Finding myself of two minds when reviewing a game usually means I don't get to the review. Funny thing about not reviewing the game though - the people who asked you to aren't really fond of that. (Something about expense of sending out product, yadda, yadda, whine, complain...) LOL is one of those titles that has me schizophrenic. I love it, some days. Others... I dunno.
LOL is the story, nah, no story. That's ok, too many titles try to wrap an unnecessary story around a good game design. The design is see, inspired but not well, a game.
You have four controls: draw (fat/thin), erase (fat/thin), clear and copy. The game is multi-player only. There is no option for single player against CPU. Only one cart needed, for obvious reasons. You begin by connecting to up to three other players.
Then you do anything you want. This is where it becomes either inspired - depending upon the mood and abilities of your friends/family - or falls flat on its touch screen.
I spent my time playing with two boys, ages 9 and 11. We played word games: rhyme the word truck without using any "naughty words"; I drew some whiskers and using the copy function, we had to complete the animal; knowing they would draw my larger posterior, I asked for pictures of mommy... *sigh*
Once the challenge is issued you decide how long for completion: 1, 3, 5 or unlimited time. Then you vote on who's you liked the best; you get three votes so this is rather nice. Finally, the person who controls the cart chooses who makes the next challenge.
While waiting for challenge or for others to complete there is a quite fantastic little "ball popping" game of popping black aliens, the occasional annoyingly fast red alien, and their rare but slow UFOs. I wish there were a way to simply play this game at times.
I have no qualms with the word "fun" being used to describe to this game, it is! Funny is relative to the mood of the people playing. But, for $19.99, the creativity in inspires in everyone playing (not just kids), I can't not recommend it. If you buy it and can't find the giggle, just add alcohol or a long trip; you'll find it.
I'm a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 10 and live in the chaos that ensues. I've a permanent disability that keeps me homebound, so books, kids, games and books are my constant companions. Oh, and books, too. *grins*
My children both play games so I often play them first, getting to know exactly how something may effect my sensitive and easily stimulated older child vs. my stoic and imperturbable younger.
I like games for games; for the pure enjoyment of them and believe that no game is wholly bad, though some are real stinkers.
I also have the dexterity of a camel in mittens so find playing FPSs difficult (and I also don't like the gore) and RTSs at times can stump me. I just can't seem to move quickly enough to keep up with them. Some of my favorite games are arcade games and I'll spend 3-5 years on the same 5-6 levels because I just never get any better. But, I have fun.
