On the heels of most DreamWorks Animation films there are usually a couple of console games released. In line with most films franchises these games are usually not terribly great.

The Croods: Prehistoric Party! is out now for the 3DS. Aimed at a younger audience, the game is actually thirty mini games which can be played individually or as a tournament. Each game rewards you with ‘prehistoric points’ which are used to unlock further games. The game's title is a little misleading, unless you’re not a very popular person, as parties usually involve more than one person and in the 3DS version of the game there are no local or internet options to play with any other real players, so the only one at this party is you.

Fire up the game and you’re presented with Grug occupying the top screen, there is only a static representation of the Croods as a cave painting on the lower screen. There are only three locations which are accessible from this screen. Above you is a ledge where you can access the credits, below which is a cave where you can view your unlocked picture galleries, which will be displayed on the lower 2D screen. There is a lower level to this where you get to access thirty mini games.

Here you can choose to play either single games, accessible from the menu or engage in a tournament where you’ll play between five and twenty differing games against the AI characters. The games, themselves are a real mixed bag, some even dating back to the dawn of gaming, a couple of the simple ones I even remember coding on a Commodore 64.

I know that the game is designed for a younger audience, the pegi on the case recommends seven and above, personally I would have gone lower than this. The games are short, the only reward is unlocking a few more games and some artwork, you can’t play against anyone else, so unless you find repetition engaging the life of the game, overall is pretty short.

That said, young kids do like repetition, hence the popularity of nursery rhymes and some of the more vacuous pop music. The graphics are generally bright and cheerful, the music is jolly. My only real gripe is the lack of instructions, alright, it should be obvious that if the game appears on the lower touchscreen, you should probably use your finger, but that may not be obvious to a younger gamer and the fact that following the completion of each game you default back to the home screen, meaning another walk down to the gaming area.

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Charles Packer