Flushed Away | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Monkey Bar Games Art Co., Ltd (NDS) Altron (GBA) |
Publisher(s) | D3 Publisher |
Producer(s) | Mike Pearson |
Designer(s) | Jeff Friedlander |
Programmer(s) | Timothy Randall |
Artist(s) | Ben Lichius |
Composer(s) | |
Engine | Vicious Engine |
Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Flushed Away is an action-adventure video game based on the animated film of the same name and released in 2006 by Monkey Bar Games for GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS. [1] It was released in Japan for the Nintendo DS as Volume 17 of the Simple series. [2]
Flushed Away is based around platform gameplay, with the player controlling the two main characters from the film and guiding them through hazard-filled environments. Environments and enemies are based on those in the film, although several areas and creatures not seen in the film are also included. Interspersed throughout the game are mini-game sequences involving shooting enemies with a turret that fires golf balls, and taking control of a boat in a chase sequence. [3] Some multiplayer minigames are also included, based around puzzle and shoot-'em-up mechanics. [1]
The plot of the game differs heavily from the film. Roderick "Roddy" St. James lives in an apartment, in Kensington, with his owners, until they go away for a holiday. Gilbert and Sullivan, who were not seen in the film, all help Roddy out with his obstacle course and fencing skills. As they explore more, they hear an explosion coming from the kitchen. In the Kitchen, they find that that Sid has raided it and is planning to stay. Roddy schemes to get rid of him, but quickly backfires as Sid flushes him down the toilet, thinking of it as a trap. As soon as Roddy ends up in another world, Ratropolis, he bumps into Socketset, who gives him his first task: collect a jar of flies.
Meanwhile, Rita sneaks into the Toad's lair, grabs the ruby and after escaping Spike and Whitey, escapes on her Jammy Dodger. Roddy investigates but bumps into Rita, who then decide to team up to escape Spike, Whitey and the other rats. After escaping the rats, using ammunition and speed, Rita swerves the Jammy Dodger out of control and crashes onto a platform, where Spike and Whitey capture them both and take them to the Toad. They are sent to the freezer, locked up, and be frozen for theft of the precious ruby, but Roddy and Rita escape and the Toad orders his hench-rats to pursue the escapees down.
Roddy desperately tries to catch up to Rita, while avoiding either Spike, Whitey and the Toad's hench-rats along the way. He makes it to the bridge, jumps off the walkway and lands onto the Jammy Dodger, spraining his back while trying to escape the hench-rats. Rita allows Roddy to stay on the Jammy Dodger, as he had dropped in. He then, painfully, thanks Rita for the lift.
Later, Roddy is claimed "The Chosen One" by the prophet rat and is told to speak with Charlie Wu, who gives Roddy a rescue mission, to save the orphanage from flooding. In order to do this, he and Rita must journey, via the Jammy Dodger. They reach the clogged drain and as soon as Roddy launches the catapult, it releases the water and it starts draining too fast, giving Roddy and Rita the signal to get clear. Charlie Wu is pleased that his children are safe. Then, Socketset gives Roddy another job: Collect another jar full of flies.
Upon exploring the caves, Roddy finds a deeper cave, where he comes across an arachnid, who sees Roddy as lunch. Roddy defeats her and then retrieves a new sword. After a few side missions, from Socketset and Charlie Wu, Roddy ventures through Little Soho and Chinatown, to complete his side tasks. As Roddy and Rita venture more on the Jammy Dodger, they hear a lot of cheering and shouting going on. It turns out that England has made it to the World Cup Finals and the rats go down to Little Soho to stir things up. After encountering hooligans, Roddy finds a door that is blocked by wooden and metal crates. Eventually, after the puzzle is solved and the door is unlocked, both Roddy and Rita can continue their journey, but they find that the fans have decided to have a battle called "Castle Siege". In order for England to win, Germany's flags must be eliminated. England wins and Germany loses, so Roddy and Rita continue their journey.
Along the way, they encounter Le Frog and his hench-frogs. As soon as Rita speeds and crashes the Jammy Dodger on the dock, completely knocking Le Frog and his hench-frogs off their feet. Le Frog and his henchmen split apart, so does Roddy and Rita. Roddy faces Le Frog and then defeats him. Upon leaving, Le Frog gets up and tries to get Roddy back, but is knocked out by a falling chandelier, that had the rope cut by Roddy's sword. As Roddy and Rita leave, they are captured by Spike and Whitey and are taken to the Toad's lair.
