ROMper ROOM: Review of 'Where's Waldo: The Fantastic Journey'

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By Joseph Szadkowski

Children help a legendary discoverer explore a very cluttered world in Where's Waldo: The Fantastic Journey (Ubisoft, $29.99).

Based on author/illustrator Martin Handford's search-and-find series — specifically, "The Fantastic Journey" — the Wii game taps into the inquisitive nature of an 8-year-old as he helps Waldo and his pals retrieve 12 ancient scrolls from an equal number of environments.

To begin the journey, a player picks an avatar and watches his television screen turn into a massive illustrated picture, faithful to the original book art, loaded with minutia. Wizard Whitebeard pops in to help along the journey, encouraging and occasionally ribbing along the way.

Just as in the books, a player must identify a list of characters or objects hidden amid the confusion set in locales such as Arabia (loaded with flying carpets) or a monk battle played out in a volcanic region.

Unlike the book, the images have a bit of animation, offering an interactive experience in which the Wiimote is used to point to an item or "grab" the screen to move it around and see all of the areas.

A menu bar covering about a quarter of the bottom of the screen eliminates items as they're found and a timer puts a bit of pressure on the child. However, stars are awarded for quick times and the exploration can continue even if the timer runs out.

Don't just randomly click around, however, or a bunch of birdies pops up to stall the game and the Wiimote must be shaken furiously to restore the action.

Thankfully, only a segment of the massive picture can be searched as the game automatically hones into a region. That's especially helpful when seeking out smaller items, such as a water bucket or a spider.

Befuddled players can call upon the assistance of Waldo's trusted pooch, Wolf, to assist a limited number of times per map. The dog barks and a stream of colors from the Wiimote turns from orange to red as the player gets closer to the object.

Additionally, Wenda, Waldo's photographer friend, offers an extra challenge in some regions. She requires finding a section of the image that matches one of her photographs.

The game shows great promise for replayability. When a world is revisited, for example, the items are in different spots, and then there's the two-player Tug of War mode. In this split-screen multiplayer mode, each player finds items as quickly as possible. An army of Waldo clones holds a rope on each side of the screen and the player who finds more items eventually pulls the other Waldos over.

Obviously, kids get a healthy dose of following directions and honing matching skills while learning patience and the fine art of eye strain. Parents should limit game sessions to about 45 minutes or so.

Two problems will frustrate. First, the Wiimote is finicky and shaky when moving to regions. When under time pressure in a game, it's especially annoying. Another issue is the picture size. Anyone playing the game on a screen smaller than 37 inches will have difficulty finding some of the smaller objects.

That's not a problem with the books.

• Send e-mail to jszadkowski@washington times.com.