Gaming Target - Game Boy: Rugrats: Castle Capers

Written by Daniel Ekman on February 19, 2002

Review: If you like titles that take less than an hour to finish, look no further.

Rugrats: Castle Capers is a game that will probably surprise you, either because of its stunningly short lifespan or its surprisingly responsive controls. Even if the game might both smell and look low budget at first, the developer has at least taken its time to hone how characters respond to the player's input. The story, however, is not as satisfying. Of course, I do not know the first thing about Rugrats so perhaps the story is actually very true to the series. If that is the case, I hope I will never be so fortunate as to watch the show.

Apparently, Stu has been commissioned to construct a prototype for a fantastic children's playground. The playground is?much to Stu's delight?set to be placed in all of the Reptar Pizza restaurants in town. Unfortunately, Angelica spies the world in the backyard and decides to appoint herself queen of this magical land. During her delusional reign she confiscates all the babies' favourite belongings and laughs about it in a very perturbing way. It is now up to Chuckie, Kimi, Dil, Phil, Lil and Tommy to get their toys back, and at the same time teach Angelica the Mad a lesson.

The castle that Angelica is controlling is divided into six worlds, all of them based upon popular children's stories such as Robin Hood and Hansel and Gretel. Every world has a very distinguished look, and the graphics in general are colourful and rather beautiful. But even if every world feels fresh and new upon entering it for the first time, the gameplay that takes you through it does not. In the vein of Pinobee: Quest of the Heart and other two-dimensional platformers, Rugrats takes you through stages jumping, collecting and trying to find your way to the exit.

There are a number of items to collect within each world, ranging from candies and cookies to coins. You can also find other babies hanging around who will tag along and help you reach higher places. It might sound interesting, but it will grow old rather fast. Thankfully, an experienced player will still be able to complete the game before it becomes too tedious to bear, but maybe not for the best of reasons. The fact that the title takes around 50 minutes for an avid gamer to complete is a testament to both the title's almost complete lack of challenge and the target demographic of the game.