Ratatouille
From THQ

Ratatouille is based on the Disney/Pixar film and brings the fun and laughs of the movie to your Nintendo GameCube. Ratatouille features an acrobatic rat named Remy who must balance his love for cooking with loyalty to his family. Features major voice talent from the film
Amazon Sales Rank: #3587 in Video Games Brand: THQ Released on: 2007-06-26 ESRB Rating: Everyone Platform: GameCube Number of items: 1 Dimensions: .75" h x 5.50" w x 7.50" l, .28 pounds

Live life as a rat I rented this game for my 6 year old son. There are many things as a rat you need to do to survive the perils of the human world. You start out in the country, at the old woman's home in the movie. You are taught various skills, like how to jump, double jump, jump from the top of one end of a post to another, how to grab a spoon and whack baby chicks that want to attack you (a little disturbing), and how to paddle a "boat." The moves seem a little complicated because it's all about timing, but it tells you what you need to push each time. To explain, when you are getting close to something that "does something" like a sardine can that you can jump on to get to higher places it kind of sparkles. When you get close to it if you need to use say the "b" button to use it it will show you what button you need to use. (Usually, it's the B button, but again, it's all about timing.) You have a super sense of smell that with a button push will highlight the way you need to go. VERY helpful for children and grownups who (to hurry things along) keep pushing the A button and miss the instructions of your task. As a rat you need to "sneak" past various animals, and I assume later, humans. It has a little circle meter it puts in the bottom corner that honks as a warning to let you know you've been seen, and for as long as the animal can see you the meter on the circle moves to red. At "all red" you loose any hiding place you have (If you are hiding under a cardboard box for example) but if you keep still under your box, the animal watching you forgets and you refill the meter back to green. As an adult, I can accept the honking because they probably did it so kids would notice. But it scares my boys because they think the honk and the appearance of the red means that they are about to die so I have to keep playing those parts for them. VERY ANNOYING! There have only been 3 of these challenges so far, but I'm sure more are coming. A nice thing about the game is that you have unlimited lives, so my sons can fall off ledges or fight cockroaches without having the sadness of a game ending. Remy does go through a brief dying clip after you've killed him based on how you did him in, but it's not "for sure" that he dies as he is instantly back in the game once you push the A button. (In other words there is no graphically dying rat in the game. He just looks like he passes out or sinks out of view if he drowns.) When your health gets lowered you can eat a piece of cheese (found throughout the game at various spots) for a health boost. There has been one mini game where Remy tells you what to put in the soup and you have to push the right button to add the right ingredient. My kids loved this matching game, but it's only shown up once so far. Maybe when we get further in the game there will be more. My son is hoping I will buy this for him, and it is pretty kid friendly. (I would give it 5 stars but I am really annoyed by the honking sneak-o-meter.) In the end, it's all about life as a rat, so expect a lot of running in sewers, between walls, and around trash cans and such while using your ultra cool rat moves. So much fun ! ! ! I bought this game as a reward for my son's good report card. If all of his rewards are this much fun for both of us, I may have to do his homework for him. (Just kidding on that last part) But, honestly this game has really been a good bonding experiance for us. Even though it is one player for the most part, we play together and help each other get through the levels. We actually got the game before we even saw the movie, and when we did get the movie, we were that much more excited about it because we could pick out different parts that were in the game. I am so glad I bought this game. Interesting Game I bought this game for my small grandson. We previously saw the movie and enjoyed it very much. This game is fast moving, the mini-games are easy enough for him to play without losing interest, and he loves the content of the story.