We say almost because the Wii controls feel as intuitive as playing with your feet. As gamers, we’ve been conditioned to use the right thumb stick to move the camera for years and now it’s been inconveniently mapped to C on the Nunchuck, where you’ll need to hold it and point the Remote somewhere to shift your view. It’s slow and clumsy, and to make matters worse, Z is the dash button. So, when you run, you need to alternate your left index finger between C and Z in a confusing mess that doesn’t work.
Before the gameplay becomes boring, Ratatouille serves up fresh minigames that don’t feel tacked on. Admittedly, the cooking minigames - DDR-style button mashing or correctly matching ingredients by pointing at them - are a bit lame. This last one especially because it takes nothing to gesture at the screen. The chase segments (running at the screen all Crash Bandicoot-like), tunnel sliding and even rafting down a sewer creek, feel fun and don’t outstay their welcome. Our favorite minigame on the PS2 and GameCube is the series of platforming challenges reminiscent of Mario Sunshine’s bonus stages, complete with rotating fruits and vegetables. On the Wii, it’s a hard-to-control, clunky platforming mess.
