Codename Kids Next Door

As with most products geared towards kids, inevitability they will make an appearance as a video game whether it makes sense or not. The Cartoon Network's series Codename: Kids Next Door has also attempted this transition by turning the antics of the KND into a basic platformer. Unfortunately, to turn Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E. into something that would work as a video game, significantly more depth is needed in almost every area.

There's no question that this type of simple platformer is geared to a younger audience and hence clearly underwhelming to a more experienced gamer, but problems with the camera angle and extremely dry gameplay are hard to overcome. There was an attempt to vary the gameplay by giving the playable characters different moves which at least made it more tolerable to push through. It's the simple jump and shooting platform tactics used over and over again without requiring any interesting tactics or challenging puzzles to solve.

The graphs follow a similar pattern with underwhelming detail and environments that the more basic platform games rely on. In addition, I had collision problems throughout the game that is always annoying. The audio quality is at a more acceptable level but doesn't add much to the game.

Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E. is not something that is going to impress anybody. Hardcore fans of the series may enjoy the humor and story line some but even they might feel less then satisfied after their purchase.