“If you are interested in casting magic spells, or saving the Earth from alien invasion, you might as well stop right now.”

You see, the videogame you are about to play is extremely unpleasant. It does not have a happy beginning, middle and “if a happy ending is important to you, you would certainly be better off with something else.”

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is the PlayStation 2 release from Activision and Amaze Entertainment, in conjunction with Nickelodeon, DreamWorks and Paramount (which has a movie coming out very soon which treads the same general ground as the game).

While extremely linear in many regards, the game does sport some innovative graphics, has a wide range of environments and challenges that may be more difficult for younger players. Veteran gamers may be able to breeze through this title, but still, the delightfully ‘unpleasant’ nature will lure some along and keep them moving from level to level.

“Children, I’m afraid I must inform you of an extremely unfortunate event …”

Thus begins the travails of the Baudelaire children, Violet (the oldest), Klaus and the infant girl Sunny. Each child is gifted and it is those gifts, which gamers will have to use in concert to solve the minor puzzles throughout the game. And don’t worry, each time you come to a point where you have to do a little thinking, the correct course of action is there if you look. It may be scratch marks on the floor, or Violet inventing a device to get them through the situation. Each step has the answer right there if you but look.

The game starts off with the death of the parents of the three children. They are initially given over to their uncle, Count Olaf, who is an actor living in a decrepit house with his troupe of vile henchmen … err, thespian associates. Count Olaf has but one objective when it comes to the children – collect their inheritance.

As Count Olaf states early in the game, after assigning them a most unpleasant task, “I must leave now. Prolonged exposure to children makes me ill.”

Alas, he didn’t foresee the talents these children had which will make that difficult. Violet is an inventor, Klaus is a bookworm who remembers everything he reads (an information source which is invaluable), and Sunny has four very sharp teeth, can fit into tiny places and chew through almost everything.

After Count Olaf’s fitness to be a guardian is revealed, the children are shunted off to other places, but Count Olaf is in pursuit and will stop at nothing to see that the children come to an ‘unfortunate’ end, and he collects the money.

The control scheme of this game is quite simple for the most part, and the game does a wonderful job of telling you exactly what you will need to do to succeed at new parts. There are some minor ‘twitch’ moments, where the game becomes reflexive (Violet is tasked with playing a piano, with certain notes tied to the hotkeys on the PS2 controller and you have to hit them at the right moment to advance the mission), but for the most part, this game is about thinking through a situation, and then employing some physical skill.

The game graphics are wonderful. Some of the characters bear a likeness to their big screen counterparts, and the game uses illustrated book pages to advance between scenarios, then goes to fully three-dimensional gameplay, with a rotatable camera for the majority of the gameplay. Some of the mini-games, like guiding Sunny down a trap-laden slide, are side-scrolling affairs. All of this is well managed, and adds to the game rather than detracts from it.

There are, of course, power-ups along the way, and items that Violet will need to make her inventions are highlighted with sparkles.

The game’s sound is also very well done. Tim Curry does the narration, and some of the more prominent actors (like Jim Carrey, who plays Count Olaf) have allowed their voices to be used in the game.

The build of this game that GameZone received was not a retail copy, but rather code burned onto a disk. There were a few faults, but that was likely exclusive to this burn and won’t appear in the game when it ships to retail outlets.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is based on the Lemony Snicket series of children’s books, which are immensely popular, and have sold more than 22 million copies worldwide. There have been 11 books so far in the series, and there are more expected in this evolving tale of exploration, adventure, and underhanded nastiness. The game covers the first three books in the series.

The game has more than 16 mission levels in this adventure.

This title is a solid and entertaining ride, despite its unpleasantness. There is always a new challenge waiting the children, and while they may have some redundancy in the general feel of the challenges, the way the developers have created the environments, give them new angles.

The debut of Lemony Snicket’s world of unpleasant adventure is delightful, and fans of the books, or of the upcoming movie, will likely find this quite an entertaining experience. Those simply looking for a good game that will treat both young and old may want to take a gander at this title.

Gameplay: 7.8
Some of the areas are very small, so load times interrupt the flow of the game. You begin in the children’s room and quickly move into the hall – load time. East wing to West wing equals more load time. At the beginning, it seems you will spend a lot of time transitioning from one area to another. The puzzles are not overly involved and you can readily see how to work through a scenario if you look around.

Graphics: 8.8
The use of the illustrations is wonderful, and the animation and 3D environments look very good.  

Sound: 8.6
Generally very good, there was a bug in the review build received where the children were leaving the mansion in a sort of prison break and during it, there was a very high-pitched whine overwhelming the audio track. But keep in mind that this was not a retail copy of the game and should not appear in the final product when shipped.

Difficulty: Easy
Everything you need to know to solve the puzzles is before your eyes, if you bother to look. Try to rush through and you may miss that tiny clue that will help you advance through the game.

Concept: 8.3

This game does a very nice job of integrating a variety of elements, from the arcade-like power-ups, to the maze puzzles and side-scrolling mini-games, into a solid and entertaining gaming experience.

Overall: 8.5

The game is very linear, which may cut down on replayability. The look, feel and general style of the game makes for an entertaining game experience that will leave you smiling.