Barnyard
Ages: E +10 Kids really

It's amazing how much they can get into the GBA. In the game Ben takes charge and sets out the rules and directions for play. Of course, some rules are just made to be broken as you will see as the game progresses.

The various animals were easy to differentiate on the small screen in spite of the view being top down. Animals are further identified on talk balloons and the balloons are frequent and are even more informative than those on the consoles. Night and day exist minus the sun setting and the moon rising, and a clock on the upper left of the screen indicates the time. You can sleep any time after 5pm. Sleep time is when your game is saved. As in the console games, you have a cell phone to communicate with -- I know it's strange. There are somewhat fewer places to visit but you still can play golf and buy barn furniture and race around on your BMX bike. Squirting milk seems the big attraction. If after seeing the movie, you want to go back to revisit the Barnyard, the console games, will give you more of a sense of the movie -- but the GBA does just fine.

Reviewed by: Editor - 08/06