Take a break from DS school days with EA Playground

When called to consider our 'fantasy playground', it seems that the Canadian sense of outdoor childhood pursuits is very different to what we experienced in our younger days.

Sure dodgeball, skateboarding and spitball (aka as a tampered-with baseball – certainly not cricket), all sound well and good, but what about kiss-chase and British bulldog? Actually, on seconds thoughts, maybe those delights are best left forgotten, even through the medium of the touchscreen and microphone.

And so we're left with the considerations of EA Canada's developers when it comes to EA Playground. To be fair to the Canucks, however, they seem to have taken a highly customisable approach to the in-hand fun.

In addition to the single-player mode, which involves taking on some 'wacky' in-game characters and ruling the playground roost, you're able to explore the gameworld further – winning games opens up another three locations, for instance.

The playground itself is covered in challenges and you collect stickers whenever you defeat a character. You can further build up a stash of marbles – redeemable for power-ups – by playing mini-games.

Finally there's a multiplayer Party Play mode in which you can set up your own playground rules, and compete with up to three friends.

EA Playground is due to be released this winter.