Snoopy’s Grand Adventure is a side scrolling adventure game for kids, in conjunction with the release of the Peanuts movie. At the beginning of the game, a movie shows the Peanuts gang getting together and they decide to play hide and seek. Snoopy wakes up from his nap to notice that everyone is gone. Woodstock notices that there is jelly beans leading away from Snoopy’s doghouse as a clue as to where to go.
Somehow it is Snoopy’s job to reunite the gang, and he completes this task by going through levels to reach his dog house at the other side of the level. Along the way, the player collects jelly beans, missing Beagle scout troops, and giant keys to unlock new costumes for Snoopy which also have different powers. For example, in the early levels you are given a costume that allows Snoopy to climb vines and fences. Each costume has a unique ability that will help collect hidden jelly beans, scout troops, or perhaps provide a shortcut through the level. At the end of each set of themed levels is a “boss fight” which you have to go through to get each member of the Peanuts gang back. The boss fights are very easy as this game was directed at kids.
The game itself is a nice, simple, clean game that will keep you (and your kids) busy for a few hours. There is an option for in game co-op that they don’t really make a big point of showing, but if you activate a second controller someone can control Woodstock and has the ability to perform special in game items that will assist the other player (Snoopy) in completing the level. Even though this game is directed at kids, adults will probably have a decent time playing through this.
The graphics are pretty much true to the cartoon (although the best graphical display in the game is the opening movie), but the sound can become annoying. The levels have one song that plays repetitively, and when in between levels the signature Peanuts theme plays. As far as replayability goes, the only thing left to do once reuniting the Peanuts gang is to go back through each level and collect everything using the various costumes that may not have been unlocked the first time you played the level. This last achievement is worth 70 points to collect every single thing in the game, and you have to decide whether it’s worth it or not to go through all the levels all over again to obtain it. I personally decided it wasn’t, but it probably wouldn’t take a great deal of time the second time around.
As a retail title I would not recommend a purchase, as I completed 930/1000 achievement points in 2 hours and 19 minutes. A simple overnight rental at Redbox or your local video store should easily suffice for your kids to play the game, and for you to clean up any remaining achievements that you wish to get. In fact, I believe this shouldn’t have been a retail title at all and would have been better marketed as an arcade title for around $10.
