Bridget Jones's Diary is a
video game produced by
Namco; a
first-person shooter, the player can play either as Bridget Jones or Mark Darcy (an unlockable easter egg lets the player go through level eight, only, as Jones's obnoxious boss Daniel Cleaver). Gameplay bounds around
London landmarks, where the player gathers clues to find and rescue their love interest, while shooting
zombies,
vampires, ridiculously
svelte fashion models, and various other foes with a
handgun,
shotgun,
RPG, and ultimately a
plasma cannon. At various points throughout each level, the player must weigh themself on a scale, and gets bonuses based on weight lost, or penalties for weight gained; the player must occasionally obtain fuel packs which include
alcohol,
cigarettes,
chocolate bonbons, and
self-help books. When achieving a goal, the player will hear various clever quips from the character, lamenting their weight, romantic failures, and the distraction of fighting an undead invasion.
Although praised for the variety of settings, and the quality of voiceover work done by
Renée Zellweger and
Colin Firth, the game has been sharply criticized for its entirely unnecessary degree of gore and violence, and additional complaints have been leveled as to the difficulty of gameplay, especially on the grueling
Vicars and Tarts party level, where it is virtually impossible to avoid killing many innocent party guests (and incurring severe penalties), because they are virtually indistinguishable from the similarly costumed enemies.
Despite these shortcomings, the game is much fun, and well worth tackling the high challenge it presents. I give it three and a half out of five stars.