Lemony Snicket's A Series of 
Unfortunate Events
review by The Shape

To start out I have never read the Lemony Snicket series of books that this video game is based on – only seen the movie. The movie was fantastic – very Tim Burton feeling – and Jim Carrey was unbelievable as the nasty Count Olaf.

After I saw the movie and heard that there was a video game based on the movie/books and that the game had the voice talent of Jim Carrey (reprising his role as the despicable Count Olaf) and Tim Curry (as Lemony Snicket) I had to run out and get it.

L.S. A Series of Unfortunate Events follows the lives of the three Baudelaire children (Klaus, Violet and Sunny) who have recently become orphans after their parents die in a mysterious fire. The children are placed in the care of their long lost uncle Count Olaf – who as it is turns out is only caring for the children to get their enormous inheritance their parents have left behind. Olaf is an actor who is over the top and has a band of worker bee actors that follow him around and listen to his every word. It turns out that (SPOILER) Count Olaf started the fire that killed their parents and is now trying to kill them as well to get their inheritance money. Nice premise for a children’s book or movie!

That brings us to the game play. During the course of the game you control each of the three Baudelaire children as you search for clues, items and hidden rooms. You get to hit various pests and villains with your arsenal of weapons that consists of boxing glove, fruit and peppermint candies. Sound a little wimpy – well this game is really targeted for children. My kids had a blast playing it and thought it was amazing. Older folk who dig on Resident Evil and Halo might find the game play on the simple side. The challenges – not very challenging, and the villains – not very villainy.

On the plus side (and there are a lot of pluses to this game) – the graphics are excellent; the worlds from the movie/books were recreated in the game to amazing detail. The atmosphere in most of the game is very creepy, and ominous – always a plus. Tim Curry interjects constantly with witty one-liners after you have unsuccessfully tried to clear an area or complete a mission. The controls are fantastic and the characters very easy to maneuver. The mini-missions on each level were fun and interesting – not very difficult but I have to say again that this game is probably meant for kids.

I only have two real complaints about this game. One is the fact that there should have been video from the movie included in the game. The transitions from one mission to the next are pictures that are sketched on-screen as Tim Curry narrates what is happening. Very cool looking at first but wears real thin after the third time you see it and leaves you wishing this was movie clips instead. Would much preferred seeing Jim Carrey act as Count Olaf or any of the characters he plays in the movie rather than a black and white picture being sketched in front of me. The other problem is that the game was very short – I logged in at about 4 –5 hours. With the game play being on the easy side – the missions should have been longer as a regular gamer can breeze through this in no time.

Fans of the books or movie will enjoy the game – even in its simplicity. The atmosphere and graphics alone are reason enough to play.

Bottom line – quick but fun.