Bolt (video game)

Bolt
Developer(s)	Avalanche Software, Altron
Publisher(s)	Disney Interactive Studios
Distributor(s)	EA Distribution
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS
Release date(s)	NA November 18, 2008 AUS December 4, 2008 EU February 13, 2009
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Blu-ray Disc, Wii Optical Disc, DVD-ROM, Cartridge

Bolt is a video game available for PC, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows. It is based on the Disney film of the same name.^[1] It was released in North America on November 18, 2008. It was released in Australia on December 4, 2008. It was released in Europe on February 13, 2009. The video game was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive.^[2]

Synopsis

Setting

In the game, the player follows and controls the superdog Bolt and Penny on various missions taking place in the fictional universe from the movie. By using Bolt's superpowers, the player can fight enemies. New powers, such as Superbark and Laser Eyes, can be unlocked during the game. The levels are shared between Bolt and Penny. Bolt has superpowers, whereas Penny has maneuverability by using her Wheelbar. However, the game focuses on Bolt's fake TV life, not the actual movie storyline. Penny's father has been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Calico, and Penny and Bolt must travel through 5 different countries to rescue him.

All of this is actually on TV, and Rhino is watching a DVD pack of all the 25 Bolt episodes; possibly at the rural home at the end of the movie with Bolt's family (Penny, Mittens, Bolt himself, and Penny's mother). However, the player doesn't see Rhino, only hearing him. But on the Nintendo DS, you can play a mini-game called Rhino's Mission, where you go through mazes and avoid obstacles, like cannons. And also, he had an introduction sequence in the game, where he was starting the DVD, saying it had 940 minutes worth of Bolt episodes, even though the game actually has 25. The player doesn't see the other 915 due to Rhino falling asleep at the end of the game.

Plot

Penny's father has been captured by Calico and his organisation in an attempt to construct a powerful weapon of untold power. Penny and Bolt travel to Italy in an effort to find out more, but they get nowhere other than learning of Calico's location in Belize.

Calico finally manages to capture Penny once she and Bolt find his temple base in the Ukatan jungle. To prove Penny is alive and in custody to her father, Calico gives Penny a cell phone with her father on the other line. Calico then attempts to flee the crumbling temple with his new captive, but decides to leave her there with Bolt to die, saying, "As long as the professor believes she's alive, he will do what is asked and finish the weapon. Too bad we can't all have nine lives."

However, Penny and Bolt survive and discover Calico's new arctic base with a large rocket in the center. But upon entering, Penny notices micro-focusing mirrors and realizes that it is her father's satellite instead of a warhead. All too late as Calico seals the entrance and, to Bolt's horror, launches it with Penny inside screaming for help. Bolt then jumps onto the rocket and dismantles it in mid-flight, crashing it into the snow.

The two then ventured to Calico's harbor in China, (they find it out through a computer system) where they discover a ship full of warheads. Just then, Calico arrives at the harbor, enraged to find Penny still alive, and even more so as he watches his prized freight ship sink to the bottom, thanks to Bolt, who then pursues Calico, escaping in his car to a nearby train station. He arrives at the station and boards his train, closely followed by Penny and her dog. Just as the duo finally corners the doctor, he slips into a hidden room and escaped on his private jet. Not before Penny secures a homing beacon onto the hull, leading them right back to Calico's base.

Penny and Bolt trace his jet back to his main base, where Penny's father is being held. However, upon arriving, Calico tests his new weapon on Bolt, draining him of his powers and strength and capturing Penny, due to her emotions getting in the way of the mission. Once Penny is inside, he explains his plan to use Penny's father's micro focusing mirror-equipped satellites to bounce a beam around the Earth and neutralize all atomic weaponry execpt for his own, meaning he can nuke anyone, when he wants, how he wants. And as he leaves, he violently kicks Bolt's cage proving Penny of her limited knowledge. However, during this, Penny maneuvers her way out of her hand bindings.

Once free, she attempts to find her father to save Bolt. Unfortunately, she is only captured by Calico once again, just as Bolt regains his powers and Penny sabotages the control panel, however, raising the bridge so Bolt could reach her. Once he does, Penny escapes from her guard captors yet again and launched a pre-prepared, rocket powered cart at the main power generator (which Bolt exposed). Then, using what power remains in the generator, Calico duels with Bolt, using powerful lightning bursts. But after the lengthy and hard-fought battle, Bolt finally defeats him. Beaten and weakened, he attempts to escape on his private helicopter, launching numerous missiles as a decoy, just as Penny finally finds her father (aboard the helicopter). But while Bolt tries to apprehend Calico by grabbing his foot, Penny's father pleads to her and Bolt to allow Calico to escape with himself to stop the missiles, reminding her that she had the power to find him again. Regretfully, Penny orders Bolt to stop the missiles as Calico escaped with her father.

The game closes with an epilogue informing the player of Penny's continuing battle. Then, depending on the version, you either get a "tune in next week," style message or cut to Rhino's dialogue.

Gameplay

Disney has released multiple versions for different game systems including Nintendo Wii, PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2 and 3, but the Nintendo DS has a different feel and more of a 2D look to it. In addition, the DS version doesn't have character voices, but instead uses words across the screen to tell the user what the character's saying.

