Noddy: A Day in Toyland
Score: 80% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: The Game Factory Developer: Digital Eclipse Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 Genre: Family
Graphics & Sound: Noddy: A Day in Toyland puts you in control of the little character from PBS as he travels throughout Toyland meeting his friends from the series and trying to outwit the goblins, Sly and Gobbo. Noddy uses simple side-scrolling graphics for both the regular and driving levels. All of the characters take up a good portion of the screen real estate, making each one easily recognizable to followers of the show. The background locations also seem to follow the graphical style of the series, making the game that much more like its television counterpart. As far as the game's sound is concerned, there isn't a whole lot to talk about here. Music gets the job done while sound effects are pretty lackluster.
Gameplay: In Noddy: A Day in Toyland, we follow the main character as he goes about his daily business. Noddy's day starts off with a trip to visit his friend, Big-Ears, in the Toadstool Woods. Noddy's adventure also includes visits to other characters from the show like Mr. Sparks, Bumpy Dog, Tessie Bear and the Skittle family. Levels are broken up into two categories, platformers and driving. The driving levels put you in Mr. Sparks' car as Noddy races from one location to the next (like from his house to the Toadstool Woods) moving up and down in order to avoid rocks and other obstacles. The platformer levels typically involve Noddy going off on a scavenger hunt. Noddy will look for everything from the Skittle children to ice cream and tools. Overall, this game is very much a kid-friendly and family safe title. Noddy doesn't really have any enemies and most of his adventure involves exploring the world looking for the items he needs to help out his friends. Along the way, he not only collects the scavenger hunt items, but also coins and energy. The "energy" is essentially his health because the only real baddies in the game do nothing more than make Noddy tired when he runs into them.
Difficulty: Since Noddy: A Day in Toyland is geared to the same people that watch the show, namely younger kids, it should come as no surprise that this game isn't hard. But how hard is it for the target audience? Levels are straightforward and the items are rarely hard to find, so the typical kid should be able to finish the game if he or she is stuck on a lengthy road-trip or cross-country flight. There never seems to be a point where the game doesn't let you know what you need to do, so the frustration level should be minimal for most players. Unless your kid gets temperamental real easily, he or she should have no problems playing through all of A Day in Toyland.
Game Mechanics: Noddy: A Day in Toyland uses simple mechanics to make this game more accessible to its younger target audience. Controlling Noddy's car during the driving levels is simply a matter of pressing up and down on the D-pad while the level moves by you automatically. In the platformer levels, you can make Noddy jump with the A button and toss Googleberry muffins with the B, L or R buttons. As a kid-friendly game, Noddy is a good title. If you are planning on going on a trip soon and want to keep your little one entertained while in-transit, then A Day in Toyland is a good purchase, and at $20, it won't break the bank.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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