Rugrats Search For Reptar

Overview

It’s hard to predict which cartoons will be hot when they are brand new. Sometimes they just fill time slots and don’t excite anyone. But occasionally they hit the mark and gain their own cult-like following. Rugrats has picked up steam as more people have subscribed to cable and had access to Nickelodeon. The recent movie, books, toys, clothing, sheets, dolls and video games are further testament as to how popular this cartoon has become.

In the game Rugrats: Search for Reptar, Tommy Pickles must earn each of the pieces to his Reptar (kind of like a Tyrannosaurus Rex) puzzle by wandering through his house solving all different types of challenging little quests. In addition, each level contains Reptar Bars. After Tommy collects 15 Reptar Bars, he will earn bonus puzzle pieces. As soon as Tommy collects twelve puzzle pieces, he gets to play with a real Reptar wandering through town and busting buildings.

Gameplay

The game starts with Tommy wandering through his house looking for opportunities to earn puzzle pieces. Each level has a trigger within the house to launch into the level. For example, for Tommy to try the Chuckie’s Glasses level, you must walk him up to the umbrella near the playpen and then push the triangle button. You also see text on the screen describing a level as well as giving you a description of how tough the level is. There are three easy levels, 4 medium levels, and 3 hard levels. The descriptions are somewhat subjective and the skills required to complete them may not be as bad as they may sound (i.e., the hard isn’t very hard and the easy may not be that easy for you).

Tommy is the storyline character and also the character you control in most of the levels. In some of the levels, you will play with other characters or multiple characters while completing specific tasks. In some of the bonus levels you will be able to control different characters as items are passed between Tommy and his friends.

The easy level tasks include finding the other babies in "Chuckie Loses His Glasses," playing some minigolf in "Ice Cream Mountain" and defeating some robot friends in "The Mysterious Mr. Friend."

The medium level tasks move to a variety of chasing tasks in "Grandpa’s Teeth," doing some circus tricks in "Circus Angelicus," finding your way in the dark in "Let There Be Light" and rescuing an alien in "Visitors from Outer Space."

The hard level tasks are challenging and include fighting some tough lobsters in "Incident on Aisle 7," solving some climbing problems in "Toy Palace," and using Tommy’s dog Spike to save Angelica’s doll Cynthia in "7 Voyages of Cynthia."

There are also some fun bonus levels like racing Tommy against Angelica in "Cookie Race," searching for hidden eggs in an "Egg Hunt," drinking all the chocolate milk before Angelica can have any in "Rugrats Babies Touchdown Tommy" and eating all the cookies without Angelica in "No More Cookies." As in the cartoon, Angelica sometimes gets paid back for being a showoff all the time. A few other bonus levels include finding all the gold coins in "Gold Rush" and finding all the balloons on the ceiling in "Mirrorland."

Some of the tasks are time-driven and must be completed before time runs out, while others are more about simply surviving the level without running out on the cry meter. The more complex tasks are described in the game, like sinking a putt or landing on the right spot in the circus.

Graphics

The 3D polygon world is pretty basic. As you turn, the camera angle will follow behind you with a little lag. This can be extremely annoying until you get used to it. I don’t prefer this type of motion, especially when I’m concentrating on doing some specific task. 3D worlds have been so well-built in other games that it’s always surprising to see other games which aren’t at least as good. It would be nice if more developers sold the tools to others so lesser 3D worlds weren’t continuously programmed from scratch with lesser quality.

Bottom Line

This game will be appreciated more by a Rugrats fan than someone looking for a great video game. It stays within the theme and fun of the cartoon and has enough novelties to keep kids busy for a while. It would have earned a higher rating if it didn’t have such long texts to read to know what to do in each level and if the camera angle followed the player’s motions more intuitively. If anyone in your family loves the Rugrats, this would make a good gift; otherwise I would recommend renting it before buying.