102 Dalmatians Review

5.0

Format Dreamcast

Developer Crystal Dynamics

Publisher Eidos Interactive

Genre Unknown

Eidos celebrate the new Disney caper by offering us a large slice of child-oriented dog action. DYLAN DAVIES risks rabies by checking it out

102 Dalmatians is the game of the sequel to Disney's live action dog caper 101 Dalmatians, but the story is pure videogame nonsense. Her evilness - Cruella De Vil - has gone into the toy industry since her last canine defeat. Sadly for this enterprising and misunderstood woman, her range of children's entertainment did not take off. Resorting to her evil ways, she remodels these gadgets to become - gulp! - evil toys! This is called 'Plan B'. Oh, and she steals a bunch of puppies again. Surely this combination of dogs and evil toys is the perfect recipe for videogame success. Isn't it?

Well, it's a very simple game. You can control one of two puppies, Domino or Oddball. These are interchangeable at any point and make no difference to the gameplay - you are merely a boy puppy or a bitch. The 16 levels are simple open areas based on the scenes in the film. Mainly London-based, there's Regent's Park, Piccadilly, Big Ben, and also Cruella's evil castle - possibly in Essex. On each level there are a number of kidnapped puppies that need rescuing, plus 100 bones to collect. Collecting the bones allows you to open up mini-games such as crazy golf and the excellent 'Tilt Maze', and also buys you stickers for your virtual sticker album.

Your puppy can jump, roll, attack, bark (to destroy enemy toys) and sniff. By sniffing, your puppy can find hidden objects and areas of the level. There's not a large amount of enemies and the platform aspects are simple while still holding some challenge. It's like an Early Learning Centre platform adventure with a truly appalling camera, which must be manually wrenched around using the trigger buttons.

This is what makes reviewing this game difficult. It isn't going to set the pants alight of most modern gamers - it's just too simple. However, it's a great game for a five-year-old who worships Disney. It's a nice little yarn with cute but simple-looking levels and characters, plus some great little extras to keep you entertained. It has loads of hidden games in the levels to mix up the fun too - like flying a Pterodactyl or riding fairground rides - and, as mentioned before, there are some quality separate mini-games to collect as well.

This is an accomplished package to give to a Disney kid but, even though it's cheerful enough to make your stupid grinning mouth fall off, there's not enough of a game here to make it worthwhile for grown-up kids. Fun for the nippers, then!