Lemony Snicket`s A Series of Unfortunate Events Review for Xbox

Title: Lemony Snicket`s A Series of Unfortunate Events .............................................. Publisher: Activision .............................................. Developer: 2015 .............................................. Release: 11/10/2004 .............................................. Xbox Live: No .............................................. ESBR: Everyone (E) ..............................................

Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events is an Activision game based off of the movie. As the story goes, a mysterious fire killed the parents of three small children. The fire destroyed their mansion and will eventually ruin part of their lives. After this very unfortunate event, the orphan kids, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are forced to live with Count Olaf. Count Olaf, is very sneaky and villainous man. He has only one thing in mind, the fortune that their parents left behind. Olaf cares nothing about the children and orders them around every chance he gets. Now it is your opportunity to play the adventure game and keep Count Olaf away while trying to live a normal life.

Gameplay

The game and movie, because it was based on a children's book, is geared toward a younger crowd. The gameplay, story, and characters in the game are all geared toward children and is an excellent adventure type game. With all kinds of places to explore this is the perfect game for a young adventurer.

The characters are one of the most interesting parts of the game. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny all have their own unique characteristics and all serve special purposes throughout the game. For example, Violet is one of the brightest and makes all of the inventions that you will use through each challenge of the game. She can turn everyday items such as garden hoses, shoe strings, and pool toys into working machines. On the other hand, Klaus is extremely good at actually solving the numerous puzzles through the game. He is also very book smart and reads all kinds of books. Sunny, is the infant of the three siblings and is sometimes the most useful. She can crawl into small places, and get the job done where nobody else can go. Sunny also has razor sharp teeth that she uses to bite through all kinds of obstacles. Throughout the game you will find here chewing through steel pipes, tree trucks, and any other obstruction that gets in her path.

As you play through the game with the different characters, one of your often objectives is to find materials for the next invention. Inventions are extremely useful in the game and are used through the rest of the game once built. There are over six inventions that all have around four to six parts each. Once you have obtained all of the needed items you will be able to assemble the machine. You will then be taken to a screen where Violet will explain exactly how to build the machine. Then all you need to do is rotate the objects and find out what items go where. Once the machine is fully built you will have to use it right then, and throughout the rest of your adventure.

The inventions are only usable by one of the three siblings. The first invention that you will make is called the Brilliant Bopper. This is a basic weapon that can be used against any other enemy in the game. It consists of a punching glove, a spring, a coffee can, and a broom. Once assembled, Klaus will be able to take out any enemy in site by simply pressing a button. Violet's main form of attack is a device called the Fruit Flinger. It is powered by a fan and several other everyday objects and shoots tomatoes out of a funnel. Although it sounds cheesy, it seems to take down bees, frogs, and other annoying creatures just fine. Sunny, the baby of the siblings, is stuck with only one invention. Sunny uses the baby booster to get around. With a fire extinguisher and a few other items, it gives Sunny that extra few feet she needs to clear the jump, or the extra leg power to push over huge objects.

Besides building and using the inventions there are also a number of different boss stages in the game. In these areas of the game your opponents will range from a cook, to an angry swarm of bees, to a giant spider. For the average gamer these boss stages are extremely easy to complete. However, since the game is geared toward the younger gamers it is quite obvious that the difficulty has been toned down a good bit. This is also evident throughout most of the game. If a new problem arises almost instantly a character will say an obvious hint. Unless you are just slow, or of the younger crowd in this case, the hints give away exactly what you are supposed to do next and the hints are always obvious.

Graphics

The overall graphics are just so and so. There are really no revolutionary effects but they do get the job done, and give the game the adventure type feel. The best and most detailed part of the graphics would have to be the environment in which you play. Throughout the game you will travel through gardens, houses, trees, and even through old cellars. The detail and the different effects in these various areas are great. The most impressing part of the world would have to be the gardens with extra tall grass filled with rocks and plants, or the old cellars with nasty rats and green steamy waste everywhere.

Audio

The audio department is just about the same as the graphics of the game. They are good and all but nothing compared to some of the best Xbox games available. There are a great number of sound effects and background music throughout the game that gives the game an excellent fell. The characters are also portrayed very well from the move. All of the characters, and mostly Count Olaf have great voice acting and makes the characters feel just like the characters from the movie.

Overall

Overall, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is an excellent adventure game for the younger gamers. The story line is great and will have you playing through to see what all these children will have to live through next. The number of different inventions you can create is quite fun and even more fun to use. If you are looking for the next action packed adventure game such as Tomb Raider, this is definitely not the game for you. It would be best to pick this game up for your little brother or sister.

6.9 Overall Score  Fun 7.5  Gameplay 7  Graphics 6  Sound 6  Replay 5

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Xbox Core Rating System