Stuart Little 2

Published by Infogrames
Designed by Hyperspace Cowgirls
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Price £19.99
Released: Out Now

Games that are inspired by films are usually average at best. Over the years there have been some right turkeys which have been a complete waste of money. Thankfully Stuart Little 2 isn't one of these titles. Aimed squarely at the little ones, it contains five mini games that are easy to learn and entertaining.

The games that are included are based upon sequences from the new film. There's Daredevil Driving, Drain Escape, Balloon Jump, Roof Skate and Air Dodge. The controls have been kept simple and usually are just the cursor keys with the occasional addition of the space bar and/or the return key. Each of the games come with 3 difficulty settings which should keep the little ones occupied for quite a while.

The games can either be played in a story mode or in free play mode. The story mode strings the games together with a series of (unsubtitled) cutscenes. However, the cutscenes are only short and they are good to watch. Free play mode gives you the chance to practice any game you wish.

Graphically the game is simple. The visuals are in 2D but it is a quality that you would have expected to see many years ago. Of course it would have been nice if the visuals had taken into account the 3D cards that most people have but to be fair everything is clear and easy on the eye and as a result of the conserved graphics of the game it only requires a Pentium 2 266MHz to run which means that all but the extremely unfortunate PC owner will be able to run the game.

Unfortunately there are a few problems for the deaf gamer. Cutscenes are not subtitled, encouraging speech from Stuart during a game is not subtitled and comments and the help function on the menu screens are also not subtitled. It is not a catastrophy however as a very useful manual is provided and this gives all the information you need to enjoy the game. The controls are also shown onscreen before each game, so whilst there are some disappointments for the young deaf gamer there is still fun to be had.

It is a shame that subtitles have not been included because what we have here is a very competent game for infant gamers. The mini games are surprisingly enjoyable without being too simple that will bore the kids silly after a while. If your children are interested in Stuart Little in any way, then they will enjoy the game.

Overall Game Rating: 7.7/10 Stuart Little 2 has been well designed and will definitely appeal to the younger gamer.

Deaf Gamers comment: The abscence of subtitles/captions is a shame but a very useful manual makes up for this somewhat.