Licensed games come with an inherent bad reputation. It’s no secret, and to be honest, most of the time it’s deserved. Majesco and Pipeworks’ Night At the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian is attempting to shake off the misconceptions and thankfully for parents, and fans of the movie, there’s more to this licensed game than just a quick and dirty cash-in.

Gameplay

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know that it’s hardly the most action-packed film out there. While other developers may have tried to make the game primarily about the few combat sequences that appeared in the movie, Pipeworks has taken an alternate route, and one that works out for the better when it comes down to it. Rather than making Larry an unstoppable physical force to be reckoned with, which would have completely destroyed the movie-to-game conversion, Larry is a puzzle-solving smart-alec, much like his on-screen persona.

Larry comes equipped with a flashlight and his trusty set of keys but early in the game, he is given some interesting tips about the tablet of Akmenrah, from Akmenrah himself. It seems that when Larry is in the presence of the tablet, the ingots which are set within it will give him certain powers. While in the presence of the tablet, these items become a lot less average, and really become the best weapons Larry could possibly have. Well, at least without having actual weapons.  

Each ingot is essentially used throughout the game as a sort of power-up. Early on, Akmenrah’s evil brother, Kahmenrah, steals the tablet, and while Larry is able to trick Kahmenrah in order to get the tablet back, the ingots themselves are missing. As Larry traverses the Smithsonian’s many different museums, he finds each ingot, which will act as a sort of power-up that will help him progress through levels. The ingots allow him to use his keys as a grappling hook, or embue his flashlight with the power to bring paintings to life, or tame wild animals and so on. All in all, the power-ups are a neat idea that sets the game apart nicely from its action/platform contemporaries.


The unfortunate part is that once you find all the ingots, the game pretty much ends, which means that you’re never really given much time to play around with each power. You literally will obtain each power early on in a level, use it a handful of times, then move onto the next power, rarely relying on the powers you’ve found previously. This is where the game really falters. While it’s nice that the game and story move quickly, there’s almost no replay value. Each level uses one or two specific powers and moves on which makes the game disappointingly short. That said, the game knows their target audience, (primarily the younger set), and the short length makes sense, as younger gamers tend to lose interest if you try and offer too much. Still, it would have been nice if the game could have added at least a little bit more to the proceedings to give the game some sort of replayability.

Aside from solving puzzles, there are other gameplay elements that enter into specific levels. Throughout each level, Larry will have to use platforming skills. At times Larry will have to scale boxes, climb scaffolding and such, and for the most part, it works. That said, the controls could stand to be a bit tighter when it comes to this, as there are certain levels where Larry will control a bit too loosely and miss jumps that Mario could do in his sleep. Granted, this isn’t meant to be a platformer, but if you’re going to throw platforming elements into a game, the controls need to support it, and it just doesn’t feel like they do here. There’s also levels that have you flying a plane with Amelia Earhart, or flying a lunar pod. These levels fair better than the platforming control-wise, but unfortunately are quite short and offer only momentary distractions rather than meaty sections of gaming excellence. Again, there’s the opportunity for some solid gaming moments that fall short due to the length of time spent doing each activity.

Graphics & Sound

Visually, the game recreates certain aspects of the movie very well. Ben Stiller’s likeness seems to be the only one that has been used from the movie, but the characters all bare a slight resemblance to their respective actors, or historical counterparts. The game animates well, though jumps tend to be stiffer than they should.

The levels themselves look very nice, but it doesn’t give you the feeling that you’re in this magnificently large museum. Each level is small, with very little aside from a few key focal points to catch your eye. In short, it’s a simple presentation, that never really "wow"’s, but does it job efficiently enough.


The music and voice-acting is a mixed bag. The music is essentially the score from the movie, while the voice-acting is mainly handled by sound-alikes, with the exception of Ben Stiller. It’s nice to hear Ben still hamming it up here, but the inconsistency of the supporting cast definitely hurts the game. There’s also an annoying amount of repetitive dialog that can be frustrating to listen to. The problem being Larry gives audio clues to let you know where to go next. However, if you don’t rush to the next objective, you’re likely to hear the audio clues enough times to make you mute the television.

Value

All said, the game shouldn’t take anyone more than three hours, even for the younger gamers out there. There are a few items to collect throughout levels, but even if you’re determined to find all of them, you won’t break that three hour mark. It’s disappointing that the game doesn’t allow you to replay levels with your newfound abilities after you complete the game, as a little more meat to the proceedings would make this an easily recommendable game for any fan of family-friendly entertainment. There are a couple of mini-games that you can try, however, neither of them are enjoyable enough to really recommend and they don’t add anything at all to the game itself. For the pricetag, (roughly $40 Cdn), this is a game that I can only recommend to fans of the movie, which is a shame because some of the ideas are neat enough to warrant a look for non-fans as well.

One thing that should be mentioned, because it’s a rarity in gaming, is that throughout the game, there are numerous little audio-tour features that offer up authentic facts about various exhibits. Not only is it a nice touch, it adds a little educational value to the proceedings, which from a parents perspective is always welcome.

Conclusion

Night At the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian would have been easily recommendable if it were a downloadable game with a decent pricetag. As it stands, it’s merely a solid rental unless you’re an absolute fanatic for all things Ben Stiller.