When a licensed property makes the transition from novel to big-screen movie or video game, you can only hope for two things: that the original work is respectfully adapted and that the property continues to be entertaining. The Harry Potter series has been an overwhelming success because the movies and video games have stayed true to the original work by JK Rowling. The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, by Rick Riordan, may not have the worldwide acclaim of Harry Potter, but the series still has a large fan base due to its entertaining and realistic characters. After reading the book, I actually looked forward to checking out the video game. Sadly, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief video game does not live up to the original work and actually redefines the main character, Percy, by making him overtly obnoxious.

The Lightning Thief features Percy Jackson, a seemingly ordinary teenager with learning disabilities who learns that he is the son of Poseidon. Percy's world is turned upside down when demons from the underworld begin to attack, claiming that he stole Zeus' lightning bolt. The novel is a fast-paced adventure; it is filled with fun moments, plot twists and likeable characters. The video game is not. If you've read the book, you will notice that several unnecessary liberties were taken with the original story. For starters, the revelation that Percy is a demigod, a person who is half god half human like Hercules, is quickly glossed over.

The game takes no time in laying out the details that Riordan methodically laid out. Instead events are switched around or skipped entirely. In the book, Percy has a hard time accepting he is a demigod. He wants to make friends, but his position as Poseidon's son leaves him ostracized by his fellow demigods. In the video game, after Percy defeats the Minotaur, he starts bragging about how good he is because he beat the Minotaur. His best friend, Grover, joins him in his over zealous and callous attitude. Also, the children of Athena join the children of Ares as Percy's enemies. In the book, only the children of Ares are Percy's enemies at Camp Half-blood. During the game of Capture the Flag, Percy actually fights against the children of Athena instead of partnering with them. He goes on to defeating Luke, Hermes son and best swordfighter in the camp, in a test of swordplay. A completely new girl has also replaced Ares' main daughter, Clarisse. Without giving away the plot specifics, the story aberrations continue on throughout the game.

The game is a turn-based adventure that wants to be an RPG. Your characters level up and there are different abilities you can switch in and out. However, there is not much in the way of choice in this game since it does loosely follow the original story events. Percy starts out with two abilities: a standard sword attack and an accuracy boost that he can use on himself or other members of his party. Once he gets his water attack, he can use three abilities at a time. The other characters who will join your party can only use two abilities. This is never really explained in the game. However, if you read the book, you can assume the reason Percy has three abilities is because he is the son of one of the big three gods: Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The significance of this is also glossed over in the game. Each character can have up to two drachmas equipped, which serve as passive ability boosts.

There is a lot of text to read through in this game, which is a positive thing for children. The vibrant visuals will draw them into the game. However, the turn-based combat is very simple and somewhat slow. You can easily breeze through most fights by tapping away at your abilities indiscriminately. When you are presented with a challenge you can often use the L-button to check out enemy weaknesses. Every so often, you can perform a critical hit by using your stylus to trace either directional slashes or the outline of a Greek letter. These critical hits happen at random. In general the music provides a quaint, somewhat forgettable, tune to play along to.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians may catch your attention for a short time, but after a while the adjusted story just isn't that compelling. The game switches out Percy's insecurities for arrogance, making him a less likeable character to play with.