Platform: Nintendo DS/3DS

Developer: Torus Games

Publisher: D3Publisher of America

# of Players: 1 – 4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Official Site: (3DS) (DS)

Score: C (70%)

Like the Wii and Wii U versions, The Croods Prehistoric Party is a collection of 30 mini-games that range from pretty darn fun to slightly (and temporarily) baffling.  While colorful and lots of fun to play, both of the portable versions miss the golden opportunity to add any sort of multiplayer modes. In terms of design decisions on a handheld that has a number of fine multiplayer and party-themed games, this is actually a lot more baffling than that occasional mini-game you won’t get right away. As for how this is as a solo game, well, playing against the AI is at best, a bit too easy and at worst, way too easy once you find a few exploits too tempting to pass up…

The menus for the portable versions are the same basic hub system from the Wii and Wii U version, but as mentioned, there’s no board game to hop into at all. You can play mini-games singly or in as many groups as you can handle in one sitting. The games are the same as on the consoles, so you can abuse the AI’s weaknesses in some of the games you play against them. Prehistoric Points are earned to spend on unlocking concept art, a creature gallery and more mini-games, so the game’s longevity comes from playing and replaying games in order to earn enough Points.

Both the DS and 3DS versions look and sound the same (and nope, I’m not even going to compare the portable games to the console ones in a point by point presentation manner), but you can play around with that 3D slider on the 3DS and trick the depth out a bit. It doesn’t really add anything to the game at all, but some people like that gimmick a good deal more than most, so I say have at it.  In a way, it’s too bad this is a Nintendo exclusive, as I’d have loved to see what Torus Games could do with the Vita’s HD widescreen and wi-fi features. As noted above, the game could have greatly benefited from either including the board game, a wireless versus mode or some sort of hot-seat play, but I’m guessing that the developer needed to get this onto the handhelds with a minimum of changes.

While this isn’t a badly made game at all, it’s a bit of a weird one to play unless you like the all mini-games approach, have an only child who loved the film or happen to be a collector who’s adding two more games to his or her library. Granted, there’s fun to be had here as well as a few chuckles. But you’ll want to share it with SOMEONE and that you can’t is a bit too bad at the end of the day. Still, I’m hoping if there’s a sequel to The Croods, we get a more than single player experience for handhelds. That or a different game entirely that’s more of a traditional platformer or adventure-style experience.