|
I would argue with the best of them that much of the charm of The Nightmare Before Christmas lied in the style and the score, and somehow the developers managed to mangle both these things. The visuals are of poor quality, with ragged edges and lumpy textures abound. With the movie full of rich imagery, even amidst a morose backdrop, you would think that your enemies would be just oozing with personality and flair... but no. You get skeletons. Lots and lots of skeletons. Well, there are some other monsters too, but you're really just fighting a bunch of skeletons for hours on end.
The music, though, is my main point of frustration. Now, Danny Elfman's original score would be hard to top, and so I expected to hear some instrumental arrangements of everyone's favorite themes every now and then. What assaulted my ears was not only the original themes, but with new lyrics. Nobody even bothered to try composing a competent score; they just tried to throw a fresh coat of paint on an already gorgeous work of art, and in the process made it an ugly thing to behold.
The game's only saving graces are the characters themselves: both the voice acting and the models themselves were done with precision. The voiceovers are very true to the original movies, and if someone were to tell me that the original cast had a hand in it, I wouldn't be surprised one bit. The actors' cadence and tones fit just right, and the movements of the models felt the same way -- fluid and natural. Even the mouths synced perfectly with the sound, which was a wonderful touch. If only the rest of the game was done with such painstaking detail, maybe I wouldn't be so let down.
The worst part about it all is that due to the fantastic level of polish given to the Nightmare-themed portion of Kingdom Hearts, one actually comes into this knowing that it could have been much, much better. In the end, I really feel that in making this game the developers took a franchise and robbed it of what made it special. Everything from the music to the plot felt absolutely wrong, and if it weren't for a few shining points, I probably would have snapped my disc in two and called it a day. In the end, I can't recommend this title with a clear conscience to even the most hardcore of Burton's fans.
|
