EA Playground review

What the game lacks in quantity it somewhat makes up for with gameplay variety, as each of the nine minigames feels distinct without being overly complicated or contrived. Dodgeball employs the stylus to whip balls from the bottom screen at opponents on the top, while Hoops and Kicks (soccer) utilize either the touch screen or the d-pad and face/shoulder buttons (your choice) to put the ball in the goal or net. Hopscotch patterns itself as a Simon-style memorization/rhythm exercise, RC Racers works like an extremely basic, top-down kart racer, and Spitballs allows players to blow into the DS microphone to launch wads of gooey paper at unsuspecting foes.

However, the overall trend of simplicity also works against the minigames, as there is very little depth to each experience, with most subsequent challenges simply raising the score needed to win rather than significantly altering the gameplay or objective. And while most of the games are solidly constructed, there's no frighteningly addictive standout entry here- nothing that'll get your blood flowing if you're beyond elementary school. That should be assumed with the smiling, large-headed youths that populate the packaging and screenshots, but it's worth repeating: if you're too old to be hanging out at a real schoolyard, you probably won't get a whole lot out of EA Playground.