Neopets Puzzle Adventure
Genre: Puzzle Adventure
Release Date: November 25, 2008
Platform: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PC
Rating: E for Everyone
Developer: Infinite Interactive (Wii, PC); Griptonite Games (DS) For Capcom
Price: $39.99 Wii; $29.99 DS and PC

Previous times when we've come across a popular online game that is translated to video game platforms, the developers come up with convoluted methods and scenarios to try and deliver the feel and fun of the online game, but which fail miserably. Fortunately this is not the case for Neopets Puzzle Adventure.

For those not familiar with the Neopets phenomenon, Neopets.com is an online global community that allows visitors to create, care for, and raise virtual pets. The community uses "Neopoints", which can be traded for "virtual items" in a "virtual economy". But instead of trying to completely recreate this experience for Neopets Puzzle Adventure, the game developers focused instead on the popular "mini games" portion of the website -- transporting these games to other platforms is a natural, and we're guessing a complete series is forthcoming.

Neopets Puzzle Adventure still allows you to create your own Neopet for game play (although with fewer options than online), gain extra abilities, and collect items and bonuses -- which will be a big plus for the Neopets fan. But the main focus is on the game itself, which is basically an enhanced version of Reversi/Othello -- the primary goal is to "trap" your opponents chips between yours and flip the most to your Neopet's color. Because of this, all the gamers in your house can enjoy Neopets Puzzle Adventure regardless of the familiarity with the online environment -- perfect if you have one child that's a Neopets.com player, and one who is not, they can still share or play "head-to-head". In fact, our two kid testers were only vaguely aware of Neopets from friends, and they still both found themselves quickly engrossed in the game.

Bottom line: While Neopets Puzzle Adventure may not have a lot of depth or character development, it's a fun little game that the 12 and under crowd -- especially if they're Neopets fans -- will enjoy and get a lot of use out of.