Ivy the Kiwi
Rating: E - Everyone

For those fans of Sonic - a new character. A platformer with a baby bird searching for her mother. As Ivy proceeds along at a smart clip, encountering obstructions and hazards, it is the player's job to use ropes of vines to assist her. Between the title and the soft coloring commonly found in children's books, its easy to think of this as a kids game. This game takes a lot of "getting used to" - code words for "harder than expected".

The hazards - spikes, rats, water drops are unforgiving. Touch one and you die and are retuned back to the beginning of that stage. The hazards are made more difficult because the spikes, at least on the DS, are nearly invisible, which is not helped by the short forward camera view.

Vine-management is another problem. Ivy cannot jump, so starting the vines even slightly above the platform is useless. Starting the vine late can trap Ivy between vine and block and waste valuable time until the vine disintegrates (after the third vine is created). Probably the most efficient way to move Ivy along is by using the vines as a sling shot and caroming Ivy past hazards while breaking blocks for better access.

So, if you are bored with Sonic - playing Ivy is probably a diverting change. Multiplayer is available and a Ranking Board, for bragging rights is there, right on the Main Menu.

Fun Factor: Only for Sonic fans
Female Factor: Well, Ivy is a female bird.
Player Friendly: High frustration factor

Reviewed by: Editor - Sep/10