Ratatouille (2007)

I am on a journey to beat 360 random Xbox 360 games. Here's my next adventure.

Game number 24 was Ratatouille. This is a 3D platformer collectathon game, similar to Nintendo 64 era games, such as Banjo Kazooie. You play as Remy as he platforms around different stages, collecting tokens and helping Linguini to make the best dishes in the restaurant.

The story of this game loosely follows the movie. The tutorial stage is set up in the French countryside, at the old lady’s house at the start of the movie, but the rest of the stages are all different places in Gusteaus’ restaurant. The main purpose of the game is to essentially pull off a bunch of food heists. The rats are all searching for important ingredients so that they can make good dishes. I guess this also helps Linguini out because he becomes a better chef due to Remy.

The platforming is honestly pretty good. Jumping around feels solid and you can climb ropes and balance on tiny points of interest as if Remy is a long lost member of the Cooper Clan. I didn’t go for 100%, but most of the collectable tokens seemed out in the open and didn’t give me too much trouble to collect. I guess that’s because it is a kids game, but it also never felt like the game was looking down on me because of that.

In order to do the main line missions, you need to collect a certain amount of tokens in each of the areas. Most of the time I had enough tokens to get through and I rarely was sitting around forced to collect a bunch more tokens.

Throughout each of the stages there are an abundance of mini games. Some of these mini games will reward you with 10 tokens and others will reward you with extra ingredients. These games are all pretty bad. Most of them either involve smashing bugs while rolling a ball around or quick time events. If these mini games were mandatory to progress the story, then I would probably take a point off because of them… but they are all optional, so do them if you want.

After each of the main chapters is complete, Remy doesn’t fight a boss, but instead is involved in a chase scene. Imagine Crash Bandicoot, when the giant ball is chasing him towards the screen. These chase scenes go on for FOREVER and they are actually pretty difficult. I died a few times on each of them. They do have a good amount of checkpoints and aren’t too difficult to start becoming annoying though. I kinda don’t wish they were here… but they aren’t terrible either.

Overall, I am actually surprised at how good this game was. Don’t get me wrong, it's not a masterpiece; but I think the Xbox 360 is lacking in games of the 3D platformer genre. I thought this was a breath of fresh air from all the FPS and 3PS games I have been playing and I genuinely think that it succeeds in being a good kids game, as well as a good movie tie in. Don’t rush out to play it, but maybe give it a try if you see it in the bargain bin for 5-10 bucks. (7/10)

I spent 5 hours, 56 min, and 44 sec playing Ratatouille.

I have spent a total of 243 hours and 49 minutes on the Road to 360 challenge so far.

Next Game (my choice): Eternal Sonata

Forgot I had this game tbh. I Remember getting this game during Easter and kept playing it each spring for a couple of years before forgetting it exist. It was made from the same people who made BFBB, and it was incredibly fun.

The game is a simple Platformer with the Ratatouille IP attached to it, obviously. the game is fun as any Platformer game is from that era, and it's got some... well... "fun puzzles" is not how I'd put it, but they did the job and were serviceable enough.

the "dreaming" stages were challenging as a Kids platformer games can get. the cutscene are not that bad, the presentation is amazing following the movie it's based on, and the graphics on the PC/PS2 versions were colorful and warm.

It's a decent game but it can end in less than 3 hours. very short experience. I wouldn't say go out and hunt it, but if you seen it for dirt cheap then grab it. it's not a bad deal.