Beloved characters from Mercer
Mayer's Little Critter book series come alive in
this interactive adventure CD-ROM. Little Critter
needs to build a racer in order to race in the
Critterville Soapbox Derby. Players choose one of
three racers to build, and then find parts for it
by exploring Critterville, playing games, and
solving puzzles.
Obtaining the parts needed to build a racer is
not just a matter of finding them—players need to
collect objects, and trade or win them. For
example, in one game, a monkey at the zoo is
holding on to a steering wheel. Kids need to find
something to feed the monkey in order to get this
important part for Little Critter's racer.
Children visit all sorts of interesting places
in Critterville by means of four maps of the
fictional town. Players direct Little Critter as
he drops in at his home, visits a junkyard, stops
by a pond, and even enters a house that is rumored
to be haunted. There are hotspots everywhere, most
of which trigger jokes and songs. Some
"clickables", however, lead to mini-games. There
are six of them altogether, and these include
memory/matching games and puzzles. Some can be
played at different difficulty levels, and others
give kids the option to challenge themselves by
playing against a timer.
Although the style of the game is similar to
that of a Humongous Junior Adventure (such as
Putt-Putt Joins the Race, for example),
navigation is slightly different. Children need to
use any of four maps in order to get from one
place to the next, a task that is a little tricky
for younger players.
Though the game earns our general
recommendation, we have a few complaints. The
clickables, for example, are rather enjoyable but
predictable. The process of saving and loading a
game is a little clunky. Instead of a sign-in
system, kids must save their game before exiting.
They have to be careful not to mix up the load and
save options, or they risk losing progress in a
game, which can be quite a disaster! Additionally,
character speech is sometimes difficult to
understand.
All things considered, however, this is a
worthwhile adventure. Children learn a little
about the benefits of perseverance as they face
problems with solutions that are not always
straightforward. This type of program is
especially fun when kids work through the problem
solving together as a team. That way, chances are
better that getting "stuck" won't be fatally
frustrating.
