Pixar's adorable 'WALL-E' rolls into gaming universe
— -- This summer's mechanical darling, the robotic star of Disney/Pixar's WALL-E, makes his video game debut across all platforms including LeapFrog's Leapster, the educational gaming system for little kids. All of the versions are fun to play, but some are harder than others. Here's the scoop on which game would work best for your WALL-E enthusiast.
For your younger gamer
WALL-E for the Leapster is the go-to game if your fan is 4 to 7 years old. The console version of the game (reviewed below) is just too challenging for this age range.
With the Leapster game, kids help WALL-E find cool human gadgets to play with by playing five educational games. In one, while kids stargaze with WALL-E, they practice number identification, addition and subtraction to find star patterns in the sky. Then they connect the stars to learn about famous constellations.
The games, which teach letter recognition, spelling skills and math, can be played on three levels of difficulty. In addition, kids will learn facts about recycling by helping WALL-E recycle trash.
The visuals on this system do a great job of capturing the charm that is WALL-E. As in the movie, kids will love watching his antics.
For your older gamer
WALL-E is available on all gaming platforms, but the games vary depending on the system and which company developed the game for THQ. We played the Nintendo Wii version developed by Heavy Iron, which also offers versions for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 3.
By controlling WALL-E and his love interest EVE, you get to explore the worlds presented in the movie. The storyline of the movie is retold through video cut scenes that are sprinkled throughout the game's nine levels.
WALL-E, a little waste-compacting robot, was left on Earth 700 years ago when the planet became inhabitable because of excessive waste created by humans. Most of the puzzle-based game play on Earth revolves around WALL-E's ability to compact garbage into useful cubes.
As he tries to navigate ever-changing landscapes, he must use the waste that he compacts to help him control his environment. Depending on the source of the waste, the cubes have different properties that WALL-E can use. For example, some are heavy and when thrown at targets, can trigger buttons that control ramps and bridges. Others are charged with electricity and can turn on devices. Some are even magnetic and will attract or repel metal objects. Plus WALL-E can fold himself into a box shape and roll to avoid danger.
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