A mobile game was also released. The game was developed by Enorbus and Disney Mobile. The mobile version has a 2D look and 4 levels in three different locations, making for a total of 12 levels. The three different locations are (in order): L.A., Bolivia, and Dr. Calico's Secret Island. The player uses Bolt's Super Bark, Super Bite, and Super Speed to battle enemies and level bosses. One interesting difference between the various platforms are the "host" characters, or the lack therof. For instance, in the Wii edition, Rhino is the "host", appearing at the beginning and end of the game, and making comments when the "pause" button is selected. In the mobile game, Rhino and Mittens are both seen before and after each level as watching the Bolt TV show. And in the DS version, there's no "host" character to be seen (even though Rhino does get his own mini-game), but letters are displayed onscreen, informing the user on the storyline.^[3]

Powers

In the game, Bolt has 12 powers:

• Dash Attack (hits enemies three times quickly)
• Strong Attack (hits enemies 2 times quickly then hits them hard enough to send them flying)
• Long Jump (Bolt does a double jump, then the same button used in Dash Attack)
• Super Bark (barks very loudly [enemies from far away get their ears hurt]; smashes objects; stuns enemies and sends them flying; useful for destroying walls or other things that may be in Bolt's way)
• Ground Pound (Bolt jumps in the air, then pounds the ground so hard, it leaves enemies near him flying, and ones a little farther away from him knocked down; helps to activate certain spots and destroy large boxes he may be standing on)
• Laser Eyes (easiest way to stun enemies, especially the really strong ones; Bolt often uses it during the story and to burn through warheads on missiles)
• Invulnerability (makes Bolt invincible; blocks enemy attacks; is very useful into preventing getting killed by matters such as speeding cars; is also useful to prevent getting hit by a bomb or hurt by bombs if one catches on him)
• Super Speed (makes Bolt run very quickly; useful for escaping breaking bridges and missiles set off by copters)

These 4 other powers can be used once Bolt has picked up or jumped on an enemy.

• Throw (Bolt can throw an enemy forward or take the head and smash the body back and forth repeatedly and then throw it)
• Toss (Bolt can toss enemies in any direction)
• Hammer (Bolt jumps into the air and slams the enemy's body down to the ground with a thump by pushing and batting)
• Piledrive (Bolt jumps into the air, twirls, and then slams the enemy's body to the ground with a thump)

Bolt can also earn the ability to unlock supercharged versions of his Super Bark, Ground Pound, and Laser Eyes, which stun or kill enemies much quicker and better and make the energy bar recharge much faster. The Dash Attack and Strong Attack will also put more force in the hit as well.

There are some stronger and larger enemies. Disky usually wears blue, but sometimes red. He uses large discs and disc-shaped bombs to his advantage. He throws them onto Bolt and Penny, then explodes after a few seconds. Bolt can use his invulnerability against them. Bolt can also use Super Speed to prevent the bomb getting on him. If the disc hits the ground, any enemy or Bolt that runs or walks right over it will get it on them. Sometimes if Bolt aims his Super Speed correctly, he can get the bomb onto an enemy, or can also quickly get into the middle of a ring of enemies and use the bomb to his advantage to stun or kill the surrounding enemies. Penny can use her wheelbar to prevent them getting on her, and then throw them back onto Disky for him to get stunned or killed. Penny can also take the bomb off her if she moves quickly. Disky also takes two discs and slams them together to form a huge force to push forward anything in front of him. Bolt can use Super Speed to pass quickly, but Disky's main weakness is Ground Pound, because since he uses his discs to rebel against most powers, and that it is because it is done on the ground instead of in front of him. Invulnerability will stun him, and then Bolt can use his Laser Eyes to stun him again in a row. Proddy is a female enemy who wears red and orange, and uses fire to her advantage. The most dangerous part about her is that she usually starts attacks from a far away distance, and jumps and slides across the ground to a far distance, hitting Penny or Bolt. She can also pound the ground and stun Bolt, unless Bolt uses his invulnerability. She also sometimes will spin and move forward at the same time and form a ring of fire that will stun Bolt. However, Bolt can use his Dash Attack or Strong Attack to hit her before he gets hit. Proddy also almost always rebels Dash Attack while she is just standing, so Strong Attack (with a single button) is her weakness. There is another very fat, large, and strong enemy that is possibly the hardest to defeat. He wears blue. He also has a very deep voice. He has massive strength. He can jump real high and pound the ground from over a very far distance. Bolt can either use his Super Speed to escape the pound or use invulnerability while staying close to the enemy. The enemy can also stomp on the ground with one foot and cause another very strong force similar to Disky's. He distinctively has the ability to form into a huge ball and roll over Bolt. He will chase Bolt; Bolt can use his Super Speed to escape, or his invulnerability or Laser Eyes to stop the rolling. He often rebels most powers. If Bolt uses Dash Attack or Strong Attack to many times and does not stop, he will be caught by the enemy and then thrown off hardly. The best way to stun him is to wait until he jumps, then use Invulnerability while he pounds the ground, and while the enemy still has his butt on the ground, Bolt can use Powers. If Bolt wants to pick him up, then he can only do it twice in a row before the enemy will start to rebel again. Supercharged ability is his main weakness, but in other terms, Invulnerability is. There is also Starry, who either wears yellow and black or blue with black, and is probably the most annoying enemy of all. He uses special material for hitting and throwing Bolt, and he has very quick movement. He can easily dodge Dash Attack, Strong Attack, and all the picking up actions (Toss, Throw, Hammer, Piledrive). He usually will need to be stunned first. Ground Pound and Super Bark can work to stun him, but Laser Eyes are easiest to use. If there is enough room, Bolt, however, can eventually pick him up (after the first Starry when Bolt does not have Laser Eyes) by quickly and repeatedly pressing the button that allows Bolt to pick up or get onto an enemy.

Reception

Bolt received mixed reviews.

• GameSpot - 7/10^[4]
• IGN - 5.1/10^[5]
• Metacritic - 62/100^[6]

References

External links

• Official site