Zathura (Video Game)

Zathura is a science-fiction, adventure, horror, survival video game developed by 2K Games and published by Sony Entertainment. It is based on the film and novel of the same name and it starred Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo and Dax Shepherd, who are the only actors to reprise their roles from the film. In the game's plot, Danny and Walter will visit several planets while battling aliens, robots and Zorgons while attempting to finish the board game in order of getting back home to Earth. The game was released in 2005.

The video game recieved mixed reviews from critics and audiences, who can criticize the plot, hard levels and the ammo used for the characters' weapons, but the voice acting, graphics, sound design, action scenes, character development and musical score were praised.

Plot:[]

While their father left for work, two brothers Danny and Walter are left alone for the afternoon, but the two cannot get along with each other. After Walter refused to make Danny some lunch and started insulting him by calling him a "baby", which caused Danny to throw a baseball at Walter's face, leading to him to chase him up the stairs. He found Danny in a dumbwaiter and lowered him down into the basement, despite Danny pleading him not to. While exploring the basement, Danny found a board game called Zathura and became interested in it, he took it back upstairs and headed into the living room while Walter is still watching baseball on TV.

Danny started playing Zathura while Walter refused to play with him, soon as he took his turn, Danny got a card, but is unable to read it so he asked Walter to read the card. The card said: "Meteor Shower, Take evasive action" and suddenly meteors and comets started shooting down into the living room. After rescuing his pet gerbil, Danny joined with Walter in the fireplace soon as the meteor storm stopped. The brothers shall soon discover that the game has sent them into outer space and they will learn from the game's instructions that in order of getting back home to Earth, they must finish the game. Walter took his turn and got a card that said: "Your robot is defective" which a small robot appeared, but quickly grew to big size and chased Walter to the basement where it tumbled down the stairs. As Danny and Walter must inspect the robot, it reactivated and teleported itself to its own planet, which is accidentally bringing Danny and Walter with it too.

As soon as they can arrive at the Robot Planet, Walter blamed Danny for the mess that they got into until Danny accidentally hit a button on a control system and two robots will capture the boys and they are separated. Danny made his way through corridors of the Robot Planet, battling robots and laser bots with a powered slingshot before making his way to find Walter in a jail cell and he convinced his younger brother to find the control room where he can be released. After fighting his way through a giant lava pit and more corridors, Danny arrived at the control room and freed Walter, who began making his way up to him.

Walter fought his way through corridors of the Robot Planet, equipped with a broken robot arm, battling robots and laser bots along the way. He finally made his way to the control room, where the robot, which is fully charged, began chasing him again, but he lured the robot into a Reprogram Chamber. He found Danny and reprogrammed the robot to "Serve and Protect" function before they are captured by more robots. The reprogrammed Robot made his way through the hallways of the planet, fighting robots along the way before making his way into the Master Robot room, where it has Danny and Walter held hostage. After defeating the Master Robot, the Robot rescued Danny and Walter then teleported them back to the house.

While glad to be back in the house, Danny discovered that they are still in space. They shall find the Robot out of power and Danny found the game (after being forced to play when Walter called him a baby) and took his turn. He got a card which said: "You pass too close to Tsouris-3, Gravity Increased". The house got too close to a star like planet called Tsouris-3 and the trio are sucked into the planet. Finding themselves in a lava like place after landing on a alien-like jellyfish, Walter found it to be awesome while Danny began to feel sick due to being sucked into the planet. Realizing that the teleport power drained the Robot's power, Walter explored Tsouris-3 to find power cells from broken spaceships in order to charge the Robot up again while Danny stayed with the Robot.

After collecting all the power cells and fighting several volcanic creatures, Walter made his way back to Danny and the Robot, but a volcanic like dragon attacked them and knocked Danny off, leaving him stranded while Walter and the Robot float away on the alien-like jellyfish. Danny fought his way through the dangers of Tsouris-3, battling volcanic dragons and skeletal dogs before making his way to the Lava Boss a.k.a Mr Meltdown. Danny defeats the Lava Boss with his slingshot before Walter and the Robot will arrive then they are teleported back to the house.

