E307: Being Napoleon Dynamite
I am not sure I am qualified to deliver a hands-on of Crave's Napoleon Dynamite for the PSP. See, I never 'got' the movie. I tried so hard to find the underlying funny in it, watching it ten times in various mixes of company hoping to discover the secret recipe that would concoct hilarity in my soul, but alas...it just never happened. I wanted it to happen, I really did. The only strong feeling I came away from the movie with was how nasty eating tater tots out of someone else's pocket would be. So I just don't get it, but when Crave sits you down at E3 and places a PSP in your hands it is hardly a time to say no thanks, so I soldiered on nonetheless. Just keep in mind as you read this, ND fans, that I am not one of you, though I love you just the same as if you were normal children.
Basically Napoleon Dynamite for the DS is a collection of ND-themed mini-games. There seemed to be plenty of choices to make on the screen I was presented with, and I poked around a bit before being guided back to one specifically. The game is a really early build, so one only a few were actually functioning, one of which was a dance game.
A bizarre Napoleon paper doll figure with an extra large head took his place atop a stage as some generic music began to play. The music very well could have been a placeholder, and really in this sort of crazy madcap dance-rhythm mini-game it comes second to the gameplay. The gameplay, unfortunately, was pretty basic. Various symbols representing arrows and buttons scroll across the screen and you have to hit them as they pass through a box in the middle to make mutant paper Jon Heder dance. As you succeed you fill up a meter that lets you unleash a super move of some sort, but in a game like this on the small PSP screen you really need to focus on the symbols going by rather than the effects of sais symbols. It left me feeling very bleh.
Maybe it'll be different for big fans of the movie...I mean they did tell me that a liger would definitely be making an appearance, but for me, if the mini-game they decided to showcase is any example, this just seems like a generic collection of mini0games with Napoleon Dynamite pasted on. Paste on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese characters and you have a loving tribute to America's second-favorite broke food. Paste on Batman and you've got...well, the best Batman game ever, but that's beside the point. I may not be a Napoleon Dynamite fan, but I am sure they deserve something more than filler like this.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment