Problematic AI takes the fun out of this one.

So after playing the first two levels of THQ's Up (based on the Pixar film of course), my initial impression was, hey, this is a Lego game without the actual Lego pieces. Specifically, it was bringing Lego Batman to mind, with the whole teamwork aspect of Russell and Carl (old guy, kid). Unfortunately, by the time I got to the Anaconda boss on the 3rd stage or so, I realized that this game couldn't hold a candle to Lego Batman, at least as far as partner AI and overall ease of play goes.

The game is based around the events of the film; this isn't one of those movie titles that tries for a back-story, prequel, or quick sequel tie-in. It seems to follow the plot pretty closely, but opts for these old-time newsreel approaches to telling the story in between the 11 levels you'll explore, and while it's not quite as interesting as seeing the thing play out in real-time, it works well enough to get the story across.

You'll start off with direct control over Russ and Carl, and you're able to switch between the two on the fly. Also, the game supports a second player locally, so you have someone in control of one of the characters at all time if you want. Switching around in a single player game is easy though, and generally the AI of the other player will keep up with you, but I'll get into the frustration the AI would give me in a bit too. Most of the levels are adventure based, with some light puzzle solving and a lot of item collection going on. There are badges, or coins that you can collect that'll unlock cards that have certain requirements to fulfill. These are the objects you'll see the most of, as just about everything you can destroy in the environment will yield some. There are other hidden objects in the levels, like Carl's mementos, or other treasures, that go towards your level completion and the badge cards. Finally, both characters have a few special skills that get unlocked as you come across the icons, and they have limited uses depending on how many icons you've picked up. Russell comes with a water bottle that replenishes health, and a trumpet that can stun enemies, while Carl has a hearing aid that repels enemies, and can toss out balloon animals to distract enemies. They're useful in spots, but hardly something that'll aid you all the time, outside of the water bottle health.

The levels themselves are pretty well designed; there are plenty of places that require both Carl and Russell to work together. Carl comes equipped with a cane that serves as a weapon and a tool for getting him up high ledges. Russell can't get up these same ledges, but Carl can be used to lower his cane and pull him up. Russell, on the other hand, can shimmy along thin ledges to get to places Carl can't, and can then toss down some rope to pull Carl up. There are a few other teamwork options that pop up too, and you'll be using these on a pretty constant basis.

Unfortunately, the AI tends to work against you, especially at times when you really need it to speed the hell up. The Anaconda fight is my first real example, where you need to get Russell up on a ledge and extend his rope for Carl, and then you use Carl as bait. The idea is that you're going to move Carl along the ledge, and when the snake goes to bite him, move him left or right to dodge so that the snake bites an electric eel in the water instead. This works fine for the first two platforms, but then you get to the third platform, which comes equipped with thorn bushes, it all goes to hell. I'd have a small spot open to drop my line to Carl, but he'd either be too slow to move, run into the eels, get attacked by the snake, or simply run into the thorn bushes and get killed. I had to re-do this specific part so many times that it nearly made me quit in frustration. The only real way around it was to position Russell at the top of the ledge and switch control to Carl so that I didn't have to worry about the AI. However, Russell would randomly decide to jump off the ledge and follow me around again, so it didn't quite work out as planned. Eventually I overcame this section, but it really showed the flaws in the AI at a pretty early point in the game.

From there it's just a bunch of little aggravations, like jumping to a platform that begins to fall, and having the AI follow you and actually fall off and die. Death in the game is generally handled well, there's no life limit, and the checkpoints are generous, but there are certain spots that I ran into where if one player died it would force a reset, instead of just simply spawning the dead character again next to the one still alive. It felt sort of random when this occurred, so it was pretty hard to tell what caused it.

Other than the AI issues though, it's a decent enough kids licensed title. It's fairly short, but there is replay value in going back and collecting everything. The first and last levels both incorporate a play change, where you'll pilot Dug (the dog) in a bi-plane, and in engage in dogfights to protect Carl's floating house. This also makes its way into the multiplayer side of the game, that lets four local users battle it out in a variety of maps and three game types, including one that's a co-op mode that has you fighting against a giant blimp. They're not the best multiplayer modes out there, but I was surprised to see them, and with a full group they can be fun for an hour or two.

If you enjoyed the movie, I'd say the game is worth checking out, but beware that it can really aggravate you at certain points. I'm not sure I'd suggest buying it right off the bat; I would definitely go with a rental first.