In Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief, you play as an American teenager who will discover that the father who abandoned him at birth is none other than a God of Olympus (Poseidon not to mention him) and that he must find an object lost by his uncle Zeus, in this case, a "Primitive Lightning". Helped by some friends (a satyr named Graber, Athena's daughter Annabeth Chase, Luke Castellan the son of Hermes and then Isaac and Victoria, two characters who are not in the film), he will embark on a succession of journeys that will lead him straight to the second volume of the book: Percy Jackson and The Fate of the Titan. We are well advanced. Concretely, Percy Jackson is an action game with a Tactical/RPG sauce in which the goal is to save everyone who gets in our way. And like the film, which was designed and shot for the least demanding spectators, taking Harry Potter only as a reference when it comes to Fantasy, the game has apparently been developed for novices of programming.
Zeus name
Here we are, therefore, pacing a map leading us to various environments (in front of a museum, in a museum, in a cave, in Las Vegas, in the forest, etc.) that we will have to cross while facing hordes of enemies who all look alike. The fights are in the archaic form of the RPGs of our childhood: we hit each other in turn by scrupulously choosing his character (in groups of three, to be determined among the five available), his weapon and his power. After ten fights, we quickly realized that Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief is an ultra repetitive game. Repulsive even. And extremely easy too, so much so that we can happily chain victories by clicking anywhere, haphazardly. Certainly, we can customize the attacks of the characters (via a system of Drachmas used to give more power to certain blows), as well as some of their abilities (accuracy, dodge, strength, protection), but this will remain very basic; and not necessarily effective. Indeed, at the beginning of the adventure, you will be tempted to form a complete trio, with complementary powers (attack of fire, water, poison...). Alas, you will quickly discover that a great blow of the sword is often more effective than a spell, even if some indications on the screen try to make us think otherwise. Result of the races: all the fights can be folded in half by going inside with the very muscular Graber and his powerful sword, or with a big group attack. In short, after several games, we still haven't fully perceived the "Tactical" side of the title. Worse still, if Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief is not really long (so count half a dozen hours to get through it, without dying a single time), we will have the feeling of having spent two three times longer. Usually that's not a good sign...
Percy in the ears
Beyond the distressing lack of challenge in the gameplay, Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief suffers above all from a realization and a graphic coating that will have left us relatively speechless. It's simple, if you like big, bright pixels, you'll be served. Whether it's the sets or the characters, the whole thing is sorely lacking in detail and above all in variety. We come across half a dozen different opponents (and by that we mean really different, not of a color or a variable size) who will have almost all the same shots. Not better for the levels, which are limited to a few poorly modeled backgrounds and poorly highlighted by clumsy camera movements. The cutscenes on their side can only be summed up by a succession of cel-shaded vignettes that we will hammer with the stylus to send endless dialogues as quickly as possible. Finally, the icing on the cake, we will always be entitled to the same music from the beginning to the end of the adventure, with the same sound effects and the same unbearable jingle which will tell you that you have won a fight. Did we already say the title was repetitive? Yes ! Damn, the game rubbed off on us.
