Wallace and Gromit - Project Zoo (Xbox)

The simple plots finds the evil Feathers McGraw taking control of the local zoo--and more notably locking up all the infant animals. They need saving and that's where our heroic duo come in. To rescue them, there's an entertaining platform game in the way, with some little diversions and mini-arcade games to keep things ticking along.

It's well put together too: the graphics are strong and the interjections of the two lead characters, especially in the numerous cut scenes, will frequently raise a chuckle. The levels pit you against many of McGraw's gang and, as you'd expect, there are numerous items to collect and lots to explore. A nice added feature is that Wallace can turn some of the objects into some batty invention to help you on your way.

It's a very easy game to get into and while the action won't get your pulse pounding, Project Zoo sets it stall out early as a provider of some good, leisurely, family-friendly entertainment. That it captures the flavour of Wallace & Gromit so well is a very welcome bonus. --Simon Brew

The game itself is standard platform variety but the graphics, camera views and control system are good. You play as Gromit with Wallace following along making useful inventions as he goes. The earlier levels are as the first reviewer has said fairly easy as you strive to free trapped animals in the Zoo. Later things become harder but throughout the game is fun. You can save the game at any point so don't have to worry about reaching save points.

A good game for the family, with appeal also for adult fans of the Wallace and Gromit films.


Solid platform/puzzler   October 5, 2003
18 out of 18 found this review helpful

Wallace and Gromit's outing onto the consoles (and soon the PC) is, for the most part, a great success. The visuals are very close to those of the original animations, doing a great job of mimicking the clay-mation style. In addition, the presence of the original vocal cast adds a great deal of atmosphere. Even better, there are a decent number of samples in there, so that you don't have to listen to the same lines recycled endlessly, as you do in some games.

In terms of gameplay, this perhaps isn't the deepest game ever, but it knows what it wants to do and generally does it very well. The controls are pretty fluid and the camera, while not perfect, is certainly no worse than that in other such games and better than that in many (such as Kingdom Hearts).

The game starts out easy, but quickly gets harder - indeed, it's perhaps a bit too tough in places for the young 'uns. It's a decent length... I've not quite finished it yet, but I can see my first playthrough coming to 10-12 hours. The ability to unlock bonus levels and movie clips gives it some degree of replayability, although I don't expect it to compare to Kingdom Hearts in this respect.

In short, this is a solid platformer - perhaps one of the best we've seen this year - and does what it sets out to do very well.