Open Season

If anyone's been paying any attention in movie theatres this year you can't help but have noticed just how many full-length CGI movies have been released and we haven't even reached Christmas yet. Open Season is Sony’s offering to this somewhat overcrowded genre and if you don't already know the story goes like this. When a domesticated grizzly named Boog gets lured into leaving the creature comforts of home by a fast-talking mule deer named Elliott, he finds himself lost in the woods just three days before hunting season begins. Forced to "rough it" in the great outdoors, Boog goes native, rallying all the forest animals to take back their home and send the hunters packing. Ubi Soft have bravely opted to release this on all formats including the current three handheld platforms but are they worth your time and, even more importantly, your money?

This PSP version concerns itself with the two main characters from the film: Boog the Bear and Eliot the Deer with your object being to navigate the forest defeating hunters on the way. You'll need both of these characters to complete the adventure as Eliot can only reach some areas. His real skill is in collecting rabbits and disposing of them in holes but Boog can also throw him short distances, which makes him useful in collecting objects which would otherwise be out of reach. The weight issue is also apparent when balancing on logs to travel over water again to reach areas of the game off limits to Boog. While it may sound like the bear part of this pairing is somewhat redundant it's Boog who provides the brute force knocking down barriers and using Eliot as a kind of baseball bat in order to knock the hunters unconscious. Boog also has a rather effective roar, which tends to stop almost everything in their tracks making them far more vulnerable.

In addition to your exploration and associated missions you'll also be taken on some more 'arcade' excursions. These include a rather enjoyable Indiana Jones style mine cart ride, which is partly controlled by yourself: jumping over gaps and changing direction. The other takes place on the river rapids and is more challenging because of the freedom you have and the sheer amount of obstacles in your path. Multiplayer fans are also catered for thanks to the handful of mini-games. These only become available in their entirety when the game is completed but can also be enjoyed as a one-player game. One of the most enjoyable of these is the Squirrel Run (which also appears in the main game), which pits you against other like rodents over a track littered with bonus items such as banana skins and turbo boosts. Another is the rather self-explanatory 'Fall Off The Logs' and 'Shake' where you must replicate the on-screen icons with the PSP controls but it's all entertaining stuff.

Control: While the control appears fine at first there are some rather nasty bugs, which appear to pop up just when it’s essential they don't, leading to some unwanted frustration. They include invisible walls and some questionable collision detection. I'm sure I don't need to say that this really should have been ironed out during the testing stage but clearly I do so, there it is.

Visually Open Season is average at best with little to give the users that overall 'wow' factor that titles such as Syphon Filter are currently experiencing. It still delivers though, it's just not as pretty as it could or should have been although this is not entirely unique as far as movie tie-ins are concerned. One thing, which struck us as very strange though are the various movie stills, which can be unlocked by collecting tokens. The problem is not with the images themselves but rather the ‘movies’, which are nothing more than a slideshow to music taken from a short section of the film itself. Why this isn't simply a movie clip is anyone’s guess, especially when you consider that this is a SONY film.

Audio wise Open Season does its job very well indeed with some pleasing tracks playing throughout the game. The same can be said of the sound effects that accompany your every move so even if you happen to be stationary you'll be able to hear the ambient noises of the birds singing or nearby river. One thing, which does disappoint is the limited voice over work and while the cut-screens (which link the levels) are narrated the rest of the in-game dialogue is simply expressed with text.

As pleasant as Open Season is to play it's unlikely to appeal to anyone who's not a fan of the film and the game does little to push the PSP's hardware. It's also one of the first titles which is aimed considerably lower than the age range which SONY intended the PSP for although it does seem that it is Nintendo's DS which has cornered the rather lucrative adult market with games such as Brain Age. Like most CGI movies though these tend to be family affairs with as many teens sitting in the audience as there are children. Regardless of your age though if you are considering purchasing Open Season there's more than enough gameplay to keep you occupied for some time with the mini-games adding replay value. It does suffer from being a little too repetitive occasionally but not enough to put gamers off all together.

By Andrew Blanchard