''Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam'' is a 2007 family game for the

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

PlayStation 2, and is the second game in the Buzz! Junior series of games. Gameplay comprises multiple mini-games, each quite simple and straightforward to play using the four Buzz! controllers. It is primarily aimed at the family market but offers appealing entertainment to almost anyone of any age. Simple game play allows young children to participate while still being entertaining enough for older children and adults. The game is similar in concept to Jungle Party, with robot based mini-games in a space-themed environment. One of the main differences between

Jungle Party The Jungle Party ( fa, حزب جنگل, Ḥezb-e Jangal; also translated Forest Party) was a secessionist party active in northern Iran during 1940s. The party was founded by armed rebels and some of Mirza Kuchik Khan's old associates who tried to ...

and Robo Jam is the introduction of AI, allowing players to play against the computer. Unlike Jungle Party there is no solo game mode. A full game can be played with only one human player and three computer players. ''Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam'' won the 2007 Children's Jury Giga Maus award.

Gameplay

Gameplay comprises multiple

mini-games A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

, each quite simple and straightforward to play using the four Buzz! controllers. It is primarily aimed at the family market but offers appealing entertainment to almost anyone of any age. The narrator (Phil Hayes) introduces each minigame and describes how to play the minigame. Simple game play allows young children to participate while the minigames are still entertaining enough for older children and adults. The game is similar in concept to

, with robot based mini-games in a space-themed environment. One of the main differences between ''

'' and ''Robo Jam'' is the introduction of AI, allowing players to play against the computer. Unlike ''

'' there is no solo game mode. A full game can be played with only one human player and three computer players.

Development

Robo Jam was co-developed by

Magenta Software Magenta Software was a video game developer based in Liverpool, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and ...

and

FreeStyleGames Ubisoft Leamington (formerly FreeStyleGames Limited) is a British video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Leamington Spa. Founded in November 2002 by six industry veterans formerly of Codemasters and Rare, the studios was bou ...

. Magenta supplied the engine and nineteen of the twenty five mini-games while Freestyle supplied the remaining six mini-games. Cohort Studios developed a PlayStation 3 version of the game that was released on the PlayStation Store on 14 May 2009 which included trophy support and added support for Sixaxis and/or DualShock#DualShock 3, Dualshock 3 controllers.

Reception

''Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam'' received generally mixed reviews from critics, holding a score of 67.53% on GameRankings based on 17 reviews. Greg Miller of IGN gave the game a 6.5/10 and said that the game "isn't beautiful or deep, but it is a solid game for families to occasionally gather around. Chad Sapieha of Common Sense Media however, gave the game 2 stars and an on rating for ages 7 and up, and said that "the mini-games are, by and large, well executed and fairly fun", the game was criticised for its lack of mini-games and that the game contains "no unlockable bonus activities, no art galleries, and no secret characters.". ''Buzz! Junior: Robo Jam'' won the 2007 Children's Jury Giga Maus award.

References

External links

U.S. Website

{{Buzz! video games 2007 video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games Party video games Buzz! Video games about robots Video games developed in the United Kingdom Multiplayer and single-player video games Cohort Studios games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Magenta Software games