As exceptional as Pixar’s films have been, they’ve rarely resulted in quality game experiences. Even with that in mind, UP is surprisingly poor. The game can be completed in well under three hours, and that’s still more than enough time for the experience to become incredibly repetitive.

The levels in UP can be broken into three varieties. The most prominent are jungle exploration levels, where Carl and Russell (and occasionally Dug the dog) from the film team up to pass various obstacles via puzzle-solving and platforming. The player can switch between controlling Carl and Russell on the fly, or a buddy can drop-in for cooperative play. Although the cooperative game design is great in concept, it just isn’t well executed. If you reach a dead end, there is always either a narrow ledge that Russell can shimmy across, or a platform that Carl can reach with his cane. There is almost no variety here.

Puzzles are even less inspiring, as they generally consist of rock platforms that need to be pushed along a set path. These levels are also overloaded with dog fights, which become tiresome very quickly as they require you to basically stand around and wait until a dog charges at you.

Besides the bland gameplay, these levels also suffer from an inexplicably wonky camera system. The camera is set so far away from the action that it can be difficult to even see what’s happening at times. Perhaps the distance issue was done to mask the low quality of the visuals a bit, but that certainly doesn’t justify it being a hindrance on the gameplay. There are also times when the camera just simply isn’t working. It occasionally spins around wildly, gets stuck and fails to properly frame the action.

There are a few major boss fight levels, which fare a bit better in the design department than the general gameplay, but still feature many of the same technical issues. There are also a couple aerial dogfight levels, which make for a nice change of pace if nothing else. And although they might not be as irritating as the bulk of the game, they still aren’t much fun.

Graphically, UP has the advantage of being able to utilize the excellent art direction from the film. But technically speaking, the visuals are underwhelming at best. The character models look rough around the edges, and environments don’t feature very impressive detail or texture work. Colors are also very washed out, making for a bland looking experience.

The highlight of UP is definitely the score, which features the excellent music from the movie composed by Michael Giacchino. The voice actors from the film also come along for the ride and do great work here, although the sound mix keeps the dialog dialed down enough that it can be hard to really appreciate it.

UP’s main multiplayer focus is the cooperative aspect of the main campaign, but it also features a few versus modes, all of them based on the aerial portion of the game. None of them are particularly compelling, but the dogfight fares the best.

As great a film as UP is, the game just doesn’t have it. The gameplay is irritating more than fun, and the design feels rushed and uninspired. No matter how big a fan of the film you are, the game, unfortunately, just isn’t worth your time.

Gameplay: 4.5
Awkward, repetitive and extremely short, UP doesn’t feature a single original idea, nor does it execute its extremely basic gameplay to any success. The camera system is one of the worst I’ve seen in years.

Graphics: 5.0 
Sharing its art direction with the feature film helps somewhat, but the washed out, low detail visuals are otherwise poor.

Sound: 6.0
The single best aspect of UP is the score, which is mostly straight from the film. Voice acting also carries over, and is good. The sound mixing is poor, though, as dialog is far too soft.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 4.0 
UP is without a shred of originality or fun. The design is about as bland and by the numbers as it gets. The game is incredibly short, yet still very repetitive.

Multiplayer: 5.0
The inclusion of cooperative play is a nice addition, but the mini-games don’t add much to the package.

Overall: 5.0
Even by licensed game standards, UP is surprisingly poor. The design is uninspired, but more importantly, it just isn’t fun or satisfying to play.