Like the movie of the same name,
Journey to the Center of the Earth follows the adventures of three explorers, Trevor, Sean, and Hannah, to well, the center of the earth. The problem isn't necessarily the exploration in this DS title, it is instead
getting to the center of the earth. Unfortunately, controlling our heroes easily prevents what could be a quick process, and converts it into a load of frustration instead. Numerous times (
way too many to count), I found myself jumping off the platforms and into the great unknown because the translation into three dimensions doesn't allow for precise jumping and landing.
While it's likely not the fault of the controls themselves (although an analog stick would have been better), the camera becomes the culprit when plunging into infinite death because of it's inconsistency in different situations. At times, as the camera moves around corners, it will automatically keep your characters running in the same direction, which is, at first, hard to get used to. Once you do figure it out, Journey to the Center of the Earth throws a wrench into the works by NOT having your character auto-adjust, so jumping from platform to platform becomes a game of Russian Roulette instead - but again, only if the camera happens to be moving in a direction other than straight across.
Control issues aside, the actual gameplay of Journey to the Center of the Earth is quite repetitive, consisting of controlling the three heroes through the stages while keeping an eye out for runes and places to bring out the archeologist in you by digging up minerals and dinosaur bones along the way, with the runes being used to solve a final puzzle and gain access to the next level.
Each character has his or her own special skill as well. Trevor has the ability to place bombs which can destroy obstacles in the path or create walkways over chasms. Hannah is equipped with ropes and can throw a grappling hook at certain locations to gain access to Tarzan-like rope-swinging to cross a gap. Sean uses his apparent archeology experience by chiseling away at special sites along the way, and can also scale walls to higher areas of interest. While you will have to have these characters perform their tasks as needed, you do have the ability to switch between them on the fly.
Journey to the Center of the Earth also contains some mini-games of sorts thrown in to break up the repetition, which is a very welcome experience. These breakaways range from the rock climbing abilities of Sean to puzzle-solving and running for your life from dinos like the T-Rex.