Back in the house, Danny refused to play while Walter took his turn and got a card that said: "You are promoted to Fleet Admiral Go ahead 4 spaces". Danny walked into the kitchen with Walter following him along with the game. After convincing each other to end their fighting and become more better brothers, Danny took his turn and got a card, which said: "You are visited by Zorgons" and the house is attacked by hostile lizard like aliens called Zorgons. Making their way to the fireplace, Walter took his turn and got a card which said "Recharge" to which it charged the Robot up again, and Danny took his turn where he got a card that said "Rescue stranded astronaut". while the Robot arrived.

The Robot took Danny and Walter to a space station where they supposed to meet the Astronaut. They found it wrecked and got attacked by Zorgons, the Robot defeated the Zorgons easily and chased one through the station and this leaves Walter amused. While Danny is scared as he doesn't like the game, Walter tried to open the doors, but they are locked except for one that has a hole on its right side. Walter cannot get through as he is too big, so Danny has to go. Danny fought his way through the space station, fighting Zorgons and laser bots along the way before bravely making his way across an open space with floating objects and made his way into the Hub where he unlocked the doors.

With the doors unlocked, Walter made his way through the space station, not before having a brief conversation with the Astronaut as he gave him directions that will lead him to the Hub, fighting Zorgons and laser bots before making his way across an open space with floating objects and reuniting with Danny in the Hub. Walter is attacked by a Zorgon until the Robot arrived and defeated the Zorgons, before making their way to meet the Astronaut, who gave them a lift back to the house in his ship. While escaping, a Zorgon ship is about to destroy the house with its firing power, but the Astronaut managed to stop them by letting his ship get hit by the missile before arriving at the house.

As Walter and the Astronaut set the living room couch on fire to draw the Zorgons away from them, which is as they are attracted to heat, Danny headed into the living room where it gave way due to the Zorgons blasting the house and fell to a planet below. The Astronaut told Walter that he needed to fix his ship and that Danny is heading towards the Dead Planet, where the Zorgons used to live there until they destroyed it and it is now a desert post-apocalyptic land and that aliens are down there. While the Astronaut fixed his ship the Robot teleports Walter to the Dead Planet, where he can rescue Danny.

After landing, Danny found himself on the Dead Planet and made his way through the desert areas while fighting aliens along the way, where it was which will include Cultrists, Sand Bugs and Sand Sharks before getting captured and taken to their leader. Meanwhile, Walter made his way to find Danny while fighting several aliens, which is including Sand Crabs before arriving in a room where the leader, known as the Stone Goddess, has Danny. Walter defeated the Stone Goddess and saved Danny just as the Astronaut arrived to pick them up and the Robot. Back at the house, they will find the furniture and boxes gone, including the game which the Astronaut realized that while he was gone picking the boys up, the Zorgons has arrived at the house and looted the place. Making a plan to get the game back which is on the Zorgon Mothership, the four then will make their way to the Mothership.

A massive Zorgon fleet is waiting for them and the Astronaut does not have any weapons to fight back at them, but the Robot went off to play "tag" with the Zorgons. While the Robot distracted the Zorgon fleet, Danny, Walter and the Astronaut can arrive at the mothership, with the Astronaut preparing to draw the Zorgons away while the boys shall go and find the game. Later, after battling several Zorgons, Walter and Danny split up, with Walter luring the Zorgons away and Danny went to find the game. After saving the game from being incinerated, Danny made his way to find Walter and the Astronaut but ends up meeting the Zorgon Overlord a.k.a the leader of the Zorgons. While the Overlord attempted to kill Danny, the Robot, who is badly burned from being shot by the Zorgon ships, saved Danny and defeated the Overlord by throwing him into the vacumm of space. With the group reunited, the Robot teleports them back to the house as soon as the Astronaut lost his ship.

Danny and Walter will continue playing the game with Walter getting a card that said; "Lose map of the galaxy, go back 2 spaces" and Danny getting a card that said; "Move ahead 9 spaces", making Danny the winner of the game. The house is drawn into a roaring black hole, which Danny realized that is Zathura, the Zorgon fleet is pulled into the black hole, with the Robot, the Astronaut and then Danny and Walter.

