 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | 1st Playable Productions |
| Publisher: | D3Publisher of America | |
| Genre: | Platformer | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | N/A | |
| Accessories: | N/A | |
| Buy Now: |   |
There's no doubt about it, games aimed at younger children should be easier and shorter than most others. But sometimes developers fall into the trap of making their game too easy and too short, and that's true here. Cabbage Patch Kids: The Patch Puppy Rescue is a solid game throughout, but it's much too easy and short to be a recommended purchase.
A group of five Cabbage Patch Kids have adopted Patch Puppies, but they were so excited about it that they forgot to lock the cage when they left for lunch (way to be responsible there Kids). The puppies wanted to be with their masters, and escaped to find them. As the player, it's your job to round up the lost puppies and reunite them with their irresponsible Kid masters.
Gameplay is incredibly simple. The d-pad controls movement, while both the A and B button can be used to jump or perform an action…and that's it. There are seven or eight extremely short levels in the game, each of which can be completed in a few minutes time. The only things standing in your way are "obstacles" such as birds, moles, and prickly plants. If you hit an obstacle, you…bounce off it. That's right, no punishment whatsoever and no way to fail the level. There are also 40 crystals to collect in each level, and this does actually require a little exploring off the beaten path. The only reason for collecting most of these though is a lame reward in the playroom hub, such as a different painting on a canvas or a TV turning on instead of being off.
There are also a few mandatory mini-games, like catching falling toys to put away, catching falling soap bottles to wash doggies with, watering plants, and splashing in puddles. Other than figuring out that you need to put each toy in the same color box (or give each colored soap bottle to the Kid with the same colored t-shirt), these are really straightforward as well. The game does track how many different Kids you've met over the course of the game, so I suppose there is a bit of replay value in that as you must revisit each level to collect all 30.
Graphically, the game is very solid. 3D models are used for virtually everything animated (the Kids, obstacles, and puppies), with quality typical of most other GBA platformers. Of course, with so little in the game they could naturally spend more time on each character. The game is ultra-cute of course, but that should appeal to younger eyes. Music is similar; bouncy, high quality stuff from the always excellent sound team at Shin'en. Surprisingly, despite being saccharine sweet the music didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would.
Bottom Line:
If there were several more hours of gameplay in Cabbage Patch Kids: The Patch Puppy Rescue, it may be worth a look for the younger gamer in your family. The graphics and sound are appealing, and there's nothing really wrong with the game itself as little kids do need simple controls and objectives. However, with only an hour or so of total gameplay and no real replay value this won't keep your tyke busy for too long. Parents, you're better off buying one of the many other GBA platformers already available that have a little more to them, or popping in a Blue's Clues DVD you already own instead.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 4.5 |
Posted: 2006-05-22 11:24:33 PST