Wow! This title is great fun. On one hand, you could say it is nostalgic since it will bring back memories of Looney Tunes cartoons to the parents of the kids playing this game. On the other hand, it is very current as well -- kids are still watching Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the rest of the Looney Tunes gang.
All kids need to do is sign in, and a puzzle is waiting for them. They can select from a number of different puzzles to assemble, and after they successfully piece together a jigsaw, it comes to life in the form of a video clip of the classic cartoon.
There are two menus to choose from: one of them is more appealing to kids and can be activated simply by clicking on the little box in the corner marked "Danger" which releases Taz and the kid-friendly icons. There are 5 skill levels providing an enormous range -- the jigsaws can be made to be really easy, or extra hard for adults. There are 25 pictures that create over 1000 two-sided jigsaw puzzles.
I'd like to make a note that I love the graphics and sound effects in the games I have seen from SouthPeak -- the colors are rich and the sound effects are great. The video intro for Cosmic Capers Animated Jigsaws is fun to watch as well.
The program includes some wonderful options that allow you to customize puzzles to the user's age, skill, and mood! Some nice options are the ability to save completed puzzles as desktop wallpaper, and print out personalized certificates that kids can color. Options from the menu scrolls include the ability to turn different sound categories (like sound effects and music) on or off. If you're stuck in a puzzle, you can always choose to show a "ghost hint" (which is a template of the puzzle that takes the form of a faint background), or choose to have the computer place one piece (or more) for you. And, if you really get lazy, you can always choose to let the computer solve the rest of the puzzle altogether as you sit back and watch. You may want to interrupt it midstream and take over the remainder of the puzzle.
Options to customize the puzzles themselves include choosing from 5 levels of difficulty, from 25 pictures for the front and the back of the puzzle, and whether or not you want to have to rotate the puzzle pieces yourself or have them all locked into the correct direction. Choose to select your own puzzle, play a random one, load up and play a saved puzzle, or replay the same puzzle over again.
Remember, the puzzles are two-sided, and that you can choose to play a puzzle with a picture on the front and a solid backing or a different picture on the back. The latter makes things very interesting. The puzzle pieces themselves are scattered on the play surface in a realistic fashion -- some are upside down, and most are overlapping. Double click on a piece to turn it from back to front, and click on the corner to rotate it. These functions make it extraordinarily realistic, but if you prefer to have everything right-side up and straight, you can easily choose to do so.
On level 1, the puzzles have only 4 or 5 pieces, and are not the traditional jigsaw shapes, but rather contain some pieces that are direct cut-outs. Level 5 has enough pieces to challenge an older child or adult.
As noted above, there are 2 different interfaces to choose from. There are also keyboard key equivalents of some of the options, such as "P" for playing a random puzzle, "S" for selecting a new puzzle (and difficulty level), and "R" for replaying a puzzle. My 2 year old loves to play the puzzles on level 1, and she had great fun using the keyboard to do some of the basic functions, like getting a new random puzzle and replaying one she especially liked.
Cosmic Capers Animated Jigsaws is a big hit in my household, and the cartoon clips are hysterical. My kids love to watch them over and over again. Actually, so do I. I'm really quite enamored by this program.
