Based on the Walt Disney animated film, Meet the Parents makes its way over to the gaming world. Developed by Avalanche Software who has developed other “kid” oriented games like Chicken Little and Tak: The Great Juju Challenge, bring the same formula of success over to Meet the Robinsons. This is a time-traveling action adventure game that should please fans of the movie, and younger gamers with a heart for adventure.

Meet the Robinsons is given love to almost all the platforms even including Nintendo’s Gamecube. For this review we’re looking at the Xbox 360 version, but you’d probably be safe with any of the other consoles given its close to a straight port across the board. Meet the Robinsons follows Wilbur Robinson as he travels through time trying to stop the evil Bowler Hat Guy from re-writing history. Sticking closely to the movies plot, Meet the Robinsons the Game will keep you moving with laughter and fun.

Licensed based games have received a bad rep in the past, but lately I think this area of gaming has been improving. Since Meet the Robinsons stays close to the movies plot line, and it’s for a younger audience, you can pretty much guarantee a straight ahead approach in the gameplay. This is true and it great. I wanted a straight ahead game based around the movie, and its here.  What helps Meet the Robinsons besides an interesting plot, is some excellent visuals and who Avalanche tackled the story’s delivery balanced with gaming elements. Meet the Robinsons is an A level production, on par given the medium with the movie.

Meet the Robinsons deviates a little from the movie, focusing the game on Wilbur Robinson instead of the whole family. The young fella seems to love getting into trouble which makes him the perfect candidate for the game. In the beginning of Meet the Robinsons you in ancient Egypt taking a picture in a dangerous tomb that leads to a trap being set and the starting of the games running and platforming aspects. Wilbur narrowly escapes leaving a funny mark in time only to get punished for his actions. The time machine is locked up, and now you have to run around and figure how to get into the garage so you can cause more trouble in time. During this time the supporting characters are set up and you get to know the games mechanics and special interest spots.  The plot roles on and you can easily suspect, Wilbur gets into all sorts of trouble and ends up being a hero. It wouldn’t be Disney without a Disney wrap up in the end.

he controls in Meet the Parents are really easy to grasp along with an easy to navigate fun environments. In an interest twist for a platform styled game, Avalanche has decided to have the character auto-jump over gaps which you’d think defeats the purpose of a platforming game segment. This might be true, but for gamers like me who dislike jumping over thing s for no reason, I welcomed the auto-jump. I could have used this feature in a hundred other games. Meet the Robinsons is every other aspect is running on the standard formula. The puzzle elements that are entered are very simple with mainly object moving, or mazes.  The enemies are easy to defeat and the boss battles are a standard affair. More importantly then a difficulty level is that Meet the Robinsons always remains fun, and doesn’t dwell on one area too long.

The twist in Meet the Robinsons is the ability for Wilbur to create new items, and other hidden items like concept art and action figures. If you’re looking for a little extra in your Meet the Robinsons there is enough extra to keep you keep you busy for a while. Aside from collecting there are two mini games, a Charge ball mini-game that has you advancing in a Charge ball tournament. The other mini-game is an Xbox exclusive addition where you defend the Robinson household from attacking Bowler hats as Carl. This mini-game complete with an Xbox Live Scoreboard is a fixed turret styled game in first person where you quickly jump between the rooms in the mansion shooting everything in site. The achievements that are attached to Meet the Robinsons are mainly level completions, but they also have a bunch relating to the Charge Ball mini game and a few extra ones like the scanning 130 items which if you’re not carful will have you replaying the Meet the Robinsons adventure.

The graphic and audio portion of Meet the Robinsons is excellent. I was impressed at the quality of animation, simple and clear graphics, and top notch audio thrown into this project. At times, licensed games might skim a bit off the top in this regard, but not the Robinsons. This is one fluid game, borrowing animation techniques from the creators of the movie. Meet the Robinsons can’t compare to the movie, but for a game adaptation, it’s damn good. It also helps that Avalanche worked with the full voice over cast from the movies to copycat the feel of the movie. This includes one of my favourite actors, Toronto born, Harland Williams (Half Baked, There’s Something About Mary) and everyone’s favourite Batman, Adam West.  In movie based games having the talent is an important factor, and in Meet the Robinsons case it helps polish up the game and make it a reasonable looking game in comparison with other next generation games.

Meet the Robinsons is a faithful and above average gaming adaptation of Disney’s latest CG movie. Straightforward, fun, and filled with content, Meet the Robinsons is sure to keep a smile on your face while you experience life as Wilbur Robinson. The presentation keeps Meet the Robinsons up to par completing a well rounded game that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Gameplay: 6, Graphics/Sound:7, Innovation: 6, Mojo: 7 Final: 6.5 / 10