Like most kids his age, 12-year old Percy Jackson has a problem.  Actually, he's got several of them, with social anxiety and issues at home routinely making things difficult.  However, unlike most kids his age, Percy just happens to come from a particular lineage - a mythological one, you might say - as our young hero discovers that he's the son of Poseidon, god of the sea.  As it happens, Zeus, King of the Gods, has lost his lightning bolt, and suspects Poseidon's brood as having stolen it.  Hoping to avoid all-out war, Zeus has given young Percy two weeks to prove his innocence by finding and returning this most precious of possessions, conveniently leading to the videogame adaptation of Percy Jackson & The Olympians - The Lightning Thief for the Nintendo DS.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the Percy Jackson phenomenon, it began life as a series of popular young-adult novels by author Rick Riordan, with a serious case of Harry Potter envy, sharing much of the same marketable DNA of J.K. Rowling's franchise, including similar book art, clever names, and (in the case of the movies) even the same director in Christopher Columbus.  While the various videogame adaptations of the respective Harry Potter films haven't been anything to write home about, its pretty clear with Percy's first videogame that he's got a ways to go before catching the 'magic' of the famous wizard.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians - The Lightning Thief is a role-playing game set in an alternative-universe in which Greek gods are real, with the titular Percy (son of Poseidon), Luke (son of Hermes'), and Annabeth (daughter of Athena) battling against the hordes of furies (mythological baddies) and circumstances in order to find and return Zeus' missing lighting bolt. That's more information than you'll find in the game's instruction manual, which is sorely lacking in explaining how this grand adventure begins, or even how to go about playing.  Thankfully, some of these issues are alleviated through an early tutorial, but I found it odd that a game with ties to the literary world (via the movie) would be so lacking in that department.

Immediately disappointing is the linear fashion in the way the game moves events forward, reducing most of the experience (save for battles) to simply pointing and clicking your way through various cut-scenes and menus.  Interaction is limited to selecting abilities, level up points, and equipment upgrades that can affect your stats.  Guiding your way through this world is handled via the map, which features several nodes that house battles and objectives.  Battling your way through the story mode means hopping between these selected areas as you make your way towards the gold-crested goal node.  Unfortunately, the map doesn't allow for any exploration, other than being able to move from node to node.  Further complicating things is the inability to traverse worlds that have already been completed, meaning completing the adventure is a fairly straightforward experience.

The battling system is reminiscent of classic Final Fantasy games, with the goal of defeating enemies using different attacks, items, and magic.  The most notable difference is that each side's moves are determined by a timer on the bottom screen, with every action taking up so many blocks.  The bar replenishes at the same rate for both sides, although in the event of a tie, you'll always get to go first.  This adds some much-needed strategy to an otherwise standard attack system, yet is limited by each character only having two abilities (except for Percy, who gets three).

One interesting feature in the battles is the team-attack, which is similar to limit breaks (for those of you familiar) from other games.  The team-attack will charge up, depending on abilities used in battle, and it stays charged afterward.  The type of attack itself will depend on what team members participate, meaning you'll have to experiment to find just the right combination that works for you.  Also worth mentioning is that the number of actual battles in the game seem to be set, meaning there probably won't be much grinding in order to level your character up.

Its a shame that a game tied to such a colorful franchise would look this bland and uninspired. Although this probably has more to do with licensing fees than anything else, none of the actors featured in its namesake film are included, and are instead replaced with poorly drawn, static cartoons that flash by during cut-scenes and the like.  The actual battles take place using low-polygon character models fighting on top of flat backgrounds that repeat often.  There is some nice color and animation when casting magic attacks, but there's really no getting around the fact that we've seen far better visuals on the Nintendo DS hardware.

Perhaps the one saving grace is the orchestrated soundtrack, which apart from the occasional plot detail is the only real thing the game shares with its cinematic inspiration. Christophe Beck's score sounds appropriately epic, although the same can't be said for the poor sound effects and characters vocal yelps.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians - The Lightning Thief for the Nintendo DS is a disappointing first attempt at making a videogame version of the popular series, with an experience that's more interactive movie than an actual game.  With no real character interaction, exploration, or sense of wonder that such a license promises, there isn't much here to recommend to fans looking to continue the adventure of of the books and movie.  The use of bland cartoon images and weak RPG elements don't help, either.  If Percy Jackson ever hopes to compete with his wizardly competition, he'll have to do better than this.