Chibi-Robo! (GameCube) Review

The game starts out exactly as it means to go on: weird. We meet the Sanderson family during daughter Jenny's birthday party, with the crazy little girl sitting around wearing a frog costume and simply repeating the noise 'ribbit'. It turns out that Mr Sanderson has got a special new robot to help clean their house, the really tiny Chibi-Robo, as the family's lack of financial standing has led to their house becoming messier and messier as they were unable to maintain their human-sized Giga Robo. So as Chibi it is your task to help them with their troubles, whilst making everyone happy. But stick with me on this, as the game is nowhere near as boring as it may sound...

The game itself was always going to have an uphill struggle in the cut-throat gaming market due to its lack of impressive visuals. Yes, the game has a resounding charm emanating from every orifice, but the title seems to lack any real shine and its environments, 'enemies' and other characters are all rather basic in nature. Thankfully the fact that little Chibi himself is such an adorable creation (which is the reason Shigeru Miyamoto took such an interest in this game) and the other people you meet during the game prove to be memorable enough because of their characteristics, Chibi-Robo manages to keep itself afloat in the presentation stakes. And it is not like the game is totally lacking in pizzazz, as the environments are well-detailed and there are certain moments that will catch you by surprise. However, the camera can be slightly problematic at times, despite being manually controlled.

As for the music, it proves to be just as strange and unusual as the game itself. The tunes are quite pleasing and the little sound effects that accompany Chibi's movements certainly raise a smile. But there is no voice acting found here, as the characters use a similar technique as those in the Banjo-Kazooie games. In other words, the mumble what sounds like jumbled nonsense whilst the actual conversations are represented by on-screen text. Whilst not ideal, perhaps in this case it is actually for the better as the kooky grunted noises seem to suit the atmosphere of Chibi-Robo and real voices may have actually taken away from the overall unique feel.

So the game centres around this tiny little cleaner robot called Chibi. You take control of him and wander around the Sanderson's house trying to clean up everything around you and make people as happy as possible, whilst all the time trying to make sure you do not run out of energy. Yes, being a robot, Chibi runs off an internal battery that slowly runs down the longer you wander round. Luckily, he has a power cable dangling behind him that can be slotted into plug sockets around the house to recharge whenever necessary. Moving Chibi around can be quite a slow process with his cable trailing along the ground, but whilst picking the plug up to carry overhead speeds him up slightly, it also means his battery will run down quicker. Strategy definitely plays a large part throughout this puzzling platform adventure.

The game originated as a point-and-click adventure, which can still be felt during play, but when Bandai ditched the project initially and Nintendo stepped in to help Skip out, a full control system was implemented. Therefore, you can wander around the 3D environments, pulling out draws to climb on and hopping over small gaps. So it is more puzzling than platforming, which proves irksome at times, as the actual platform elements jar slightly. But Chibi's wealth of costumes and equipment ensure that the variety brought to the experience prevents small niggles from becoming anything more than that. Examples of how he can upgrade included his helicopter ability, so hovering across gaps becomes possible, plus obtaining different costumes enable him to progress by talking to new people that did not respond earlier, scaring others, and so on. You can even get yourself an upgradeable weapon to fend off nasty creatures along the way, or use accessories such as a toothbrush to clean up dirt on the ground and a spoon that acts as a shovel for seed planting, all leading to the gaining of more 'happy points'.

Play takes place in a similar setting to Pikmin, in that time flows as you play, and days pass by as you try to meet your key objective of cleaning the whole place up. During this time you are accompanied by a floating television, aptly named Telly Vision (...), and find that the underlying story of the game unfolds before your very eyes, usually when you least expect it. The game's magic not only lies in its charm, but the clever way the plot is seamlessly interwoven with the various objectives you are faced with. Ken'ichi Nishi, the director of this game as well as GiFTPiA (who recently left Skip to form his own company 'Route 24'), has a prolific past behind him, with a particular highlight for Nintendo fans being that he previously worked with Squaresoft on Chrono Trigger on the SNES. His talent really does stand out on Chibi-Robo, and you really do have to hope he will lend a helping hand for the Skip-developed sequel for the Nintendo DS, Chibi Robo: Park Patrol.

The game really sound so simple on paper, but in actual practice it becomes a complicated affair that provides players with a deep adventure that proves to have a plentiful supply of fun. And everything is made more accessible thanks to Chibi's zoom function, enabling players to see far into the distance, as well as an on-hand map that stops you from completely losing you way. Therefore, other than not 'feeling' like a true platformer (which it is not anyway!) because of a few quirks, Chibi Robo is full of detail and fun little extras that are normally associated with an in-house Nintendo product. Skip has really hit the nail on the head with Chibi Robo and it is great that Nintendo sees its potential, already helping to turn it into a franchise, rather than a one-off.

The game also lasts just long enough; not too short, not too long. Everything begins so simple, but quickly escalates in complexity to become a very worthwhile purchase. This is no push-over, not by any means, between upgrading Chibi, searching different areas (two bedrooms, the basement, back garden, kitchen and living room) and collecting all the happy points you can to lift yourself up to Super Chibi-Robo level, gamers should easily get between fifteen and twenty hours play time before you become the ultimate cleaning machine!