Cartoon Jukebox Review

Ok, this title is a neat idea, oddly executed with several kids classics, and some songs that... well, just didn't make sense to me as kids fare. Sure, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Pop Goes the Weasle, Wheels on the Bus and other such titles are commonly considered kids songs, but When The Saints Go Marching In and other such songs just don't seem quite right. I'm sure the planners saw them on THE FLINTSTONES and other such cartoons and figured it'd be ok.. plus the song would be easy to get rights for. I'd hate to see them try the same with songs from THE SIMPSONS... I think parents would be more than a bit bent. heh

For its concept though, its pretty high end for an early CD-i title. Kids can use the mouse, thumbstick, or kids roller controler to navigate the simple interface to watch their favorite song played out with a very cute cartoon. HOWEVER, in most of them, they can click the artists pallet (see right) and color the various characters with a simple paint brush, flood fill technique. It works pretty easily, and most characters only have a few spots to paint. For example, if you paint one hand or button of a character a color, they're all automatically that color. This may seem a bit underly

impressive, especially when you only get a small handfull of colors, its done for a reason. Once the kids are done painting the various characters in the videos' coloring book, the song will play again. But this time, each character in the video will be the colors the child painted them. Kind of neat, and gives them a sense of acomplishment. Overall though, the graphics are very average.

The music is clear, and the songs done quite well. No real other complaints about them other than some of the chosen songs. Control is very good for the whole title. Even the childrens controler was very easy. I gave this title to my youngest neices and let them play away and they had fun for quite a bit of time. Please bear in mind though that this is for the very young, I'd say those over 5 or 6 would bore of it within about 5 minutes. Overall, an average kids title. If you've gotten them the kids controler. This is a reason to let them use it. heh