Once they arrive at the Toad's lair, the Toad tells Roddy and Rita his greatest plan to flush all the rodents, with a giant wave, by opening the floodgate. However, Roddy and Rita soon tell the Toad that thousands of toilets, in London, are used, as many people are watching the football on TV. When it is halftime, many people will go to the toilets, dispose of their liquids and then flush it down the drain. When the toilets start flushing, it will cause a huge wave that will destroy the city the rats live. The Toad, enraged about having his plan being revealed, kicks both Roddy and Rita off, unaware that they are hanging on to each other, and then tells his hench-rats to stop Roddy and Rita from escaping.
The final battle occurs when Roddy is faced with dodging the Toad's throwable objects, by hitting each console three times. Then, Rita is faced to fight Fat Barry, Lady Killer and Thimblenose Ted, by using, everything she can, to weaken them and make it easy for them to take a hit. She also uses some lights, blinding Thimblenose Ted and by blowing Lady Killer's wig off his head with a wind from the vent. After the hench-rats are defeated, Roddy and Rita's final task is to defeat the Toad. Rita's bungee manages to weaken the supports and the Toad is left hanging, with his tongue stuck to something, as he is defeated. Afterwards, Rita is asked by Roddy if she needs a first mate, which she obliges and runs off. Roddy runs after her and lands perfectly on the Jammy Dodger, with Rita controlling the Jammy Dodger, allowing it to speed up, making Roddy fall over. Rita then tells Roddy that he can be the captain, every other day. As the screen fades out, the words 'The End' with a question mark at the end, appear on the center of the screen, ending the game on a cliffhanger.
Aggregator | Score | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
DS | GBA | GC | PS2 | |
Metacritic | 47/100 [4] | 43/100 [5] | 47/100 [6] | 43/100 [7] |
Publication | Score | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
DS | GBA | GC | PS2 | |
Eurogamer | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2/10 [8] |
Famitsu | 21/40 [9] | N/A | N/A | N/A |
GameSpot | 6/10 [10] | 3.6/10 [11] | 4.3/10 [1] | 4.3/10 [1] |
GamesRadar+ | [4] | N/A | N/A | [12] |
IGN | 4/10 [13] | 5/10 [14] | 4/10 [3] | 4/10 [3] |
Nintendo Power | N/A | N/A | 6.5/10 [15] | N/A |
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK | N/A | N/A | N/A | 5/10 [16] |
The game received "generally unfavorable reviews" on all platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. [4] [5] [6] [7] In Japan, Famitsu gave the DS version a score of one five, one six, and two fives, for a total of 21 out of 40. [9]
Despite the negative reviews, in 2006 the game won an Annie Award for the best animated video game. [17]
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer is a 2005 action-adventure video game which serves as an alternative sequel to the animated film The Incredibles (2004) as well as its associated video game tie-in. The GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions were developed by Heavy Iron Studios, while Beenox handled the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions, and the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions was developed by Helixe. A PlayStation Portable version developed by Pacific Coast Power & Light was also announced but never released. It features Mr. Incredible and Frozone fighting The Underminer's legion of robot minions. The game features cameo appearances by the rest of the Incredibles, though they are not playable characters and have no spoken lines. John Ratzenberger reprises his role of the Underminer in the video game, while Craig T. Nelson and Samuel L. Jackson are replaced by Richard McGonagle and Philip Lawrence as Mr. Incredible and Frozone, respectively. This is the first Pixar game to earn an E10+ rating by the ESRB.
Flushed Away is a 2006 animated adventure comedy film directed by Sam Fell and David Bowers, produced by Cecil Kramer, David Sproxton, and Peter Lord, and written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd, Joe Keenan and Will Davies. It was the third and final DreamWorks Animation film co-produced with Aardman Features following Chicken Run (2000) and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and was the first Aardman project mostly made in CGI animation as opposed to starting with their usual stop-motion – this was because using water on plasticine models could damage them, and it was complex to render the effect in another way. The film stars the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Shane Richie, Bill Nighy, Andy Serkis and Jean Reno. In the film, a pampered fancy rat named Roddy St. James (Jackman) is flushed down the toilet in his Kensington apartment by a sewer rat named Sid (Richie), and befriends a scavenger named Rita Malone (Winslet) in order to get back home while evading a sinister toad (McKellen) and his hench-rats.
Legend of Kay is a 2005 platform video game developed by Neon Studios and published by JoWood Productions for the PlayStation 2. An abridged version of the game for the Nintendo DS by Firehazard Studio was released in 2010.
FIFA Street 2 is the 2006 sequel to the EA Sports video game FIFA Street. A new "trick stick beat" system was introduced and new authentic tricks were also introduced. The game was released for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and mobile phones. The player on the game cover is Portugal international Cristiano Ronaldo.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare is a video game published by Konami for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and Nintendo DS, based on the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series.
