Up Video Game Demo

Up was one of Pixar’s most successful pictures ever, thanks to a beautiful story and the usual top-notch visual quality. The characters may be just a conglomeration of polygons rendered by computers, but the superb writing made them almost palpable and worthy of sympathy. Business is business, however, so a generic video game was bound to hit the market sooner or later.

Up Video Game is a 3D platformer in which you get to enjoy the company of Carl Fredricksen and Russell the explorer, both of which are part of the adventure lying ahead. Some of the other characters from the movie make an appearance as well, including Dug the dog and Kevin, the prehistoric bird. Hence, the experience should feel quite familiar to the fans of the movie, especially to the younger audience.

Story-wise, the plot follows Carl and Russell as they explore a remote part of the South American jungle, where all sorts of dangers lurk in the shadows. The journey takes them through a variety of dreamy environments, although sketchy-looking caves are part of the adventure as well. Plenty of wild animals try to stop the two from achieving their goals, but it is quite simple to defeat them and keep going forward.

When it comes to gameplay, there’s nothing special about it, which means that it all revolves around being able to jump from one ledge to the other and defeating the occasional enemy. The developers tried to integrate a few co-op mechanics, since the two characters must work together sometimes in order to get past certain obstacles, but it all resumes to pushing a button when the game requires it, which is not that exciting.

Moreover, there are some camera problems as well, which can make it difficult to see where you are required to go every now and again. It is not as bad as in other 3D platformers, but you definitely will miss some jumps because of it. Fortunately, the graphics are decent and just as colorful as they were in the motion picture, which makes the rich jungle appear even more exotic and beautiful.

As previously mentioned, Up Video Game is just a regular cash cow release to pick up the crumbs left by the movie’s success, which means that there’s nothing special about it. If you are a fan of the animated picture, then you may find some joy in spending some additional time with the characters, but the game itself is nothing out of the ordinary.