Dalmatians – scads and scads of them – have been pet-napped! It seems that Cruella De Vil and her henchmen have re-programmed her robotic toys to snatch puppies and litter them all over England. It’s the adventurous Oddball and Domino, and your child, to the rescue! Lots of work is in store, but fortunately it’s great fun.

Players start by selecting either the lead boy or girl puppy (Oddball or Domino) from the film. Then they embark on their exciting mission that takes them through a park, circus, toy store, and more. Along the way, they tumble into crates to free puppies, pick up bones (where the goal is to collect 100 of them), destroy Cruella’s horrid toys with a bark or a tumble, and trap her minions. Ultimately, they’ll want to defeat the evil Cruella herself. Whenever a level is completed, a new one opens up, and kids can always return to previous levels to increase their scores.

Players can take a breather from the mission at hand by playing the game’s exciting mini-games, some of which support multiple players. More of these are opened up as players progress through the adventure’s 16 levels. Kids pay attention to their bone tallies and the number of puppies they’ve rescued. They’ll also need to beef up their Health meter by finding and munching food items along the way. Cute animal friends like Fidget the Squirrel will either help players by offering hints, or request help to solve their own little dilemmas.

This game is tremendously fun – kids lead their star 3D puppy through exciting areas, including an icy Slalom course and a waterslide. They make their puppy run, jump, tumble, sniff, dig, bark, and even doggie-paddle. There are secret surprise rewards for kids who make an extra effort to really explore the levels and collect as many items as they can. As well, puzzle pieces taking the form of stickers can be earned and collected in kids’ Sticker Books.

Disney action games are always graphically rich and exciting, but not always easy to play. This one will appeal to kids starting a little bit younger than the suggested age group of 8 and up, though some younger kids might find the many keyboard controls somewhat confusing at first. Many, though, will gladly take on the challenge of learning all the nuances of navigation that are necessary to lead their adorable puppy through the program.

This game is also available on PlayStation and Sega Dreamcast platforms. The controls are a little trickier on the computer keyboard (a gamepad helps).

Technically Speaking
Minimum requirements are Windows 95/98, Pentium class 233 MHz, 32 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, 16-bit DirectX-compatible sound card, 16-bit color DirectX-compatible 4 MB video card. This program requires 50 MB of hard drive space. A DirectX-compatible gamepad is optional. There is a disclaimer note in the jewel case insert alerting customers that the program may not be compatible with Windows 2000.

Skills Covered
arcade, strategy.

Educational Value
Some strategy and creativity are required to play the games, but this program should be considered entertainment more than anything.

Entertainment Value
With plenty of action, secrets to uncover, and fun mini-games to play, this action game is as entertaining as they come.

Design
Children use their keyboard or a gamepad to lead their puppies through this game. Though game-play is generally intuitive, quite a few special keys are used for the many puppy "actions".

Replayability
With 16 levels, plenty of surprises, a variety of mini-game diversions, and flat-out fun game-play, this game is sure to entertain for some time.

Dollar Value
This CD-ROM sells for $40 Cdn/$30 US.