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning is a 2006 action-adventure video game in the Spyro series. It is the first installment in The Legend of Spyro trilogy. The game was released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and mobile.
Madden NFL 07 is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the first in the video game series to debut for the PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles as launch titles and the last Madden game to be released on the Game Boy Advance. Former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander is on the cover.
Justice League Heroes is a 2006 console video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms. It was developed by Snowblind Studios, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in conjunction with DC Comics and was distributed in Europe by Eidos Interactive. Based on the long-running comic book series Justice League, it was written by comic book writer Dwayne McDuffie. It uses the Snowblind Studios game engine.
Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island is an action-adventure video game developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment, Halfbrick (GBA), Natsume (DS), published by THQ, and it is the sequel to the 2005 video game Nicktoons Unite!. The game was first released on October 24, 2006.
Open Season is an action-adventure game, based on the film of the same name. It was released for Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, Xbox 360, Xbox, Nintendo DS, and GameCube. The Nintendo DS version supports the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. The game was a launch title for the Wii.
Happy Feet is an action-adventure game based on the comedy movie of the same name. It was released in 2006 by Midway (publisher) and A2M (developer) for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii, and Microsoft Windows. Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Elizabeth Daily, Dee Bradley Baker, and Carlos Alazraqui all reprise their voice roles from the film.
The Incredibles is an action-adventure video game based on Pixar's 2004 film of the same name developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ. The game was released for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Mac OS X, PlayStation 2, Windows and Xbox. Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Fox (Dash), Sarah Vowell (Violet), and Jason Lee are the only actors to reprise their roles from the film, with the rest of the cast, including Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter, being replaced with other voice actors - the original movie dialogue and can be heard in cutscenes taken directly from the film. The game's music was composed by Michael Giacchino, who also scored the film. The console versions of the game received a T rating from the ESRB, making this the only Pixar video game to receive that rating.
Iron Man is an action-adventure video game based on the 2008 movie of the same name as well as the classic iterations of the character. It was released by Sega on May 2, 2008 to coincide with the release of the movie in cinemas for Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Windows.
Jackass: The Game is a party video game based on the MTV reality stunt show of the same name. It was developed by Sidhe for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, while the Nintendo DS version was developed by Sensory Sweep Studios. The game was published by Red Mile Entertainment.
Cartoon Network Racing is a racing video game developed by Eutechnyx for PlayStation 2 and Firebrand Games for Nintendo DS, published by Danish video game developer The Game Factory, and released on December 4, 2006, in North America, and on February 9, 2007, in Europe. The gameplay is similar to Nintendo's 2003 game Mario Kart: Double Dash, but the characters and racetracks are all from six of Cartoon Network's original animated television series: Courage the Cowardly Dog, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, I Am Weasel, Johnny Bravo, and The Powerpuff Girls.
Ratatouille is a 2007 platform video game developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ. It is based on the Pixar animation film of same name.
The Sims 2: Castaway is the third console spin-off of the life simulation video game The Sims 2 for the Wii, Nintendo DS (NDS), PlayStation 2 (PS2) and PlayStation Portable (PSP). It is also available on mobile phones; Nokia offered Castaway on the Ovi Store. A roughly similar game, The Sims Castaway Stories, is available for personal computers, but is not a direct port of Castaway.
Bee Movie Game is a video game based on the DreamWorks-animated movie Bee Movie. The game was released on October 30, 2007. Beenox developed the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows versions of the game, Smart Bomb Interactive developed the Wii version, and Vicarious Visions developed the Nintendo DS version. As Barry B. Benson, players take on an adventure to save the bees' production of honey through New York City. Players get to experience Barry's life within the hive and navigate their way around the world from the feature film using many techniques. Players can drive through the city using race cars, scooters, taxicabs, and trucks. Players can "fly" Barry at high speed through the sky. Using the Pollinator, players can Blast through obstacles or they can Buzz to cause a chain reaction. Players get to Stop Time by using Barry's bee reflexes. The video game features 2-person multiplayer minigames. Jerry Seinfeld, John Goodman, Patrick Warburton, and Tress MacNeille reprise their voices from the movie in this game.
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno is a 2008 video game based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Like the previous two games which were set in the first and second seasons, the game's setting is based upon the show's third and final season. The Wii version was released on October 13, 2008 in North America and on November 1, 2008 in the UK. A PS2 version is also available and was released on October 31, 2008 in the UK.
Frogger: The Great Quest is a platform game developed and published by Konami. It is part of the Frogger series, and was initially released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, before being ported to Microsoft Windows the following year. It was also released for the Game Boy Advance with the title Frogger Advance: The Great Quest.