Ratatouille Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

Is that a rat in your hat or do you just have a big head?

Here's the game about the film that's about a rat. Where do we start? Well it's a branded game so let’s start there. The film is all about a hapless chef who can't cook unless he's got a rat under his hat giving him instructions. Much hilarity and cooking comedy ensues and everyone has a good time in this box office hit. Unsurprisingly, a mobile game has been released to add a little more to the merchandising revenue.

Ratatouille the game won't be following the film to the number one spot. There is hardly any comedy and Remy the rat barely makes an appearance. This could have been a game of Hell's Kitchen and we wouldn't have noticed the difference. The game's focus is all about the cooking. The aim is to take the orders and prepare the food as quickly and correctly as possible. The only Ratatouille inspired moments are the necessity to avoid other chefs who may notice the rat in the hat.

The playing area is a split into a number of cooking stations and storage areas. Each station is numbered from 1 to 9 and the game revolves around pressing the correct buttons to get the eggs out of the fridge, fry them and then place on a plate while your toast is burning and the vegetables need chopping. It can be a frantic game and in that sense is a decent kitchen simulation. However, we were expecting some fun and there is very little of it here which is bound to disappoint many fans. Apart from a few graphic stills in between levels there is little connecting this game to the film.

Ignoring the lack of continuity between film and game, Ratatouille isn't too bad. The graphics and sound are very basic but the gameplay is challenging if you like that sort of thing. To encourage replay, the game has a ranking system together with a statistics section. Unfortunately, the high levels of concentration required do not make for an attractive game regardless of my cooking expertise.