Lil’ Gator loved to play with his big sister at a park on an island.  But when she went off to college, he didn’t get to spend time with her as much anymore.  Now she’s back on fall break, but she’s so busy with assignments that she can’t play.  So Lil’ Gator devises a plan to get her to want to play again.  He recruits all his animal friends to play a pretend video game (lots of Zelda references here) and build a giant RPG town out of the playground with characters and quests to go on.  Lil’ Gator Game is a 3-D platformer adventure game available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

As Lil’ Gator, you can run and jump in 3-D space around the island.  As you play, you’ll get items you can use to help you progress.  You’ll get a stick, er, I mean a sword that you can swing at cardboard cutouts of monsters scattered everywhere.  You can also get a T-shirt you can use as a parachute to help you glide down after a jump.  A bracelet lets you pretend that you have stamina enough to climb rock cliffs.  A shield lets you slide down hills like a sled, and a foam dart blaster lets you shoot at faraway objects.  When you defeat enemies, they’ll turn into confetti that you can then recycle to craft new items like different hats, swords, and more, as well as the materials you’ll need to complete your quests.

Your goal in the game is to recruit your friends around the island park to come to the playground and help build your pretend RPG village.  You’ll do this by completing fetch quests for them, which range from defeating “enemies” to finding objects and more.  When you do that, the friend will go to the playground and become a character in the RPG village you’re building.  When you complete main quests with your friends, you can build a new part of the town if you have enough friends and confetti to do so.  Do that enough times to beat the game, but you can always come back afterwards to find more friends and explore the island.

The only problem I had with the game is that sometimes the goals and objectives are a little unclear, and the maps and signs aren’t as helpful as I’d like for them to be.  It was hard to tell where I should go next sometimes and the low draw distance didn’t help matters.  I know the game is about just messing around and having fun, but as an adult I don’t have as much time for that, so being able to mark spots on a map or warping points or something would’ve been helpful.  The game is also a bit short, but long enough to feel fulfilling and not wearing out its welcome.  But even with those issues, I still saw this game all the way through and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I loved the Wind Waker style graphics and funny Zelda references.  This game has a great work/school/life balance message.  As a kid I loved to play ‘pretend’ video games outdoors and I also have younger siblings that I miss getting to spend as much time with now, so this game really hit home for me.  This is a lovingly crafted game and I highly recommend it.

Kid Factor:

Nothing violent or objectionable here.  You can slice up monsters with a sword, but they’re just cardboard cutouts that don’t even move.  You can’t die or lose, and you don’t even get a health meter.  Reading skill is a must for the text, and younger games may need help with that.  I think this game would be great for parents and kids, or younger and older siblings to play together.  So it’s a shame they couldn’t implement some kind of two player mode, although I don’t know how that would work.  Lil’ Gator Game is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews