Can we play it? Yes we can!!

Yesterday, my partner hired the Bob The Builder game for the Playstation for our two year old son. It cost £2.00 for seven nights which I thought was excellent value. It was made in 2000 but still has not lost its charm!

Bob the Builder is well Known from BBC CBeebies, with the voices of Neil Morrisey as Bob and Kate Harbour as Wendy. The game complete with instruction manual, as if you had bought it from a shop so I can give a full run down of what the game offers.

The manual shows Bob, Scoop the Yellow Digger and Pilchard the Blue stripy Cat on the front. The actual game is called 'Can we fix it?'. The whole manual is clear, concise and colourful, illustrated throughout with the Bob characters.

The first page shows all of the usual warnings given by Playstation, about Epilepsy, playing for too long lengths of time, Piracy etc. There is also a GUide for parents which says the game is closely modelled on the BBC2 programme and is suitable for ages 3+. It is one of the first childrens games to be made by Playstation and has been made after considerable research. The actual game Company responsible for the game is 'Steel Monkeys'.

The Controls

Left, right, up and down, X are the regular buttons used throughout the game. Although this is consistent and may sound simple enough, trying to explain left and right to a three year old is harder than it sounds.

To pause a game, Start can be pressed.

Beginning the Game
When the game begins, there is amenu page which is in the scene of Bobs office. Wendy is busy at the PC. Different objects around the room allow you to enter different games.

Hedgehog Rescue - Letter Rack
Travis' Race Dy - Diary
Plumbing Puzzle - Phone
Can we build it? - Computer
Bubble Trouble - Fax Machine
Scary Spud - Memo on the Notice Board
Wendy's Birthday - Party Invite on Notice Board
Where's Pilchard - All of the Above
Parental Options - Filing Cabinet.

I am not sure how many children would know what a Fax Machine was but the items are irrelevant really as you justhave to move the cursor around the screen. Bob tells you what game is for which position.

Each game has a difficulty level easy medium or hard. These are indicated by stones at the bottom of thegame selection page. The games are preset to medium so should be changed to easy when beginning .

The Parental options allows you to alter the volume, activate the audio help , which gives the child a hint as to what to do, mono or stereo option and End/ Return to game.

The graphics in the game are as if watching the programme on Tv. Very clear and colourful!

Playing the Games

HEDGEHOG RESCUE

Help Bob and Lofty build a subway tunnel for the Hedgehogs to use under a busy road. The child has to fit the different pieces of pipe into the correct positions.

TRAVIS' RACE DAY

Choose either Scoop or Dizzy to race with Travis.

PLUMBING PUZZLE

Radiator Riddle

Fix Mr Potts heating. Wendy passes Bob pieces of coloured piping and Bob has to find where to put them. There are three coloured rooms to coordinate with the piping. Quite tricky but great fun. Bob tells you if the piece of pipe fits or not!

Fix The Leaks

Bob has to listen for drips and find the leaks in his heating system. He has to go and fix them.

CAN WE BUILD IT?

This game has two parts - Either Build or Knock Down.

Knock It Down

A bridge has been damaged in a storm and Lofty has to knock it down using his ball. Move back and forth and press X to swing his ball. The game is over when the bridge has fallen.

Build It Up

Rebuild the bridge using the coloured bricks. Each pillar is colour coordinated to the bridge top to assist the child to build.

BUBBLE TROUBLE

Bob has laid some cement which is bubbling. You have to use Roley to roll out the bubbles. There is a time limit and get too many bubbles and you lose the game!

SCARY SPUD

Help Spud scare the crows away and stop them eating the corn.An easier game for the younger ones.

There is a time limit and if all the seed gets eaten you lose the game.Again, an easier game for the younger ones.

WENDYS BIRTHDAY

This games has two parts- Caketastic and Wild West Wendy

Caketastic

Bob is making Wendy a birthday cake. The child has to use the icing bag, candles and decorations to make the cake special. You can chose the colours and which characters you want to put on the cake! Great fun!

Wild West Wendy!

This game had me in stitches!! It is Wendys birthday party and Bob and Wendy are doing a bit of line dancing. Using the directional buttons, the child makes the characters dance. Kick, clap, wave etc! You can also playback the dance. Very funny and one of the more captivating games in my opinion!!!

WHERES PILCHARD?

It is dinner time and Wendy is looking for pIlchard. Move the food bowl, with the directional arrows and when you find Pilchard click X. There is a different level to this game on each game menu page.

Although my little boy is only two and a half, after a few tries he started to grasp the concepts of the game. He was kept quiet for, ooh!!!, ten minutes at a time! A world record, believe me!! There is a lot he can not quite manage because he gets confused with controls but in another six months, he should be ok.

The only part of the game I found annoying was the continuous Bob The Builder song being played!! It starts to get on your nerves after a while. Although Zach just sang along with it! A must for any Bob fan!!

I have had a look on Amazon and the prices seem to vary from £15.00 to £20.00. But I am sure you could pick them up cheaper.

Hope you get a bit of piece with this game.

Thanks for reading.

Kerry xx