children's software review

Disney's Lilo & Stitch Hawaiian Adventure

Rating: 

 

Review Sections: Product Overview  Technically Speaking  Skills Covered  Educational Value  Entertainment Value  Design  Replayability  Dollar Value    

Product Overview

This activity center, based on the latest Disney feature film, Lilo & Stitch, is rather original and charming. Cobra Bubbles guides children through this adventure that allows children to relive, and participate in, situations taken directly from the movie's story line.

Before beginning their adventure, children select one of three difficulty levels. Players are then led through the game's activities one by one. Clicking on a shell will get them to the next game challenge. First up, kids meet up with Lilo and her friends in hula class. Then it's off to Area 626, where Stitch (also known as "Experiment 626") has crash-landed. Once kids have located all of Stitch's gizmos (such as police goggles, alien grub, and a skunk, which is "smelly but useful"), they move on to an activity in which they must keep kennel dogs up the rafters--and discover just how useful the skunk can be! Once complete, kids play a maze-like activity that involves selecting a path for Stitch and Lilo, who are navigating the trail on their tricycles.

A couple of the activities are on the bland side, such as the hula class game in which there is not a lot to do. Others are fun and original. At the luau, for example, the player's "assignment" is to deliver cheques, drinks, and meals to the customers' tables--and to help Stitch behave in the meantime! Another fun challenge requires players to pick up after the aliens in Lilo's house. Players must sort and organize scattered laundry, dishes, and Elvis records against a timer. On higher levels, the pace is frantic!

Some factors make this a worthwhile program. Cobra Bubbles' narration is powerful and reassuring, for example. Also, fans of the movie will enjoy the fact that each game is set in a familiar location. Kids can use a water bottle to squirt a misbehaving Stitch, feed him his favorite drink (coffee!), and check the little alien's "bad meter" from time to time. Although the adventure game is a directed one, kids can always skip to the next activity if they tire of the game they are currently playing, without penalty.

Referring to the e-manual is especially important, as gameplay is not always intuitive. In fact, we discovered that we missed many game options when we went ahead without reading the manual. Also, young children may have a hard time deciphering some of the instructions, as they are sometimes delivered by characters with heavy accents. The suggested age (ages 4+) on the box is misleading--this program is better for children ages 6-9. For children in the right age group, however, the program is enjoyable.

Technically Speaking
Minimum system requirements are Windows 95/98/ME/XP, Pentium class processor 200 MHz (233 MHz preferred), 32 MB RAM (64 MB preferred), 16-bit DirectX-compatible sound card, 2MB 16-bit color DirectX-compatible video card, and 8X CD-ROM (16X preferred). Requires 50 MB of hard drive space.

Skills Covered
Children build skills in logic, strategy, timing, and eye-hand coordination.

Educational Value
Children need to call upon strategical and logical thinking in order to master many of the game's challenges. Otherwise, the program is more entertaining than educational.

Entertainment Value
This program will confuse and frustrate children younger than 6 years old. Fans of the movie who are approximately ages 6-9, however, should enjoy the settings, challenges, and characters. The activities are so varied, in both complexity and style, that any child who plays the game is bound to find a few favorites.

Design
As is frequently the case with Disney Interactive's movie-based activity centers, the game icons take a little time to get accustomed to. We advise parents to refer to the game manual (found on the CD) in order to get the most of the program.

Replayability
Our 6-year-old tester insisted on playing the game through to the end, three times over (once for each difficulty level). The entertainment value of the program is quite high, once gameplay is understood.

Dollar Value
The suggested retail price is approximately $20 US.

The Bottom Line

NOTE: This program is now available in an economical bundle along with 3 other software titles: Adventure Workshop Famous Friends.

Back to Children's Educational Software