Then moments later, they have returned to Earth with the brothers back in the same place before the game had begun. After preventing Danny from pushing the button again on the game, that was a boardgame, which is switched off, the boys felt glad that they are back home and decided to keep their adventure in space a secret from their father and friends. Walter decided to play catch with Danny making his younger brother feel appreciated that he now has a better brother. They shall go outside to play catch, leaving the Zathura board game in the living room.

Cast:[]

Jonah Bobo - Danny Browning - The youngest of the Budwing family, who is timid and easily scared, but he must overcome those fears in order of beating the game. Equipped with a slingshot with ammos and being smaller, Danny can move through areas more easily than Walter.
Josh Hutcherson - Walter Browning - The older brother of Danny, who does not get along with his younger brother but eventually became a better brother in order of finishing the game and getting back home to Earth. Equipped with a broken robot arm and athletic moves, Walter can move through areas with acrobatic stunts.
Dax Shepherd- The Astronaut - A former player of Zathura, who was trapped in the game ever since he wished his brother away and helped the two brothers by giving them advice about the game's world and its dangers.

Enemies:[]

The Robot - Although an enemy at first, it is reprogrammed by Danny and Walter to help them fight several alien species and during the robot planet, you must fight golden variants of the robot in the game's world.
Lazer Bots - These floating robots will shoot bolts of lazers towards the players. They shall also appear on the Space station levels.
Worker Bots - These bots can take out the trash and capture intruders.
Sentri-Bots - These robots have long arms that can swing around to kill their enemies.
Master Robot - Ruler of the Robot Planet.
Volcanic Creatures - These creatures may only appear in the level "Fall to Tsouris-3", who shall create volcanic explosions by slamming their fists to the ground.
Volcanic Dragons - These creatures of Tsouris-3 can fly around and shoot purple balls at their targets.
Skeletal Dogs - These skeletal-dog like creatures shall chase the player and hit them by charging towards them.
Lava Boss/Mr Meltdown - The ruler of Tsouris-3 who bathed in lava and used lava rocks to throw at his enemies.
Cultrists - These green alien species are hostile towards other species, who will throw green like substance to kill their enemies.
Sand Bugs - These small bug-like creatures can pop from the sand of the Dead Planet and attack their enemies by their feet. They can be killed by kicking them.
Sand Sharks - These massive creatures can swim through the sand of the Dead Planet and can kill their enemies by a single bite to them.
Sand Crabs - These creatures shall pop out from the sand of the Dead Planet and attack their enemies. Walter collected their Sand crab eggs for ammo after killing them.
The Stone Goddess - The ruler of the Dead Planet. She was killed by Walter during the final level of the dead planet.
Zorgons - These hostile lizard like species, who are once inhabitants of the Dead Planet will, search for junk and burn things to eat. They are equipped with swords and knives.
The Zorgon Overlord - The leader of the Zorgons, who is bigger and wider than the remaining Zorgons. He was killed by the Robot, who shoved him into the vacuum of space.

Reception:[]

Critical Response[]

The Zathura video game received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike, who criticized the hard levels, the plot and the amount of ammo used by the characters to defeat the alien species. On Metacritic, it has an improved rating of 43%, indicating "mixed or average reviews" and on Gamespot, it has an improved rating of 5.4 out of 10.

Audiences will find the game to be hard because of the hard levels that they tried to get passed, but praising the voice acting, character development, graphics, sound design and musical score.

In May 2021, the game was featured in an episode of "Worst Games Ever" on popular YouTube channel Triple Jump. Hosts Ben Potter and Peter Austin described the game as ". . . one of the worst." to have featured on the show, citing ugly levels, poor sound design and an almost complete lack of overall game design rendering much of the game borderline unplayable.

Trivia:[]

This version of Zathura is the only adaptation that is different than the book, where Danny and Walter shall visit several planets while in the book, they stay in the house to finish the game.
Danny and Walter can seem to carry backpacks all the time in the game, which possibly has their ammo inside ready to fight the game's alien species.
The game was released on both Playstation 2 and Xbox, curiously skipping the Nintendo GameCube the reason behind this is unknown.
Lisa does not appear in the game and the reason behind this is unknown.
The game was originally going to have a game boy advance version, but it was cancelled for unknown reason.