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> Results: Stuart Little 3: Big Photo Adventure
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The hardest thing to grasp in Sega and Magenta Software's Stuart Little 3: Big Photo Adventure is the simple fantasy of a mouse as adopted brother to a little boy. Once you're over that hump, this game will charm, entertain and excite you. Combining elements of 3D action-platforming, racing, flying and some simple puzzle solving results in a wholly brilliant adventure that completely and perfectly captures the essence of all that makes Stuart's world innocent and grand.
Stuart accidentally knocks his brother George's school project into the fish tank. This project was a collection of photos taken in and around the Little family home, nestled snugly between the skyscrapers of New York City. The game depicts the area just as it looked in the films. Bright, colorful places with vibrant signs of life are the backdrop for Stuart's latest adventure. He needs to take photos to replace the ruined ones and often has to perform simple and helpful tasks in order to get folks to pose for him. These include getting a kite out of a tree and watching out for his little sister while Dad cooks.  The core gameplay is 3D run and jump-style. Control is tight and tasks always verbalized making it easy to know what to look for next. Stuart also has to collect flash charges to power his camera. These are often hidden but never hard to find. The levels open up into large areas to explore. You do this on foot, on a skateboard, a BMX bike, a sailboard, hovercraft, the roadster, a tank, a helicopter and at least a half dozen more vehicles. All of them are great fun to drive, ride or pilot and break up the puzzle solving with plenty of motion and action. Skateboarding is even its own Tony Hawk-style mini-game with rails to grind and ramps to ride on. The variety is welcome and it all leads up to a super cool Jetpack suit for Stuart if you complete the game! The game also takes advantage of the EyeToy, though that's the weakest portion of the game. In the EyeToy mini-game, you simply rub your hands on bubbles. Stuart will then pop them while wearing his Indian costume and wielding his toy bow and arrow. If you've got the EyeToy handy, then it's worth the extra time to play the challenges, but if not, you're really not missing out. This game looks great, sounds great and plays great. It's not terribly long but it smartly ends about the time it would start wearing out its welcome. In addition to all the above action-platform, driving and flying action, you get a mini-golf game of nine new holes in each of the levels. These golf holes provide just one more great challenge to change the flow of the game and feature the same attention to detail that makes the entirety stand up as one of the best family titles released in 2005. This one's for everyone, not just fans of the movies or action games. Even adults might find this simple and entertaining little romp a good time for the budget price. Here's hoping we see more games utilize a famous license in such a fantastic way!  
There is no doubt that when you're done you will walk away with a smile on your face, a spring in your step and renewed hope that just maybe there are still people who really get it when it comes to entertaining young children. This is how a major movie license should be treated, with respect to its source material and respect for the audience that loves it and craves an entertaining game.
This is entirely safe family fare for everyone in the house age 1 to 100. It takes a child with a grasp of moving an analog stick and pushing some buttons to control everything, but the difficulty is perfect for at most six and up and probably a little lower depending on the child's skill level. All goals are verbalized and the simplicity of the storyﾗtaking pictures for Georgeﾗmakes the tasks all the more obvious. Smaller children can help older siblings pop bubbles even if they don't take controller in hand. What's most encouraging is the care that seems to have been taken to bring this world to the videogame screen. They're not trying to fool kids with pretty pictures or mess with the world of Stuart Little in any way detrimental to, or outside the scope of, what it's all about. In fact, the game embraces the naiveté, the helpfulness and the happiness that makes it such a pleasure to visit this place in movies, books and now videogames. This one gets an extra special thumbs up and the highest recommendation for kids and families looking for something where shooting things or punching things isn't the primary form of interaction. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "Stuart Little" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Stuart Little 3: Big Photo Adventure |
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