their quest to discover the secrets of The Spiderwick Chronicles and protect their home from the local goblin horde that wants to invade it.
The three kids each have their own unique abilities, so swapping between them is vital in order to finish the story. You also get to play as Thimbletack the Brownie, whose tiny size allows you to discover the secret passages of the enchanted Spiderwick home as you spuddle around in the walls. Most of the gameplay is about searching for an item to take somewhere to use to make something else happen – it’s simple but pleasing puzzly stuff, although the frequent retreading of paths can get tiresome. Basic combat is simple but satisfying; Jared has a baseball bat with which to smack goblins, Simon is the clever twin and makes a water pistol to shoot a special anti-goblin mixture at them, and Mallory is a fencing champion who likes to swash her buckles.
The magic comes in when you use the local fairies (called Sprites) and their special abilities against the goblins or to protect/heal you. The sprites inhabit the garden, the quarry and the local woods where most of the game occurs, and you have to catch them in your net (with a swish of the right stick) and then can use any of the last three you caught any time you wish – it’s a clever and fun system to use.
A 2-player mode feels kind of tacked on, and is confined to arenas where both of you either catch sprites, or catch sprites whilst thumping attacking goblins in a race to a total or against a time limit. It’s fun but not for long.
The game doesn’t last too long, but it’s an enjoyable journey. It felt quite short and the wandering caused by the lack of a map probably artificially extends its life beyond what it rightfully should have been. The Thimbletack sections feel sufficiently different to add some variety, and the story and settings certainly have their own charms. Smacking seven shades of shi…nola out of beautifully animated and mean looking goblins with a baseball bat is very violent and satisfying, and the slightly scary nature of some sections may also mean it might not be suitable for really little kids (hence the PG rating), but the Harry Potter generation should lap it up.
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