From the makers of the Ice Age series comes Rio, a 3D comedy adventure about Blu, a rare domesticated bird who travels to the exotic land of Rio. In this multiplayer video game, Blu goes on the adventure of his life, with the help of his female counterpart, Jewel, and a group of wise-cracking and smooth-talking city birds. Blu and his new friends journey through Rio, dodging soccer balls, collecting tropical fruits and soaring across the beach. He participates in various games and ultimately, forms a conga line and dances his way to first place at the Carnival ceremony...

Rio is a multiplayer party game that is aimed at the young end of the market. Instead of using the movie and crafting a game that closely resembles the plot line (a path that all too often leads to gaming disaster) the makes of this console version have opted to use the characters and settings of the movie to give this collection of party games a Rio flavour.

While this is a game that younger players will no doubt come back to time and time again, for the more seasoned gamers out there this gets old a little to quickly. The main problem here is that a lot of the games tend to repeat themselves, but with a slight variation.

There are a number of different modes that you can play in. The story mode takes you through the locations of the film as you pit your gaming skills against up to three other players (the computer takes control of the remaining characters). The idea is to win as many games in each level in order to progress to the next level. It's not overly difficulty - I managed to complete the game in a very short afternoon - but you can change the difficulty setting to make it more challenging.

Other modes allow you to gamble points on your best games in order to race ahead of your competitors or you can just practice games you're not particularly good at - so that next time you play you can beat your friends.

Sadly, though perhaps understandably, there is no Xbox Live option - so you can't play with your online friends or complete strangers. The graphics are bold and colourful, and the linking video segments taken from the movie are enjoyable, if incredibly short, but it's a game that felt a little lacking - especially when the retail price is £35. At a push this should have been a budget (£19.99) release.

5

Nick Smithson