Flushed Away review (PlayStation 2)

If you’re to believe in the notion that pre-conceptions determine ones deciding interest in games these days, then you can bet that most folk would run a mile to get away from this atrocity, the reason being quite simple this; Flushed Away carries baggage that we could all do without – the movie to videogame adaptation.

Throughout history, they’ve plagued the gaming world like a cancerous tumour marring the embodiment of quality gaming, whether it be their simple, repetitive gameplay or inexcusable visual hiccups, movie adapted videogames are quite possibly the worst offenders out there – simple cash cows used to capitalize on the success of the supporting film, frequently ending up in your local bargain bin months later.

Mouse in the House

Moving on with things, Flushed Away, as you may have guessed, takes its name from the movie of the same name, loosely basing itself around events in the film. Staring as a snotty upper-class mouse named Roddy, you end up getting flushed down the bog of your posh joint and have to battle your way through a network of sewers systems, and eventually meeting and falling in love with a dashing young lass named Rita.

Ah, disparate backgrounds that ultimately collide in love – who’d have thought? Anyway, before you embark on your epic quest, you have to complete the games ‘training’ section (not that it actually needs one), which, ironically, manages to accomplish in putting you off the game nearly for good. More irritating here is the fact if you don’t stick to the course and stray once, its back to the start for another hair-pulling attempt.

Bog Standard

As mentioned, the training section highlights everything that is wrong with the game. Each stage you are faced with the monotonous task of leaping about through bland areas (be it a kitchen, sewer system etc) whilst battling it out with a bunch of rubbish enemies too inept to cause you any harm, while collecting coins to unlock bonus artwork and other features. It really isn’t more any cut and dry than that. Occasionally you’ll be able to take control of Rita instead of Roddy, but the concept remains the same.

There are a few mini games thrown in for good measure to help break up the main adventure, but they are few and far between and even then feel rather cheap and cheerful themselves. The game is also let down by some rather annoying flaws too, such as poor collision detection and glitches. I’ve lost count at how many times I’ve landed successfully on a high ledge and Roddy inexplicably ‘slid’ off and plummeted to his death. Queue the same thing happening a second time, and you begin to wonder just how much of a rushed job the beta test was.

You Dirty Rat

The games combat system involves simply bashing the controls attack button, mixing in the odd D-pad movement to pull of a ‘special’ move or two.

As touched up on earlier, enemies pose little threat unless you happen to stand still and allow them to pummel Roddy into submission (an event which may prove oddly satisfying to some after you are forced to restart from the nearest checkpoint for the tenth time in a row) Simply bashing and hacking away at your foe is all that is required to dispatch them, and needless to say there’s little satisfaction to be had when you’ve battered your 100th sewer vermin.

Toilet Humour

Aesthetically, things aren’t that much better. Granted, while the games character models look sort of nice from dramatised moments – such as the cut scenes – they don’t hold up under close observation. Sadly, the same can be said for the games environments, which constantly recycle the same boring, muddy-coloured textures over and over again throughout.

Some of the areas differ a little, which is to some extent a breath of fresh air, but it doesn’t last. Most of the time you’ll familiarise yourself with parts of each stage since you would have restarted from that point over and over again. Such frustrations are a common thing in Flushed Away. If there’s one redeeming point in the game it has to be the numerous cut scenes; while not voiced by the likes of Ian McKellen and other big names from the film, they’re pretty accurate and quite humorous.

Bog Off

Overall, Flushed Away is yet another poor incarnation of a movie (which didn’t do that great anyway) which doesn’t accomplish anything other than giving the player consistent headaches throughout. Blame it on its poor level design, repetitive gameplay, constant bugs or whatever you like, as there are ample pickings. At the end of the day, the best solution is ostensibly in the title; Flushed Away – because it really, really should be.