Cosmic Family (Wii) Review

Squarely aimed at youngsters between the ages of three and seven, Cosmic Family has cartoon style charm and peaceful music, rounded off with a large, playful, amusingly voiced elephant that helps guide children around the 'game'. The whole thing kicks off with an animated sequence that takes players off into the stars and into the home of the Cosmics, readying gamers for the crazy japes they are about to take part in. It all works rather like a very basic point-and-click PC adventure product, with the Wii pointer being used to move around and highlight / select different sections of the intergalactic home. Clicking on the various objects lying around will then result in either a cute little event occurring or the uncovering of a puzzle.

Now, it has to be remembered that the average reader is definitely not going to play something like this, and to be honest, even children of ages six or seven will probably find Cosmic Family very easy. However, it is ideally suited to very young 'gamers' who will find the basic puzzles spread across five floors of the humble abode relatively simple to grasp the concept of and complete without too much hassle (examples include putting all the pieces of a broken vase back into the right place simply by clicking on a shard and dragging it into right place – no rotation required – or just colouring in pictures). The fully voiced cast also helps considerably for juniors that do not like to have too much reading to do. Wii owners looking for something to entertain their small children (that does not involve tying up their PC) may want to check this out, if found at a cheap price.