Before I go into details here, there is one aspect of Lilo & Stitch that I simply must mention. It is very, very similar to Crash Bandicoot. The gameplay, the graphics, the enemies, the levels, the sound effects, and even the status bar at the top of the screen are all frighteningly reminiscent of our favorite bandicoot's line of platform games. Stitch even has a "spin" move which is almost exactly like Crash's main attack. I'm not saying that the entire game is an obvious rip-off, but if I were to choose a game to compare with Lilo & Stitch, it would have to be one of the main Crash games.

The gameplay is typical PlayStation platform style, involving a lot of jumping, running, and a little bit of exploring as you move away from the screen. To spice things up, some levels have you running towards the screen as you're being chased, and others have you in a side-scrolling, almost 2-D environment. For half of the levels, you play as Lilo, a young Hawaiian girl who uses Voodoo magic against her foes. During the rest of the levels, you control the cute yet destructive "animal" named Stitch.

The first level shocked me in that it felt almost exactly like I was playing one of the first levels of the original Crash Bandicoot, minus one orange hero with no shirt. You hit the Circle button to attack enemies and break barrels in the same fashion that you would break boxes in Crash Bandicoot. You collect little items along the way, such as flowers and pineapples, which are pretty much the equivalent of those little fruit things that you pick up in Crash. Guess what happens when you collect 100 of these little flower/pineapple things? Yes, that's right. You get another life. Fairly standard stuff here, really.

Since Lilo & Stitch is aimed for a younger audience, it's to be expected that the difficulty is rather low. If you fall into a pond, you just lose one of your three "health" points and start back at the edge of the pond. A monster can hit you three times before you lose a life, and you'll have to work pretty hard to let the generally slow-moving enemies do that. Save points are scattered pretty much everywhere (in the form of mailboxes) to ensure that if you manage to run out of lives, you won't have to restart the whole game. Free lives, however, are so abundant in Lilo & Stitch that you really never have to worry about actually "dying" and having to restart. Of course, if your character does manage to run out of health, there is no "death" animation. They just cry and kick their feet angrily or lay down as if exhausted. This is a kid's game, after all. Expect no blood, gore, or sharp objects.

The entire game is laid out on a tiny map. You're basically stuck going from level to level, with a little break area in between, which almost always contains a save point and a disgustingly easy boss. This "rock monster" takes just a few hits to kill while it hardly even tries to attack you at all. It won't take you long to beat the 12 levels on the map. I cleared the entire map and beat the final boss (which is actually more like a level than a boss fight) within just a few hours. Replay value is hardly present in Lilo & Stitch, unless you really enjoy its simple gameplay.

The in-game graphics are nothing spectacular, but they aren't necessarily an eyesore. If you've been busy playing new releases on the next-generation consoles, it might take a while to get used to the graphics in Lilo & Stitch. Again, I compare these graphics to those seen in the PlayStation Crash titles. The tropical backgrounds, the look of the monsters, the items, and the main characters are all what you'd expect from a typical PSX platform game.

The levels in Lilo & Stitch have nice, fitting music. Most of it is appropriately Hawaiian, whether it's calm and pretty or a fast-paced surfing beat. Disney even threw in a bit of Elvis here and there, just like they did in the movie. The overall feel is very nice, and it really improved my enjoyment of the game as a whole. The voice actors from the movie also provided their talents for the game. A lot of discussion occurs between every few levels, and the speech is done very nicely. I felt like I was right back in the movie.

The bonus features were what I enjoyed most about Lilo & Stitch. As you play through the levels, you'll come across snapshots that you can collect. As I said before, I really liked the movie and thought that reliving some of its funny scenes was a rather nice addition. Several video clips directly from the movie are also placed throughout the game. If you save at a mailbox after beating the last level, you'll be able to access a gallery where you can view all of the video clips and screenshots you've collected along the way. A few clips and pictures are there by default even before you play the game, including some hilarious trailers for the movie.

Bottom Line: It's cute. It's fluffy. It's based on a Disney movie. If you don't like that sort of thing, then Lilo & Stich probably isn't the ideal game for you. If, however, you saw the movie and enjoyed it, or if you're just a big fan of Crash-style platform games, then I suggest you at least give this one a rent.

· · · Ren