Just in time to ride the wave of advertising for the new Winnie the Pooh "Heffalump Movie", Ubisoft has created a game for the GBA. Geared to audiences 3yrs old and up, it's a mixed bag of fun and frustration that might leave the younger players wishing to flee Christopher Robin's Meadow. 

It's a given that for every kid's movie released, there has to be a game-- hopefully on every platform available. Here, we find the tiny Pooh Bear on the Game Boy Advance with all his pals lending a hand. I love Pooh. My daughter's decor is mostly Pooh, and she sleeps with TWO Pooh dolls each night. My very first real watch was Winnie the Pooh, and who doesn't just love that little guy? So, getting my hands on this game was something I looked forward to very much.

Pooh is hungry. Well, hungrier than usual. The game opens with a dialog between Christopher and Pooh. Through text screens accompanied by the familiar "Pooh Music", we learn that the best way to keep your mind off food is to have yourself a quest!  So, off Pooh goes to stir up some memories of past birthdays-- from everyone. Along the way, you need help from your friends, who will each lend a special touch to move you along. You have your enemies, however! Yes, lovable Pooh is haunted and hunted by Heffalumps and Woozles. I must take a quick second to acknowledge that I have NOT seen the new movie, but it is my understanding (from the ad plugs and videos on the Disney Channel) that the Heffalump is actually a friendly fellow-- and not something to be feared. Confusing, but I'll buy it for now.

This is a standard quest type game. Designed for small children, it is not fast paced nor intimidating. With that in mind, I found myself able to roam and be nosey with relative ease. The threats are minimal and easy to deal with. It seems that Piglet, once selected to assist you, can conjure up a very scary face-- which makes the baddies flee with fright. Who knew there was a beast in the bacon? It's a (personal) shame that Piglet is so useful, as he is my least favorite character. Oh well, at least it wasn't Rabbit. 

As mentioned, each character aids Pooh in their own special way. Piglet gets scary, Eeyore gathers small critters, and so on. The whole gang is there, and they all interact with the same dialog-heavy manner. I know there are a lot of young geniuses out there, but am I missing something when a key element of the game involves reading, and not many 3 year olds can read? . This totally eliminates the (younger) child's ability to take this game off on their own and play without older assistance. Some of the words aren't exactly "Dick and Jane" level, either. I'm a speed-reading adult pushing 40, and stumble on pronouncing "Heffalump" and "Woozle". I am not sure how the designers intended for this to be overcome. From recent experience, I can assure you that some children want to be independent and not NEED an adult's help to play a kid's game... but that's exactly the case, here. 

Back to the action. Assuming the child understands the mission, they will then have to guide Pooh around the lands looking for objects-- in an effort to read his friends' birthday party scrapbooks (remember... trying to not be hungry, here). Nosey Pooh Bear has to solve some puzzles and solicit help from specific friends to get all of this done. If he sees some sparkling object, a good kick will reveal what's hidden there. Like.... honey pots! You have to collect the honey pots as you go. Also, pick up keys and the usual quest-game things to get through gates and across terrains. 

Some of the puzzle-solving is too complex for the minimal aged players. But, if they are not accomplished, you can do nothing but walk in circles with the theme music driving you insane. If you stop the game, you must wait until after getting a password (write it down!!!)-- or you face having to replay the entire level from the start. Again, a young player is being asked a lot with that kind of pressure. In my first sitting, I explored and had some fun learning the game, but even after 15 minutes of play, I had not earned a password. I needed to stop for a while, so lost my game and had to begin from the speech in the tree with young Christopher. 

If you manage to eaves-drop on all of your friend's private diaries and finish the game, you are rewarded with the chance to play it all over again-- against the clock. Replay value-- zilch.

The sound is warm and welcoming... for about five minutes. The lovable tune that plays over my child's crib at night is repeated over and over until you want to turn off the volume completely. You can adjust the audio levels, thankfully. 

The graphics are quite nice, and the critical text is large enough to read-- by those old enough to do so. Pooh and his pals are rendered quite nicely, and the terrain is easy to follow with contrasting colored pathways. The visuals are the strongest part of the game. 

Gameplay: 6
Christopher Robin's plan to distract your rumbly tummy is easy enough to understand, though the reading and puzzle solving may shut out a good group of the intended audience. Pooh moves about quickly, and though there is no actual speech, you can almost hear each character's voice in your head-- as you READ the instructions. The pace is fairly slow, though does increase at a fair speed without ever getting impossible for a young child to manage. 

Graphics: 8.0 
Definitely the best aspect of the game, the visual elements are nicely done. The characters "pop" against the terrain background. Though I still appreciate the effort, anything less than this level of clarity would have been terrible, as rendering cartoon characters into video games is relatively simple. It's based on a cartoon, and thus looks like a cartoon!  

Sound: 5.0
The audio will drive you sadly insane. The lovable tune soon grows into a tortuous annoyance.    

Difficulty: Medium
Provided the 3 year old can read well, the game should play very easy-- even with the puzzle solving. Some of those tasks are unclear-- even when you know what you are supposed to do. Which log am I moving??  

Concept: 4.5 
This is an adventure game with hazards. It is poorly designed if the age target is accurate. Walking around collecting objects and avoiding (gentle) bad guys is old and tired. Pick up the key, unlock the gate, kick a sparkling bush for some honey-pots. I don't recall seeing anything that was new or different-- aside from the originality of the characters, themselves. 

Overall: 5.5
I suppose there is no way around the cycle of: Make the kid's movie- make a game for it. It's just a shame that poor efforts are put behind them so often. It's as if the talent pool is exhausted from making the actual film(s), and the game design gets the leftover, tired rejected ideas. Or, worse yet, making a game that is merely a clone of a dozen other games that came before. I am not sure who would benefit best from this game's offerings. It is too much for a small child to pick up and play-- without help, but older kids will feel as though they have played it before-- long ago. They would be right. It's stale and the no wind in the sails. Oh, bother......