Once upon a time, video games were designed just for men. There weren't many reasons for females to play and men dominated the market. Realizing that money can be made from getting females into the mix, companies started trying to find ways to capture this female audience (See the Female Gamers article in this issue!).
The other day, I received a game from THQ based on the Rugrats license. It is called Rugrats: Totally Angelica and uses the annoying, and bratty female lead to play center stage. The box even crosses out the word boy in Gameboy and replaces it with girl, letting you know who this game is intended for.
I didn't want to play it, because, well, I'm a guy, and walking around with a Gameboy and Angelica inside, didn't really appeal to my image. My girlfriend on the other hand picked up the game immediately and played with it, enjoying it, as if she was transported to being a little kid again. Of course, she is an older gamer, one who remembers the simpler games and this game was a little out of her league, so after some time she gave up.
Who could try this game next? Would I have to? Thank God for children aged five. Boys age five don't care what kind of game it is and who it is intended for. As long as you keep quiet, they will play it and he did. My girlfriend's nephew, Jeremiah played the game for what seemed like forever. He seemed to totally enjoy it and he was doing better than his 24-year-old aunt.
Of course, even a five-year old hits snags and eventually I was called into action to help him out. So here I have Totally Angelica in my hand and I'm playing it with the same intensity I played WWF Smackdown, also from THQ. Serious gamers don't care what game they play. We all play hard.
The game contains all the Nickelodeon Rugrats characters that appear in six mini-games plus one final battle. You can even swap outfits and accessories with other players via the infrared port on your Gameboy Color. Of course, I didn't try that.
The object of the game has Angelica running around the mall in her effort to win a fashion show so she can earn points to rescue a doll that was stolen from her by her Rugrats counterparts, Chuckie and Tommy.
The mini-games are not challenging for someone who has played games for 18 years, but one game had Jeremiah and I playing for a while. It featured a maze and the object is to bounce a ball of yarn through a maze using spring-like bouncers. The game hasn't been beaten yet, but we're working on it. This game reminds me of an old Muppets Carnival Game I played a long time ago and enjoyed. The game is basically for kids, so someone like me would have to go back in time for a review for this game.
Lil' Badseed's Bottomline: 4 out of 5. It is a fun little game for kids. It's also fun for adults to help kids play. I guess it can be even more fun for little girls, but I think females have now entered what was once a male's territory when it comes to video games, like Street Fighter and House of the Dead. Still, all little kids would find this game fun in some way or form. When I came over to my girl's house, Jeremiah asked me where the game was. They won one kid over. How many will follow? My guess is a lot.
Comments and questions and articles should be sent to Badseed@ybfree.com