Review: Cosmic Family (Wii)

You may have overlooked Cosmic Family during your browsing of the Nintendo Wii software shelves.  This is no surprise as it is firmly targeted towards the younger end of the Wii demographic.  So if you are looking for the next Zelda or Wii Sports, then look away now.   At least there are no delusions of grandeur from Cosmic Family as it seeks to offer simplistic puzzles and tasks to keep junior occupied whilst you are engaged elsewhere.

Gamestyle’s first impression was that Cosmic Family must be based on a television series, in particular from the creators of the Rugrats show.   However it is an original creation, although it must take its influence from that children’s favourite, along with others such as Sesame Street and SpongeBob Squarepants.  Quite simply, this is Ubisoft’s attempt to cater for the younger end of the Nintendo Wii market that has been so far overlooked.

What is the ultimate aim of Cosmic Family?   Principally it is to explore the various floors of the family spaceship by completing challenges, which range from placing cut out shapes into the correct order, in fact this, is a common theme that is varied upon constantly to such things as dressing characters.   Then further variations are present on core skills such as counting and problems such as jigsaws.  While the game installs a level of control with the Wii Remote – avoiding huge dangerous motions that could threaten the living room vase – it is far from a universal all ages’ release.   For instance there is no text to speak of, therefore junior must possess some degree of understanding or at least a chaperone to aid them during certain moments, and later mini-games.

The spacecraft is obviously home to a typical family, meeting all the tick boxes demanded by marketing types.  You even have a few pets thrown into the mix, and some monsters of all things.   At times Cosmic Family feels like a television show, as it is punctuated with bouts of song and pointless sequences that perhaps will make sense to children.  It is extremely colourful and brash, yet is no graphical powerhouse.   Gamestyle suspects that this game would run on a handheld with ease, although lacking the extra dimension offered by the Wii Remote.   Some sections are jaggy and the whole project lacks any three-dimensional feel, with everything being flat and realistically an unimaginative use of the Wii’s capabilities.

The colour scheme unquestionably aids children with the simplistic games and arguably is the first step towards that popular Nintendo life tool, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training.   Soon every aspect of our life will be governed by these lifestyle games, from learning a new language to passing that driving test.  So, it’s no surprise that the Wii apart from galvanising the nation to enjoy video gaming, or keep fit, should not overlook the little ones.  After all, profits have to be made.

However even the appeal of Cosmic Family will be short-lived to any demographic as it is very much on the short side.  Rather than being a complete box set of a whole television series (or even a few shows) it is probably best summed up as an interactive episode.  Yes, just the one, and no more.   Priced below many of the budget titles currently available for the system, it is no gem or worthwhile purchase financially.   It may be a clever rental to keep the youngsters amused for an evening, but no more.

Rating: 3 / 10

Words by Jason Julier