Code Lyoko

Based on the fourth season of the popular French series by the same name, Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity follows the story of five school kids who find themselves battling in virtual reality against an evil computer set on world domination. Think of it as “Matrix-Babies,” but instead of baby Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishbourne running around in diapers dodging bullets, you have five wiry, feline-esque kids with disproportionately sized foreheads. Scan the Digital Sea readers, and “get ready to virtualize”!!!

The game starts out as a point-and-click adventure on the kids’ school campus, and uses the same animation as Code Lyoko uses when portraying the kids as outside of the Matrix – ahem, I mean electronic city. As you navigate the schoolyard with your Wii-mote, you’ll see that all of the options are inside the various buildings. You can click on characters standing around and listen to their dialogue as they supplement the main story. The schoolyard is essentially your hub between missions, so as the story progresses you can interact with new characters after each mission and learn more about their trivial problems. This works well to an extent, but it would have been much better to see real cartoon animation, like the show uses, instead of static cut-outs with dialogue boxes. Also, the voice actors playing the kids sound like they’re 40 years old… A little creepy.

The meat of the game takes place within virtual reality, across levels that very much resemble those featured in the half-CG, half-animated cartoon. And while I realize that this resemblance is fairly accurate, the levels themselves still look exceedingly bland and untextured. When you fly through the Digital Sea and shoot the various squid-like monsters – Matrix? – you’ll see their basic geometric polygons blast apart like you were playing the Virtual Boy. Oh yeah, I went there. And just from a basic artistic standpoint, the models just don’t have any detail. And even while the levels and characters look like they’re from a PS1 game, the frame-rate and animation is just about as good. As soon as two enemies appear, expect the frame-rate to spit and sputter along until you beat them.

“Ah yes. Bland geometric shapes”

The controls for the Wii version are decent. As you switch between your different party members during the level, you will have access to the various skills you need to complete the puzzle. One character might have a laser-sword, so you’ll have to swing the Wii-Mote to make an attack (the controls actually register either a vertical or horizontal swipe). Another two characters will have a gun mechanic, where you’ll aim with the IR and shoot. As you upgrade your characters, they will gain new moves. One in particular has you flapping your arms with the Wii-mote and Nunchuck to fly around. The unlocked moves will allow you to retread otherwise impassable parts of a previous level. While the mechanics work decently, they never uplift what otherwise is a boring, under-produced platformer.

And that really is the problem with this game. Fans of the series will probably love it, as it plays out just like the cartoon. The relative variety of gameplay mechanics will satisfy even the most hyper-active youngster for a while, but overall there is just a feeling of a lack of polish, and sub-par production values. If you play a platformer like Mario Galaxy, and then sit down for this game, you will witness night and day in terms of game design.

Gameplay: 7.0
Makes adequate use of the Wii-mote and the motions and IR don’t feel tacked on.

Graphics: 5.0
The environments, while somewhat true to the TV show, nevertheless are without character and punch; the 2-D animation scenes are just cutouts with text boxes. Yawwnnn…

Sound: 6.5
The voice acting is laughable and the music is forgettable; however, since I haven’t scene the show I can’t say if it’s accurate.

Difficulty: Easy
Designed for young kids this game is a breeze

Concept: 7.0
The game has the pace of a cartoon show and seems to reflect its source material.

Overall: 5.0
This is a game that will probably appeal just to the core Code Lyoko fan-base.  From a gaming standpoint, however, this game is near the bottom. The $40 price point is a plus if you’re going to buy, but I suggest giving it a quick rent first.