Nintendroid’s Lazy Boy No-Chew Review: Wreck It Ralph (Wii)

Wreck It Ralph (Wii)

Activision

2012

Wreck It Ralph makes his “IRL” debut on the Wii. Touted as a video game heavyweight in the movie, does that star power transition to the actual video game?

The short answer is not really. If I can compare the Wreck It Ralph video game to anything, it’s CM Punk’s MMA career. Let me explain, CM Punk the pro wrestler was one of the best. Multiple championships, classic matches, the guy was the best at what he did. While not an actual fighter, he played a darn good one on T.V.

Leaving his wrestling career behind, CM Punk goes to UFC to fight. Could the guy that fictitiously took down the likes of John Cena and Brock Lesnar in the wrestling world, translate that over to an MMA career and leave a trail of competitors in his wake? Nope. He was beaten within a minute by a kid named Mickey Gall and hasn’t been heard from since. Except on Twitter.

In a strange way, that speaks to Wreck It Ralph’s situation. In the movie, Ralph is the main antagonist in a fictional arcade game called Fix-It Felix Jr. The game is held in high regard the way that we look up to the likes of Donkey Kong and Pac Man. While Fix It Felix Jr, wasn’t a “real” game, it played a darn good one in the film.

After seeing the movie we all wanted a real Wreck It Ralph video game. Fix It Felix Jr got a mobile port of the game featured in the movie, but we wanted to play through Ralph’s adventure. A game with racing segments, platforming and on-rails shooter segments spanning across the worlds seen in the film, maybe some cameos thrown in for good measure. We don’t get any of that with this game. While Ralph and Felix look like legit video game stars in the film, their ACTUAL video game debut was straight bargain bin fodder. Does the CM Punk comparison make any sense now?

Wreck It Ralph isn’t a terrible game. It controls well, and I feel like I found myself enjoying it in short bursts. The game’s biggest problem is that it plays it TOO safe. No creativity, nothing that made the film stand out is featured here. This is as bare-bones of a side-scrolling platformer that you’ll get.

All I can remember of the story is that it takes place after the events of the film. Ralph drops a Hero’s Duty bug egg into a swamp in Sugar Rush, birthing a bunch of bugs to wreck havoc in the worlds featured in the film. Now it’s up to Felix and Ralph to hunt the bugs down and destroy them.

All you do is get from point A to B, by solving some very simple puzzles and stomping out bugs. Some puzzles can only be solved by Ralph or Felix, so the game allows you to switch both out during gameplay. Felix has a double-jump for reaching high platforms and Ralph has a ramming attack, useful for busting through obstacles. It breaks up the monotony slightly but not much.  

If you want to distract yourself from the monotonous platforming, each level features a Hero’s Duty medal and “Easter Egg” you can find to unlock bonus content like concept art and extra stages. Hunting medals and eggs was actually the highlight for me because you were required to explore the levels to find them. While there wasn’t much to really explore, it was a fun distraction from just running from right to left.  

Every level feels like the last one with a coat of paint thrown over it. While you do get to travel between the games seen in the movie, none of the characteristics that made those games look fun are actually featured. No racing segments, no shooting segment, just level after level of the same platforming you got tired of after the first world. Even the boss fights were underwhelming and slowed down an already bland game.

If I can give Wreck It Ralph credit for anything, they at least got most of the original cast to reprise their roles (minus Ralph’s actor John C Reilly). I think that’s where most of the game’s budget went to because the entire game screams “cheap” Save from the beginning and end game cutscene, which was actually well done, the rest are so embarrassingly cardboard, they hardly qualify as cutscenes. Personally, I think this game was a victim of rushed production to meet the release of the film. They’re glimpses of things throughout the game that hinted at different types of gameplay and between-stage segments (building cars in Sugar Rush, the elaborate voice acted cutscenes clashing with the low-end visuals) but due to time and budget constraints, this was what we got in the end.

I’m only being hard on Wreck It Ralph, because there’s a ton of wasted potential here. Wreck It Ralph could’ve been so much more, but instead of Activision taking their time and giving the public something of substance, they chose to play it safe and strike while the iron was hot and rush it out to coincide with the film’s release. I would only recommend this if you can get it cheap (5 bucks tops) and want something easy to play and complete in an hour. While it isn’t the worst thing i’ve played, it doesn’t do it’s source material justice. Stick to the mobile port of Fix It Felix Jr.

My Grade: C-