Save the Robot – Chris Dahlen

This week, my review of new indie WiiWare title LostWinds ran in the AV Club. My overall impression was that it was a sweet but thin game: the world wasn’t convincing, the setting and story weren’t original, and while I had fun solving puzzles and using the wind techniques, I didn’t get that sucked-in, eyes-opened sense of adventure that you can find in say, Knytt or Knytt Stories – two games that are often compared to this one, because they offer the feeling of a giant world crammed in a three-gallon tank. The thing that bugged me most in the review, though, was the difficulty.

While I found it fairly light and simple, it occurred to me that if I were five, I would probably really love this game. It’s short and easy to finish. The one boss battle is pretty nonthreatening: the giant guy you have to defeat turns out, in the end, to be a pretty nice monster, once you free him of evil spirits. Maybe the older kids will want to play the new Okami for the Wii, but the little brothers and sisters can have fun with this title.

But what makes a game a “kid’s” game? In my review I complain that we no longer differentiate between games for kids and games for adults. Grown-ups still love all the Nintendo properties they’ve been playing since they were kids. They even play those LEGO games. I’m reviewing LEGO Indiana Jones thing next week, and if LostWinds is for kids, LEGO Indiana Jones the Original Adventures is for kids who keep getting dropped on their heads. It’s cute and the co-op’s nice, but … really, adults play these things?

Naturally, there are some games for kids that actually do turn off adults – for example, games that are based on children’s television properties or movies that have no appeal to grown-ups. I don’t know if they ever made a Bratz game, but if I they did, it will not break out of the tweener set. And naturally, great games for kids can be great for all age groups. The first game my kid ever got a look at was Eets, which is fantastic (and challenging) for all ages. And his second game’ll probably be Rock Band – where the biggest problem is dirty words in the lyrics.

But we need a way to identify games that are fine, and cute, and well-designed, and original – but nevertheless, are really “young.” Games that aren’t going to challenge or stimulate the average adult. LostWinds may or may not fall in that category – I know some critics liked it better than I did. But I’m going to have to think about how to review games that are clearly meant for someone who can’t drink beer when they play.