Variety's review of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (Disney Interactive's game based on its sibling studio's tentpole film) is online and our critic Matt Peckham is struck by just how many platforming cliches this game encompasses -- especially endlessly breaking barrels and boxes in search of collectible items.

While the recreations of the movie's CGI sets are phenomenal and Matt's impressed by the artful use of video clips from the film, he's ultimately disappointed by just how much time is spent "scouting small maps, collecting keys that open bonus chests and battering every crate and barrel in sight to free glittering shards that boost armor rating" as well as "staving off gangs of Telmarines while finding cogs to assemble Rube Goldbergian contraptions, standing on depressible platforms to open doors and employing special abilities like shooting and climbing to solve bland puzzles."

In other words, the settings are phenomenal, but the action is all "been there, done that." (Even within the game, since as Matt notes, "Those who aren't put off by the cliches will almost certainly balk at the way the same to-dos are woven into nearly every level.")

Here's the introduction to Matt's review:

Narnia has a crate and key epidemic in Disney Interactive's new "Prince Caspian" videogame. Though there's a fair bit of action, this movie adaptation is primarily a collection of platform gaming cliches with an emphasis on punching through breakable containers in search of the items needed to keep going. Sterling reproductions of the movie's CG sets will wow anyone, but "Caspian's" obsession with trivial collectibles and too-obvious puzzles limits its appeal to young gamers and "Narnia" buffs.

And you can read the whole thing here.