LarryBoy and the Bad Apple (PlayStation 2, 2006)

This is a simple but fun kids game that provides a nice interactive Veggie Tales experience. My girlfriend loves kids games, since she's still new to the video game world and gets frustrated easily when the action moves too fast and involves all of the controller buttons. Throughout the course of the story, new features of Larry Boy's super suit are added one at a time, so there's plenty of opportunity to master each new power before adding new complexities.

The upside: The characters are funny, the writing is hilarious, and the positive messages don't get in the way of the flow of the story or the game play. Are the morals taught in a hokey way, or is it done effectively? Are you thrilled to see an attempt made to teach right and wrong, or does your jaw drop in disbelief as their portrayal of good and evil? It's a source of endless discussion for the adults, not to be answered definitively by this reviewer. The game features lots of silly songs to unlock, side missions, cut scenes - fans of the Tales will be amused, at least for a while. It seems ironic that one of the characters needs to be saved from the temptation of playing video games too much - but there's actually a feature where you can set a reminder once you've played the game for a certain length of time! Maybe I should use that feature - and maybe it should come with ALL video games!

The downside: play can get repetitive, and there are a limited number of phrases that get used over and over again during the action sequences. The graphics are clearly a few years behind the times - it looks like the game was made for the PSP, and then ported over to the PS2. It's not all that uncommon to get stuck on some parts, due to the poor lighting / graphics that make it unclear where you need to jump / fly next, or because the game requires rather exact timing and multiple attempts to reach the key spot.

Summary: It's by no means a great game (too basic, too repetitive), but Larry Boy cracks me up enough that I'm willing to overlook the weaknesses and get some fun out it. Be prepared to jump in and save your kids when they get stuck in one place, or they might give up on it forever. For people who are passionate about Veggie Tales only.