Customer Reviews

Disney's Bolt

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is a longstanding history of horrid movie-to-video game translations going back to th days of the NES, and starting, some would say, with the landfill worthy E.T. for the old 2600.

Disney's Bolt for the PS2 is not bad, but it's not great. It's got many of the actors from the movie, most impressive of which is Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Calico. The game is presented as if Rhino the hamster was watching a marathon of the show, which I can honestly say, if they decided to do a series of animated movies of Bolt in his TV show, I would absolutely buy it.

Rhino makes frustrated comments when you pause the game, and the overall presentation is fun, and fans of the movie will undoubtedly be smiling. The controls are simplistic, but tough to master. You take control of Penny and alternately Bolt in a kind of "One-Player Team" effort. Actions Penny takes and puzzles she solves helps Bolt, and vice versa. Occasionally you will see your counterpart in another part of the stage, and that's very cool.

The problem is, it's not very innovative, and the action can get bogged down with endless bad guys while you figure out what to do. Bolt aquires his powers as you progress, and even with them all, he's still challenging to accomplish certain goals. This game is obviously geared towards younger players, but it's by no means unpleasant if you are older. If you "die" you are told you simply "Failed the Mission" and are put back almost where you left off, and that is a gracious design I heartily appreciate. Nothing sucks the fun out of a game like endless trudgery when you miss a jump to make it back to die all over again.

The music is somewhat repetitious, but well suited to the game. I had hoped to hear the awesome score from the movie, but it is nowhere to be found.

The graphics are well done, and I have seen very little clipping or collision detection problems. The camera is static, and in a era of fully controllable cameras, it's a little off putting, but doesn't ruin the fun.

The primary problem wth the graphics is that Bolt is teensy tiny on the screen. The action never zooms in or out, so you are always a little teeny white blob on the screen. It would have been nice if the camera zoomed in when the action started, or at least made the character models bigger.

Overall this game is a good time if you are a fan of the film, and will earn a decent place in your game collection. But the casual gamer looking for a deep adventure should look elsewhere. Bolt is an afternoon thrill, but it's not going to make you buy a PS2 just to play it. It's certainly not a waste of money, but compared to the beautiful, enchanting fantastic world of another famous canine oriented game, Okami, Bolt is left in the doghouse.

We gave our 10 yr. old son this game for Christmas and he loves it! It is easy to play but yet challenging enough to keep him interested. The graphics are good and he seems to be very pleased with it.

Our girl does not pick this game to play but it is all personal preference. Your kid may love it.

I bought this for my 5 year old son as a surprise for doing well on his first school progress report. He loves it. He has played it nearly every day since. It is perfect for children around his age bracket.

As the title says, my nephew loves this game, I'm a gamer myself but I can't see myself, a 20yr old man, playing Bolt lol. He's finished it and he says its "awesome and fun".

The game was good just not what I expected the game to be, but bought it for grandson and he likes it so thats all that matters.

My 4 year old thought this was a little difficult but he likes Bolt so he was interested in it. He likes playing Lego games on xbox better.

My son likes the game better than the movie! Very fun game to play, but my son got stuck in one of the later levels with a 'computer hack'. He cannot get past it and neither can I, so he was quite disappointed about that. Otherwise, he did enjoy playing the game.

Please do not copy this review for use elsewhere on the internet.