Aliens in the Attic

Review

Common Sense Media says

Movie-based game has mildly humorous mayhem.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that  this action/adventure game is based on the Aliens in the Attic movie. It contains some mild fantasy violence as each of the four aliens has its own special attack. Kids play from the perspective of the aliens trying to take over Earth. Some kids may be frustrated at the precision you need to jumpoff of one platform to make it to another platform and the unpredictable controls.

  • Positive messages1
    This game sends some mixed messages. One positive message is that is is good to work together with others to try to achieve a goal (for these aliens, that is trying to get the Sizematron to work). On the negative side, you are playing as huge-egoed aliens who want to rule the universe.
  • Positive role models0
    You are playing as aliens who are trying to take over Earth. Even though they are power-hungry, the aliens  work well together to accomplish goals.
  • Ease of play3
    Easy controls, except for when the double-jump button doesn't work. Then, it's challenging because there is a lot of platform puzzling and it becomes difficult to jump up onto the platforms. The game has frequent check-points which is good, but it ramps up in difficulty too quickly.
  • Violence2
    You play from the perspective of the aliens and use fantasy violence. You can scratch, punch, stun, throw grenades, and fire guns. There is no blood. When you fall into a fiery canyon, you'll moan and there will be stars around your head from boinking it. Then you begin again from the last checkpoint. You never really die.
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What's it about?

Once again, the aliens are coming. In ALIENS IN THE ATTIC, the video game based on the movie of the same name, the Pearson family heads to Michigan and a seemingly terrific vacation house. But the house is occupied by aliens, crusty, gremlin-sized curmudgeons who want to, you guessed it, take over the world. In this platformer, you’ll play as four aliens trying to get the Sizematron to work so they can grow as big as the humans they seek to dominate.

Is it any good?

 

With one to four players, you play through 15 levels based on the movie’s plot, sometimes filled with mildly humorous mayhem. The game suffers from being short, something not uncommon with movie-based games from smaller publishers. Also, in the Wii version, pressing the ‘A’ button twice to jump high doesn’t always work. And the game's difficulty ramps up too quickly.

Although the camera and graphics are nicely tuned, the fact that the double jump doesn’t work well is frustrating. Depending on which alien you choose, you can stun a human, use sharp fingernails to slash, create grenades, or use your teeth. When playing on the Wii, shaking the Wii remote lets you pull off these attacks quickly. Overall, though, Aliens in the Attic has spotty gameplay. Try it before you buy it to make sure it’s for you.

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What families can talk about

  • Families can talk about whether you wanted to play this game because you saw the movie, because of marketing related to the movie, or because you just like alien games?

  • Did you find the controls to be weak or just right?

This review was written by Harold Goldberg
Kid, 13 years old
August 4, 2009
AGE
2
 
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This review was written by Harold Goldberg
Platforms:Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, Windows
Available online?Not available online
Genre:Action/Adventure
Developer:Playlogic Entertainment
Release date:August 4, 2009
Price:$39.99
ESRB rating:E10+ for Fantasy Violence
This review was written by Harold Goldberg

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.
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