I'm not sure if Legos would have helped this one.

Xbox 360/PS3: Believe it or not, I actually played the first Chronicles of Narnia game based on The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe that released when that film launched, and I will say that Prince Caspian is definitely an improvement on the previous title.

That improvement probably has a lot to do with the development team behind Prince Caspian, Traveller's Tales, best known for their Lego adaptations of other popular films, including the recently released Indiana Jones title. They manage to make Prince Caspian a pretty enjoyable experience, but not without its fair share of flaws.

If you're not too familiar with the C.S. Lewis fantasy universe, the rundown is pretty simple. A bunch of kids hitch a ride into a mysterious land filled with talking creatures, various armies, and a whole lot of conflict. In Prince Caspian, they find themselves back in Narnia, but thrust forward in time by about 1300 years. An evil King has subjugated the friendly talking animals, and the young Prince Caspian is now the champion of the story, with the plot revolving around his attempt to overthrow the current ruler.

There's a bit of Traveller's Tales Lego titles that shine thru in Prince Caspian as well. The playable character list is pretty large for a simple movie adaptation title, with the list of characters going up to 20. Also, the combat is streamlined and simple, with nothing in the way of weapon upgrades, new moves, or equipment management. You'll occasionally get to use a powered up weapon or two, but the combat is definitely not deep. While I would have preferred to see a bit more depth to things, it would be an easy game for a kid to jump into and pick up on, and I can imagine that's what Traveller's Tales was going for here.

Visually it's not going to blow you away. Everyone or thing is modeled after its film counterpart, and the actor's portrayed in the game are pretty spot on to how they look in the movie. The music is also ripped straight from the score of the film, and manages to capture an appropriate "epic" feel, but it doesn't quite reach the style or grace of other more notable composers, such as Howard Shore or John Williams. It's suitable enough, but nothing that feels particularly gripping.

The game is played out over 6 stages, but the actions and goals of each of these locations ends up getting pretty repetitive towards the end of the journey. While the majority of the game is made up of simple hack and slash mechanics, you'll also have various goals to complete, but most of them just end up being "kill x amount of these" or "clear this area of all enemies", which definitely gets pretty bland after a while. There are some simple puzzles thrown into the mix, but they're not nearly involved enough to really test your skill or make you feel like you're doing something other than pushing a lever, or moving a box from here to there. And, like in their Lego titles, Traveller's Tales makes use of particular character abilities to overcome most of the puzzles, which still doesn't require a whole lot of thought.

All together, Prince Caspian ends up being a slightly above average romp on home consoles that won't be too challenging for the age group of 13 and above. If you're a huge Narnia fan, and I'm sure those people are out there, then yeah, you'll probably enjoy this. However, it never really excels at being anything other than a simple movie tie in game, and fails to really make the player do much more than go thru the basic gaming motions. If you're looking for something with a bit more meat to it, then Prince Caspian isn't the title for you. A nice, simple game for the younger crowd to be sure, but it won't keep the attention of most of us for long.

Overall 58%

Prince Caspian on the DS is definitely a different beast. Developed on this platform by Fall Line Studio, this entry feels more like an Action RPG then a simple Hack and Slash adventure.

The majority of the game is played using touch screen controls, simply done by requiring the user to follow the on screen command prompts. The controls are definitely responsive, but you're not going to see Ninja Gaiden DS complexity with the fighting here. Along with having a large number of film characters to pick from, you're given 6 different classes to choose (think Archer, Knight, etc), each with their own particular abilities and touch screen controls. However, it's more involved than the console version, especially with the unique ability to intercept incoming attacks by paying attention to your enemies, which will give a telltale sign by emitting a slight glow before they are ready to launch their attacks. If you manage to intercept properly, you're given a small cinematic sequence and a definite advantage in battle. You can also come across a variety of items to use in combat, something that the home console versions also lack.

Combat is definitely the highlight of the game, and it really blows away the home versions when it comes to that. However, the rest of the title is pretty standard fare. This is actually my preferred version of the game, and if they had chosen to focus solely on the large-scale film battles it probably would have been a better game than it turned out to be. It's something that I would like to see fleshed out a bit more, with less of the boring and completely uneventful walking sections and side quests. If they wanted to make Prince Caspian into a pure action title that would have worked pretty well with the foundation they had built into the combat system.

Overall 72%