Monsters, Inc. Scare Island is a fun little action game for kids (aged 8 and up) based on the movie Monsters, Inc. You can play as either of 2 characters from the movie - James P. Sullivan (Sulley) or a little green walking eyeball that goes by the name of Mike Wazowski. Having enjoyed the movie, I predicted that I would enjoy the game as well. I did.

The object of the game is to train to become a "Top Scarer" at Monsters, Inc. by going through training camp. You start off with orientation that explains, in steps, what actions you must learn to achieve your goal. You learn how to jump, attack, and scare during the orientation. This stage was essential for me as an "action-challenged" gamer. Once you complete this area, you are ready to move on to the different environments in the game. These include Urban, Arctic, and Desert Training Grounds.

All the character controls are on the keyboard. These controls help you collect Primordial Ooze, Bag O' Calories, Extra Life Tokens and so on. You will be attacked by human child toys that will eat away at your life meter if you do not either run away or smack them (this is what actually happens - your Sulley or Mike-hand smacks the toys). You will come across robotic children that you must "scare" by using a varying set of keys on the keyboard. This changes from robot child to robot child. I wore my index finger out punching away at the "a", "d", and "f" keys. You character makes lots of scaring noises during this time that are funny to hear. Once you have scared enough robot children in an area, you are awarded medals (bronze, silver, and gold). These medals open up secret areas in the game world. Some areas are not accessible until you have a certain number of medals.

The graphics are 3D and you can freely roam the environment. They were pleasant enough to enjoy the game. "Cartoony" in a way but still looked 3D.

Voices sounded very close to the movie character voices. Sounds were appropriate and amusing as in the above mentioned scare mode. There was light music in the background that did not interfere with game play.

Overall this was a nice game that doesn't require any thinking or quest solving but does require some fast moving fingers.

Grade: B

System Requirements (PC):
Windows® 95/98/Me/XP
Pentium II 266 MHz or faster
DirectX 8.0a(included)
32 MB RAM or greater
30 MB free uncompressed HD space - min, 250 MB Recommended
8X CD-ROM drive
16-bit DirectX compatible sound card
8 MB video card with 3D acceleration, 16 bit color depth, DirectX-compatible

Little Critter and The Great Race is a game for ages 4 and up. Your goal is to locate all the parts you need to make your very own soap box racer for the Great Race soap box derby. Your map leads you to many places in Critterville where car parts can hide. During your travels, you will be required to run errands for citizens in order to acquire wrenches and other items you'll need to build your racer.

Almost everything in the game is "clickable" and starts a cute little animation of some sort. Clicking a window may cause the curtains to close, clicking a flower may cause a bee to fly out, and so on.

Graphics are 2D, cartoon style. I've always liked the Little Critter style of illustration. Voices are very good as in the other Little Critter games I have played. This is nice as you speak with many Critters in Critterville. Lots of background sound effects, too. Birds, bees, water noises, etc. The interface is point-n-click.

It is a fun inventory-finding game with a Great Race at the end as your reward.

Grade: B

System Requirements:
Windows® 95/98
Pentium® 100 MHz (166 MHz recommended)
8 MB RAM (16 MB recommended)
1 MB free hard disk space
4X Speed CD-ROM drive (8X Speed recommended)
Super VGA (640 x 480, 256-color) video display
SoundBlaster 16 or 100% compatible sound card

MACINTOSH
System 7.1 or higher
68040 33 MHz or higher
8 MB RAM (5 MB available free RAM)
1 MB free hard disk space
2X Speed or faster CD-ROM drive
640 x 480, 256-color video display

The Mummy Mystery starring Mercer Mayer's Little Monster Private Eye is a very traditional inventory-based mystery-solving, complete-with-puzzles adventure game for ages 4 years and up. Out of all three of these games, The Mummy Mystery was my favorite.

In the intro scene, you learn that Professor Pickles has become trapped in Monster Egypt inside the Tomb of Thanxfurnuthen. It is up to Little Monster Private Eye and his sidekick Detective Kerploppus to find the 5 magic rings that will open the tomb. During your adventure you will travel to exotic parts of Monster Egypt such as the Tomb of Pharaoh Phaucett, the Tomb of Tootafroota, and the Pyramid City Marketplace and interact with many a silly character. These little humorous names were scattered throughout the game as was plenty of dry humor. There were 11 puzzles in the separate locations in Monster Egypt. All of them fun and none frustrating for my 5 and 6 year old sons. To solve some of the puzzles you must buy items with the local form of currency, tiny golden scarabs. These scarabs are plentiful in almost every screen of the game. Professor Pickles journal comes in very hand for clues.

Graphics are 2D, cartoon style and very colorful. Voices were great, convincing, and funny. Music was appropriate and didn't detract from your adventuring. Interface is point-n-click.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to introduce a child to the wonderful world of adventure games.

Grade: A

System Requirements:
WINDOWS
Windows® 95/98/Me/2000
Pentium® 100 MHz (166 MHz recommended)
16 MB RAM (32 MB recommended)
5 MB free hard disk space
4X Speed CD-ROM drive (8X Speed recommended)
Super VGA (640 x 480, 256-color) video display
SoundBlaster 16 or 100% compatible sound card

MACINTOSH
System 7.1 or higher
68040 33 MHz or higher
8 MB RAM (5 MB available free RAM)
5 MB free hard disk space
2X Speed or faster CD-ROM drive
640 x 480, 256-color video display