My kids all have enjoyed the TV Show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody since it debuted on the Disney Channel in 2005. The simple plot of the show appeals to them, and at the same time often tries to teach them good life lessons. This same successful formula was kept in for the video game, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody: Tipton Caper. And so the game, too, has been a hit in my home. It does require a good bit of reading, so it isn't one my kindergartener can play by himself, but with some help from a sibling or parent, even he can play this simple little adventure game.In the game you play the twins Zack and Cody, sometimes as both and other times as just one of them. The twins have once again gotten into trouble and are grounded to the suite. But just like in the show, the one lesson they never seem to learn is that they need to stay grounded when they are grounded. So your first mission is to find a way off the floor with the suite on it. These first few rooms act as a tutorial on how to play the game. Your goal is to find keys to open the doors to the various rooms on the floor in hopes of finding a way out. You'll learn how to navigate around the game, move objects, pick up objects, and get Zack's first weapon, an unending supply of water balloons. You'll eventually make your way out of these levels and down into the basement of the Tipton Hotel. Here you're asked to help Arwin, the janitor, get his vacumn cleaner out of the maze that is the basement. Zack's balloons come in handy for triggering levels and pushing pressure plates, and soon Cody will collect the vacumn cleaner and use it as his special ability.
The game is a pretty typical adventure game in that you have to use some problem solving skills in order to figure out what to do at a given time, and progress through the game is very linear. The first time the twins seperate, for example, you have to take Zack up over the shelves because you'll need his balloons. Cody simply doesn't have an equivalent special ability. So if you'd taken Cody up, you have to return and switch to Zack in order to get through the level. Knowing the size of the Tipton and how long these games tend to be, I'd say that my kids are probably about a third of the way through the game, and while they haven't gotten completely stuck at any point, they have had to go back and rethink what they were doing a few times in order to get through the game.
The controls are straight forward and easy to use. You move with the arrow keys, and use the 'B' button to do a special ability. You can save the game at any time, which makes it easy to pick up and put down. Of course, we have the same problem with this game as we do with just about every kids game out there... there is only one save file. It is still frustrating beyond belief to have kids fighting over a game beause they both like it so much that they both want to play it but only one of them can have a file at any given time. I suppose, though, that their fighting about who gets to play through this game first is a testimate to how good it really is for them, and I should compliment the developers on making a good game for kids rather than grumbling about the lack of save options.
The graphics are great for a GBA game. We haven't had any time when it was hard to tell what to do because a camera angle or blurry graphics were preventing us from seeing the part of the game world we needed to see. The screen is always clear, and they've gone so far as to put in indicators for where you have to be on the screen in order to climb up, for example. Nothing frustrates me more than when I know that I have to be in a precise spot in order to do something but I can't tell what that spot is exactly enough to do it. This game avoids that pitfall without making it so simple that it's as though the designer is sitting over your shoulder saying “Now go here and do this”.
Simply put, if your kids are Zack and Cody fans like mine are, then they should like this game. Good graphics, clear and easy to understand gameplay, mixed with a fun storyline make it a real hit in my house. The hours from our house to grandma's passed much faster, and quieter, thanks to The Suite Life of Zack and Cody: Tipton Caper. And while we haven't totally finished the game yet, I'm starting to see that somewhere in this story there's going to be a lesson for the twins... one that I can only hope my own kids pick up on by playing out life as Zack and Cody themselves.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
