PlayStation

Small Soldiers

Als een spel dat nog verre van compleet is, al zoveel indruk maakt, kun je er donder op zeggen dat het, eenmaal af, een hele vette game wordt.

There are very few movie tie-ins which make the grade. Small Soldiers does not escape that trend but is certainly one of the better efforts. It's mostly blast without the need for brains and could almost fall into the platform category. With the competition so fierce this Christmas it will be interesting to see how Small Soldiers fares against the big guns. My bet is that it will be fairly well received but will probably end up in a few of Santa's stockings due to the movie connection rather than for gripping gameplay.

Since the movie is about a legion of toys that ransack a quiet suburb, why not create a comical, kid-friendly real-time strategy game? Instead, developer DreamWorks Interactive delivers a lackluster 3D action/shooter with sloppy control, mindless puzzles (green key opens green door, red key opens red door...), and unimaginative level design. Toss in subpar artificial intelligence and an extremely shallow depth of view, and not even an orchestral soundtrack and the voice talents of Tommy Lee Jones are enough to keep this soldier from going AWOL.