Ant Bully

If there’s a person still alive who actually gets excited about movie tieins, then we feel very sorry for them. Despite the constant wave of criticism they receive, by and large licensed games do nothing to break out of the expected mould, and The Ant Bully is no exception.

While, as per usual, a younger audience will like frolicking in a universe they recognise from and enjoyed in the film, it’s so unbelievably boring and repetitive even the most hardened fan will eventually get fed up. The objectives you’re given always pretend that they differ from the last – maybe you will be attempting a daring rescue or engaging in all-out combat – but every single time they revert to the same few techniques: collect a certain amount of a specific item or hit enemies with a stick over and over again. It just feels hollow.

To its credit, The Ant Bully does expand on the film’s story, but to be brutally honest, the nippers would be better off grabbing a pad of paper and a pen and writing up their own Ant Bully-related new tales.

All of these annoying foibles, with the added problem of horrible graphics, leave A2M’s title bound for the same dustbin as countless other throwaway tie-ins. Of course we realise we’re not the game’s intended audience, but even a young fan of the franchise would probably tire of this relatively quickly. If you have children consider it for rental. Otherwise just let the little ones play Wii Sports – everyone likes to wave a remote around!