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Rugrats: All Growed Up

Score: 55%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: THQ Interactive
Developer: Sapient / Nickelodeon Interactive
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Miscellaneous

Graphics & Sound:

For the most part, the graphics in Rugrats: All Growed Up match the cartoony feel of the show. Unfortunately, the game only sports a few different environments, and most of them look quite similar. What's there is simple but effective; it's not complex, but that's one of the reasons that the game has low system specs. The animation ranges from fairly fluid--climbing ladders and the like--to horribly jerky, such as when the various kids start to run.

The game's sound effects are just what you'd expect in a kid's game based on the Rugrats. There's a lot of voice-acting from Angelica, as she watches over everything that you do; the good Doctor also chips in occasionally, referring to his kid-eating plants and the like. The music is chirpy stuff that you'd expect in this title, as are the sound effects--loud and goofy, but definitely workable. It's nothing spectacular, but it gets the job done.


Gameplay:

It's a shame, then, that Rugrats: All Growed Up falls in the same trap that so many kid's games have fallen in before it. Just because the target audience is young doesn't mean that they're going to fall for a bad game. While the basic concepts of the game--a sidescrolling platformer starring the Rugrats, albeit aged--are fine, the actual execution leaves a whole lot to be desired. Atrocious control, dubious mechanics decisions, and an entirely too-short experience make Rugrats: All Growed Up much worse than it should have been.

The storyline is thin--not that it really matters--but the game's presentation of it is even thinner, which is somewhat disheartening. The entire Rugrats gang gets pulled into the TV via a time machine, and they get aged ten years or so. To go back to the present time, they have to make an un-time machine. The game's five levels are centred on getting the instructions for the machine, and then the various parts, and finally setting the time machine so that you can get home. Unfortunately, the story is told by a cinematic at the beginning and still animations between levels, which doesn't do much for continuity. The game feels more like a disconnected series of stages.

The actual gameplay is pretty simple. Your character--you can pick any of four at the start, but they seem identical other than looks--can walk, jump, long jump, climb, and press buttons. The five levels have mild puzzles that may stump the young ones, but any pre-teen should have no problems with them. [Hint: The times on the clock are misleading. Just go with the colours.]

Indeed, a savvy kid could blow through this game in an hour or so. You have unlimited lives, although you run out of 'bonus time,' so the score will be lower at the end. This is downright unforgivable. Even kid's games need to have more longevity than an hour and a half, especially one that aspires to be a character-based platformer. Collecting all of the obligatory Spooky Balls nets you a hidden character, but that's not particularly intended to be challenging either.

The shortness of the game isn't its only problem, though. Most of my issues with the game actually stem from mechanics, which are discussed below.


Difficulty:

For an adult, this game is an absolute breeze, and should be completable in well under an hour. The kids will (understandably) probably take a while longer, depending on their age. Unfortunately, instead of having to fight with the puzzles and the situations, they'll probably end up fighting more with the controls, which can be frustrating. The timer doesn't help--the kids I know like to take their time playing, moving carefully, and having a ticking timer only frustrates them more, even if it doesn't end the game.

Game Mechanics:

The controls for the game are fairly simple. You use left and right to walk, which switches to running after a few seconds; you use up and down to climb things or move elevators; you use space to jump short distances, and right or left plus space to do a 'long jump'; you use Enter to press buttons and open doors. This is a good scheme, because it's simple to learn and intuitive once you're used to it.

The problem, however, is in the implementation. Moving is done in steps. This could ostensibly be to make the game easier for kids--not having to deal with 'smooth' movement means they can play the game by tapping the keys. The problem comes up when you do something like a long jump when you don't have much clearance. You have to press right and jump at the same time. I screwed it up a few times, and I've been doing this sort of stuff for ages; I can imagine that kids will only be more frustrated. Even worse is the spotty hit detection, but worse than that is the way that the game unceremoniously throws you back a screen or two when you get hit, with little to no warning. The abrupt jump is extremely disorienting, and could have been handled much better. I found myself moving through Balls a number of times without the game registering that I picked them up, and the running-after-holding-button action is just a bad idea. It speeds up the game a little, yeah, but the characters look idiotic when they run, and kids might not be able to pull out of it when there's an enemy right inside the next room.

Kid's games should be judged a different way than ones geared towards adults--they don't have to be thirty-hour epics with flashy graphics. But they deserve better than Rugrats: All Growed Up. It's a decent little platformer, but it's criminally short, and the control scheme and mechanics are downright shameful. With a number of extra levels and a better control and hit-detection engine, this game would be a winner for the young ones, but as it is it's definitely not a must-have. Perhaps if it makes its way to the bargain bin; until then, Rugrats: All Growed Up needs to fill in the britches considerably better than it does.


-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications
AKA Phil Bordelon

Minimum System Requirements:



Win9x/Me, P2 233, 32MB RAM, 125MB HD space, 8x CD-ROM, PCI video card w/ 2MB VRAM, 16-bit sound card
 

Test System:



Athlon 1.1GHz running Win98 SE, 512MB RAM, GeForce 2 GTS w/ 32MB RAM, SoundBlaster Live!, 8x DVD-ROM

Windows Railroad Tycoon II: Platinum Windows Rune: Halls of Valhalla

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated