Majesco's interactive version of the hit film is more enjoyable in portable form, and best suited for younger fans.

Game Summary

Popzara Rating

Its hard to recommend Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian for older DS gamers, but the younger set should find a simple and entertaining platformer that features some familiar franchise characters from the films they know and enjoy. At the very least it's not riddled with bugs, and the number of unlockable features call for some changes of pace throughout, even if they are just enhanced regular game mechanics. Anyone older than the age of 10, though? You should probably just stick to seeing the movie. Release Date: 05/05/09 ESRB Rating: E Publisher: Majesco

Written by Brittany Vincent

It's no secret that movie games are usually terrible, no matter what quality the movie in question may be. While the original Night at the Museum was a light, family comedy, I still have not gotten to see its sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. It is with an open mind that I enter the DS translation of the same name. While it doesn't offer anything new or exciting to us veteran gamers, it should be an interesting diversion for younger gamers.

Battle of the Smithsonian is set two years after the original movie, where Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) conquered three night guards in a falling-out. These days, he's head of Daley Devices, a company headed by none other than himself in order to keep pumping out his inventions smoothly. As it turns out, the American Museum of Natural History, where he experienced his madcap adventures in the first movie, is being closed for renovation. The familiar museum exhibits that he had come to know and love are being transported to the Smithsonian Institution located in Washington, DC. After paying a visit to the museum on its last night, Larry discovers that many of the exhibits will not, in fact, be moving to Washington. This means that the exhibits they accompany will cease to be animated. 

After taking this all in, the next night Larry is contacted by Jedidiah (Owen Wilson), and informed that an important tablet has been stolen. Kahmunrah is attacking it thief in Washington, and Larry hops a plane in hopes to stop the fierce battle. For the sake of the game (I can't confirm this as the movie's story), the tablet is shattered into several different pieces. Larry must collect small, glimmery pieces of the power released from within the tablet in order to circumvent certain disaster. With that, the game begins.

Contrary to popular belief, this actually isn't a puzzler. Shocking, right? While there are some minigame elements sprinkled throughout, Battle of the Smithsonian is a platformer at heart. Players take up the mantle of Larry as he treks through the Smithsonian, collecting small, glowing pieces of the broken tablet in order to prevent certain disaster. These little balls of sparklies are essentially power-ups, though they don't really do anything other than up your collectible count. Most of the game consists of typical platforming action involving jumps, double-jumps, and special moves made possible through different types of "ingots," moves granted by various members of the museum. You can earn wings in order to glide through the air and reach unreachable platforms, or perform powered-up versions of moves already available. While these tend to add a touch of individuality, they do little by way of making you feel as if you're really being imbued with some kind of special, ancient power.

The digital rendering of Larry is absolutely atrocious, along with the rest of the characters, to be honest. It's a bit disheartening, as 3D models look fantastic in games like Avalon Code and Final Fantasy III's DS reimagining. These characters and even the environments are very flat and nondescript - why should I choose this platformer over any other out there? I certainly wouldn't, but to the younger set graphics likely aren't an issue and they'll be head over heels in love with the fact that they can play as their hero from Night at the Museum.

There is no voice-acting, so you're relegated to poring over text throughout your adventure. However, the score is excellent - they must have borrowed it from the actual movie. It's appropriately punchy and epic, giving off an aura of astuteness that you wouldn't expect from a licensed movie game.

Even though this isn't exactly one of the greatest games out there, you shouldn't really fret. It's extremely short and can be finished under 6 hours or sooner depending on how much time you have to sit and journey through the museum. Because of this, it's standard DS title price point is a bit much, especially since it's overly easy and even children are likely to power through it at this rate. An in-game percentage updates every time you save, so when you've played the game for 2 minutes and it's sitting at 17%, you should be clued off that something is amiss.

Its hard to recommend Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian for older DS gamers, but the younger set should find a simple and entertaining platformer that features some familiar franchise characters from the films they know and enjoy. At the very least it's not riddled with bugs, and the number of unlockable features call for some changes of pace throughout, even if they are just enhanced regular game mechanics. Anyone older than the age of 10, though? You should probably just stick to seeing the movie.