Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

As a launch title for the Wii, Rayman is shaping up not only a good alternative choice to Zelda, but a good showcase for the different ideas Michel Ancel has for the unique controller. It’s a cleverly inventive and at times bizarre game that uses a simplistic premise as a background for a series of challenging minigames set to some well chosen licensed music.

This game is, so far, a lot of fun. The minigames are absurd. Each round of five trials seems to include one dance sequence (which hinges on synchronizing downward swipes of the two controller modules with the approach of dancing bunnies) and one on-rails “shooter” sequence that has you moving from section to section and taking out oncoming (and occasionally sleeping) bunnies using a gun that shoots toilet plungers. At one point a high-tech vehicle flies in, drops a rope, and down slides a bunny dressed as Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell, another Ubisoft property. I was pretty pleased at the cameo and am looking forward to more. The guy from Prince of Persia, perhaps? King Kong?

The other three trials show a lot more variety, from jumping rope over a chain swung by two monsters which Rabbids pop their heads in around the sides of the screen and try to distract you, to slamming shut slowly-opening outhouse doors which are all that stand between you and a faceful of toilet plunger fired from a grunting, seated bunny. Fortunately, they scream comically once the door opens, giving you a second’s warning if you’re busy with another one.

I’ll have to see if the quality of this game keeps up from round to round, and I’ll be back with a final review when the game’s done.