IGN writes: "There are five Garfield games that have released or been announced on the Nintendo DS. Five of them. And of those five, three are in 2008. That is a ton of Garfield. From the looks of things, Destination Software is making use of their recently acquired property and is bringing the lasagna loving feline to the handheld as much as possible. The first in the new stream of fat cat games is Garfield's Fun Fest. I can sum up the game with this little anecdote: It took me longer to write this crappy introductory paragraph than it did to beat the entire game."
In the end, Garfield's Funfest is appealing to the same demographic as the direct-to-DVD movie itself: youngsters. While it does fairly well for itself overall, this is clearly a game for the "young people" and not for the thirty-three-year-old DS owner who just finished Chrono Trigger. Longtime Garfield fans can appreciate the references and authenticity, but the game's short length and low difficulty level won't satisfy those who have been dominating side-scrollers for decades.
CSM Writes:
"To play GARFIELD'S FUN FEST, Garfield and Odie traipse through sidescrolling levels in game using the Nintendo DS face buttons and D-pad. The touch screen is used only during the mini-games where you tap cue cards in time with the music. Like many 2-D platformers, this is a game where Garfield must walk and jump. If Garfield jumps on Odie, he can ride on Odie's back and the two combined can jump higher and farther than if Garfield is proceeding on his own. The action is all timed. One of the objectives is to find food for Garfield to eat to keep his strength up. If the pair fail, Garfield falls asleep and then Odie must find an alarm clock within a short period of time to wake him up. During the game, Garfield will swats spiders, dogs, and the occasional mailman."
"Garfield's Fun Fest is an uninspired game. This gameplay is repetitive and the levels are too short. There are no voice-overs and little very little sound. Except for the mini-game in which Garfield performs, there is no music."
In addition to being a popular comic-strip character, Garfield is a merchandising powerhouse. He has been featured in scads of successful books and DVDs, and, of course, his likeness has been used in suction-cupped plush toys that you can attach to your car window. Now, we have Garfield's Fun Fest, a Nintendo DS game released in association with a DVD of the same name, and like the animated film on which it's based, this game is aimed squarely at the younger set. Although it has colorful, cartoony visuals, there's not nearly enough substance to Garfield's Fun Fest to make it worth anyone's time, regardless of their age or level of interest in Garfield.
