The Spiderwick Chronicles - DS/DSi

Games of books, it seems, don't get made. The gaming world needs a film to come along first. Hence we have here the game of the film of the book, The Spiderwick Chronicles, written by Tony DiTerlizzi then directed by Mark Waters of Mean Girls fame.

The Chronicles themselves are a veritable encyclopaedia of the fantasy world lurking just beneath the surface of our own. Originally found and then written up by Arthur Spiderwick, the volume has fallen into the hands of identical twins Simon and Jared along with their older sister Mallory, who have moved into the decrepit Spiderwick Estate. With them, players will move into the world of the supernatural to tussle with goblins and run around after sprites.

Combat takes the form of traditional turn based RPG battling. The view is top down (and your character can be controlled with the stylus) while you're out exploring, but when nasties come into view and a fight's on, the action switches to a side-on view. Each attack or defence comes with a mini game to optimise your performance. Trace a pattern correctly with the stylus and you might maximise your attack, but fail to get it right when you're on the defensive and you'll find yourself taking more damage than you might have done.

You never know what's lurking at the end of your garden, it might be safer to explore it in The Spiderwick Chronicles... more