Open Season (Wii)

In a nutshell:
Just like the movie, Boog the bear and Elliot the deer are just trying to get home, but there’s an endless wilderness and an army of hunters in their way.

The lowdown:
There’s not a movie worth its salt, particularly not a CGI kid’s movie that would dare walk the merchandising catwalk without a video game adaptation. The problem is most of them aren’t very good and despite some fun moments Open Season doesn’t really do much to stand out from the crowd. What’s annoying is that Boog actually has a number of interesting abilities, like throwing skunks as stun grenades and squirrels as nut firing gun turrets, but by the time you’ve unlocked them all it’s almost the end of the game. This means for most of the time you’re just carrying out dull fetch quests, which is fine for fans of the movie but won’t be for everyone else.

Most exciting moment:
The most enjoyable sections of the game all revolve around impromptu chase sequences, with mine cart races, mountaintop escapes and a white water rapids ride down a river on the remains of an outside toilet.

Since you ask:
Another highlight of the game is a number of fun unlockable mini-games, including such unlikely tasks as competitive flower picking and log rolling, which you can also play in four-player mode with friends.

The bottom line:
One for fans of the movie only.- HARRISON DENT