The Chronicles of Narnia hands-on preview and screenshots

[Everlost_MI]

Cube.IGN (http://cube.ign.com/) has posted a hands-on preview (http://cube.ign.com/articles/636/636862p2.html) and screenshots of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for your viewing pleasure.

Here's a bit from the preview:
The director of the film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Andrew Adamson, has played a hefty role in the development of the game, according to Buena Vista. In addition to suggesting changes be made to level design, he also instigated several additions in the game, such as a strategy sequence at the end where players will command an army of heroes in the climactic battle between the followers of Aslan and the White Witch. In a cool twist, players will find petrified heroes throughout the game -- the more you find, the greater the army at the end of the game.

Release Date: U.S. 11/15/2005 (DS (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/256334.asp), GBA (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/257195.asp), Gamecube (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/256338.asp), PC (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/257465.asp/), PS2 (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/257072.asp), PSP (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/257076.asp), Xbox (http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/256337.asp))

I liked the books when I was younger and the movie could be interesting. But I am not sure this game is going to be a lot of fun, but that's just me.

[Skookum]

Maintain faith in the Andrew Adamson. Having read this series as a very young child, I'm sure it will seem hopelessly trite now, BUT I still hope he manages to give us something as good as the last Harry Potter flick. CS Lewis 4 teh w1n!

[Murtaug]

Loved the books when I was young, I was in Barnes & Noble a couple of months ago and almost bought the hard cover with all of them in it. Movie I am definitely interested in, looks pretty good from what I have seen so far.

Game.. not really.

[Heretic Machine]

I dunno... the game doesn't sound that bad. Interesting twists instead of a standard movie tie-in action/platformer. I mean, I probably won't buy it.. but it sounds alright.

[51|RandoM]

seven platforms at release. is that a new record?

[Orphiuchus]

I cant wait to see how they handle the strong christian themes from the books in the movie. I'm expecting a world class cop-out.

[Kefkataran]

I cant wait to see how they handle the strong christian themes from the books in the movie. I'm expecting a world class cop-out.

I bet. It's too bad. C.S. Lewis is one of the brightest and most interesting Christian philosophers ever to have written.

[gojira]

I'm kinda dubious of a movie director turned level designer, but I guess you could be dubious of all pre-released games and be mostly right. I'm always pleasently surprised when a game manages to be good. Here's hoping that CoM:TLWW is good.

As for the strong christian themes in much (all?) of Lewis's work, I dunno. C. S. Lewis is so famous for his christianity, and has been for so long, that I can't expect the movie would ignore it entirely. I'd expect to see it downplayed or softened, just to make the movie more appealing to the widest possible audience.

[jacktion]

I don't know how the whole game will play, but I tried a demo at San Diego Comicon recently, and the PS2 version looks amazing. It looks like a PC title. Really impressive. I can't attest for the gameplay though.

[Royal Fool]

I not incredibly interested in the movie, it seems to somehow look kind of... I don't know, uninteresting. Not "epic" enough, for lack of better words. The trailer was pretty good, but I feel like the whole feel of the movie will be broken somehow.

It has a much cleaner, simple and clear-cut fantasy look than Lord of the Rings, I don't know how that will go with the audiences.

[Savok]

I remember the TV show as a kid. Good memories.

[Kefkataran]

It has a much cleaner, simple and clear-cut fantasy look than Lord of the Rings, I don't know how that will go with the audiences.

Well, admittedly, the story itself isn't as epic as Lord of the Rings. Chronicles of Narnia has always seemed a lot smaller and more character-focused than that, especially with the way it has the Christian themes and all underpining it.

[Sir_Brizz]

The preview link goes straight to page 2 :p

Regardless, the screenshots look nice, although I can't really "jive" with the "standard fare for a game this early in it's development". According to the site, the game is to be released in 3 months. That's not "early" if you ask me.

[mister_slim]

I went back and re-read most of the Narnia books a couple years ago, and they hold up pretty well.

Why haven't we seen any Rowling-like complaints that Lewis ripped off the Bible, anyway?

[Kefkataran]

Why haven't we seen any Rowling-like complaints that Lewis ripped off the Bible, anyway?

Well Lewis's story was very specifically and very obviously supposed to be filled with allegory and hints at Biblical events. While Rowling's has similarities to some, I don't think it's specifically supposed to be realted to it.