Monsterously magical fun for youngsters

REMEMBER when you were little and going to sleep was always a scary adventure? When the light went out you'd lie awake, the bedclothes pulled up to your face, straining to hear the faintest scratch or squeak because that was a sure sign that a monster was about to come out from beneath the bed.

Of course, a big hairy creature never did emerge from the bed, or the cupboard or even from the toilet and, as you grew older, so the adventure became but a dim memory.

But what if those childish nightmares really were true? What would the monsters do when the children they terrified (or tried to terrify) grew up? And what if the monsters themselves were more scared of us than we were of them?

That's the premise for the new movie, Monsters, Inc, which goes on general release in a week.

Hotly tipped to be the first recipient of the new Oscar for best animated movie, Monsters, Inc is the highest grossing computer generated film of all time in he US, beating the previous title holder - the wonderful Shrek - by several millions.

With such a massive franchise to milk, it's hardly a surprise to hear there's a Monsters Inc game on the horizon. Several, in fact, that will be available on just about every format imaginable from the Game Boy to the X-Box.

First out of the traps is Monsters, Inc. Scare Island, on the PSOne.

It's no surprise that "my first PlayStation" should get this game ahead of everyone else. After all, Sony has successfully lowered the PSOne's age demographic thereby preventing the older (and cheaper) system stealing sales from the PS2.

Slap in the black disc, boot it up and, at first glance, Monsters, Inc. Scare Island is just another play-by-numbers kids' platformer.

In it you play one of the movie's two main characters, Sulley or Mike. Sulley is a huge, blue, furry bigfoot-type. Mike is a small, green one-eyed troglodyte.

These two pals live in an alternative universe, a monster world, where everyone is a monster of some kind. They work for Monsters, Inc. and it's their job to scare kids. Why? Because they collect screams to power the monster city (don't think about it, this is a kids film, remember?) just like electricity.

The game follows the plot closely except, for some strange reason, Disney appears to have chickened out. Instead of scaring children your character must frighten the living daylights out of robots.

Scaring each robo-kid gives you more energy but if a kid laughs instead of cries then you take a hit instead.

Thankfully, there's more to do than scaring robots (accomplished by following a rapid sequence of button presses). As with all good platform games, you are expected to collect things in return for extra goodies. The bag 'o calories are packs of crisps which boost your health (hmmmm, something of a mixed message for kids there) and gold coins give you an extra life. The game also rewards you with medals for scaring kids, so get enough and the next level is unlocked.

Even better, from the central hub of the game you get the chance to revisit previous levels and explore previously hidden areas.

There are bad guys to fight, as well. In the second level you come across little scorpions that have to be flipped on their backs and stamped on before they give up.

Items that can be unlocked include a trampoline, arrows and something called the flingshot that helps you travel great distances.

Complete a level - there are 15 in total - and you're rewarded with a clip from the movie. Don't worry, they won't spoil the film if you haven't seen it yet but are amusing vignettes that help flesh out your character's personality.

The control system has been designed with younger players in mind and the precise nature of "adult" platform/adventure titles like Tomb Raider has slacked off a bit. Crossing tricky platforms still requires dexterity, but the game won't have you throwing the pad down in frustration because you weren't pixel perfect (again).

The camera usually keeps up pretty well and you have the option of moving it yourself if the view isn't agreeable. There's also a first person view.

Monsters, Inc. Scare Island is appearing first on a platform that's now seven years old. The 32-bit PlayStation hardware is never going to produce the kind of visuals we have come to expect on PS2. Disney has sensibly kept everything simple, with flat shades and very low-resolution backdrops but it's all there and the frame rate doesn't stutter when there's plenty going on.

That said, the movie clips do serve to point up the difference between the character in the movie and the rather two-dimensional blob you have control over in the game proper.

At least there's a PS2 version on the way that should go some way towards addressing this criticism.

It's also a shame that the budget couldn't stretch to having Billy Crystal and John Goodman do the character voices. When the movies play, Sulley and Mike sound completely different.

Monsters, Inc. Scare Island may be a little on the easy side for anyone who has played through the Tomb Raider games or completed Mario 64 more than once.

That said, parents looking for a non-violent title to keep the kids occupied could do a lot worse than slap down £29.99 for this game. It may not be a classic but it is occasionally amusing, a gentle challenge and, above all, fun

GIZMO OF THE WEEK

SCIENTISTS in America may have come up with a solution to one of the fastest growing crimes in Britain: mobile phone muggings.

They have created a silicon chip that can be made to explode the moment it gets a signal from the rightful owner.

It may sound like something from Mission: Impossible but several handset manufacturers are interested in the device.

Boffin Michael Sailer, from the University of California, in San Diego, reckons the exploding chips aren't dangerous.

"It's just like a cap going off in a cap gun," he said.

The blast would render a mobile phone completely useless. It could also be applied to computers, hand-held PCs, DVD players and TVs.

CHEAT OF THE WEEK

AGE of Empires II has just been re-released for the PC and if you don't own a copy then why not? To see all the map open a chat window by pressing enter then type "marco.