EA Playground

EA Playground has a definite whiff of a game conceived from the sort of meeting where a group of adults sit around trying to guess what children like.

You can picture it, can't you? "I think it should have stickers. Kids seem to like collecting things. Especially adhesive things, and Pokémon, and so on," says chief marketing man.

Man in the grey suit and matching hair raises a tentative hand: "Well, I quite enjoyed playing marbles when I was a child…"

"But aren't marbles and stickers a bit, er, tame?" interrupts the new guy who's still got a lot to learn. "I mean, are there any kids left who'd rather be playing marbles in the street than causing mayhem with a motorised scooter?"

"Yes, he's got a point," chief marketing man says, pleased by his ability to choose personnel. "We'll bung in a spitball game and some hopscotch for the girls. And set it all in a world children understand better than any other: the school playground."

Not that we're particularly knocking any of this – an idea has to come from somewhere. It's just that EA Playground is the epitome of by-the-numbers game for kids. It's an assortment of nine easy-to-play, largely one-button experiences against either artificial intelligence or the clock, all set within a central playground hub.

To get involved, you wander around the various areas, find a kid with a star above his or her head and then tap them with your stylus to accept the challenge. While the nine games remain identical in terms of gameplay, there are constantly evolving objectives to complete. So, initially you might need to beat an AI opponent in the basketball hoop shooting challenge, but then you'll be asked to beat two opponents, and then shoot 70 baskets in under a minute.

As it happens, the way the games are structured makes them quite addictive no matter what your age. Unfortunately, in the case of some games like the rhythm/memory game Hopscotch, they can go on without getting any tougher until you've lost all your lives. So if, like most people older than eight, you find the initial challenges very easy, you'll actually have to mess up on purpose to make them end.

Better thought out is the neat way more depth is added to these simple games with the stickers you collect throughout. Winning a game rewards you in marbles and these can be handed over to the 'Sticker King' in each area in exchange for stickers. You can't miss the sticker kings – they wait around by the school gates looking shifty. A bit like drug dealers albeit in a more innocent context. "Oi, kid. Want something to get you high? I've got a new butterfly sticker here but it'll cost you, mind – 200 marbles."

Cleverly, new stickers not only decorate your book nicely, they also reveal extras in the mini-games. So, you can use them to unlock the high-scoring dragonflies in the bug-catching game, which will then appear next time you play. Or perhaps a new power-up in the RC Racers top-down remote control car game.

The mini-games are mostly all very playable. The exception is Dodgeball, which annoyed us with its apparent cheating AI. Pitting two teams of three kids against one another, you need to pick up balls and throw them at the opposing squad. Once hit, the team loses that member and the side to get all the opposition out first wins.

Except, when you're doing well, the opposing kids suddenly turn into bionic cannons, firing sniper-accurate balls at you. And because the other players on your team are AI controlled too, they start dodging the missiles with all the grace of a sedated camel. It only actually feels like a fair game when you're down to just you and one opponent.

More fun is Trampoline, which just entails bouncing up and down, collecting balloons and shoving the opposition out of the way at every opportunity. So is the Spitball game, where you use the stylus to seek out targets, then tap L (or blow into the mic for added authenticity, along with a lot of spit over your DS, potentially) to hit them.

The playground itself though is a bit of a missed opportunity. The overall map on the top screen is useless and doesn't mark up where new challenges are – you just have to stumble across those on your own. Also, there are invisible walls everywhere, making exploration almost non-existent, although you do find a few marbles hidden behind the odd bush should you look for them.

Another disappointment is the lack of single-cart multiplayer. Up to four players can take part in the mini-games, but only if they each have a copy of the game. We'd have expected such small games to lend themselves perfectly to gamesharing.

Still, EA Playground is a neat children's game. It doesn't go the extra mile to be anything particularly outstanding or original, but it's cute, simple and playable. We can only hope the marketing minds at EA don't get any ideas based on the almost-guaranteed success of this game about branching into real-life corporate-sponsored EA playgrounds. Because they'd be better focusing their brain storming on improving the inevitable sequel.