Monsters vs. Aliens review

We review Monsters vs. Aliens, the official mobile game of the new 3D CGI movie from Dreamworks

Published on Sep 3, 2009

CGI family films aren’t made for kids any more- not exclusively anyway. They’re always full of references and in-jokes to try and get the adults laughing just as much as the kids. Complete with a 50ft woman and a gang of monsters, the fact that Monsters vs. Aliens is in 3D is just the cherry on top of this B movie-like film. It’s starting to sound more like a 50s drive-in move that a kiddie flick.

Monsters vs. Aliens roughly follows the plot of the movie, with the game’s 10 levels featuring two different types of gameplay. The first sees you playing as Susan, or Ginormica as she’s also known, the woman who has been turned into a giant after having been hit by a radioactive meteor. You run across a side-scrolling cityscape, scaling buildings and saving tiny little innocent people trapped on top of skyscrapers from the giant alien that’s slowly following behind you.

The other half of the game casts you as The Missing Link, a fighty little monster who takes out aliens with his fists rather than saving the innocent. His levels play out more like those of a standard platform game than Susan’s- lots of running and jumping.

The two level types marry together well. Each acts as a breather for the other, making Monsters vs. Aliens a game that’s very easy to play through in a single session without getting remotely bored. That’s not a massive stretch though, as the game is really quite short.

Each of the ten levels can be completed in a few minutes, resulting in a total playtime that’s shorter than the film itself. There’s no strong incentive to re-play either, with each level’s objective being to finish it and little else.

While it lasts though, Monsters vs. Aliens is a pleasant distraction that’s well positioned in its difficulty as a breezy, easy-going title that’s suited to the film’s audience. It’s one of the better mobile game film adaptations, but the lack of longevity means it’s worth checking out something else if you’re not buying the game, at least to some extent, to re-visit the movie.