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Computer Times
Editors' Choice DS Game Build-A-Bear Workshop: Welcome to Hugsville Reviewed by Angie Kibiloski
Build-A-Bear Workshop: Welcome to Hugsville (Retail $29.99), from Activision, is an adorable little title that is made up of a bunch of fun mini-games. It brings the cuddly animals from the Build-A-Bear stores into your Nintendo DS, to play in their hometown of Hugsville. When you first start the game, you get to choose which lovable character you want to play as, and bring him to life by warming his heart and giving him a unique name. He will become the newest resident of Hugsville, and be given his very own house, which you get to build and decorate the first time you start playing. It’s really fun to nail on the shutters and door, to hammer the roof into place, and to paint all the outside surfaces. Later, you will also get to build your own vehicles, like a car and scooter. As you continue in the game, you will unlock new colors of paint to redecorate your house and vehicles with. After you have a home, you can get right into meeting all of your new neighbors, each of whom will have a little game for you to play. There is a maze game, a tag game, a racing game, and many more that will be so much fun for you to discover. As you win each level with top marks, you will unlock the next. Sometimes, in order for your new friends to build the next level and unlock it for you to play, you must bring them something from around the town, like a flower or tree seed or a treasure chest. You can get these items by either digging for them in the dirt areas around Hugsville, or be rewarded with them by winning levels from one of the other neighbor’s games.
One of the characters, Pawlette, has given you a huge, important mission: to beautify Hugsville. You can use the flower and tree seeds that you collect, and have not given to the other neighbors, to plant colorful gardens all around town. Wherever you see a patch of dirt, you can use your shovel to dig a hole, then toss in some seeds, and water the seeds with your watering can. You will immediately get a small baby plant. Walk back by later to see it fully grown. There are plenty of dirt areas around, and you get to plant whatever you want, like orange trees, pine trees, daisies, roses, and more. After playing for a while, you will be given a treasure-hunting device to find buried treasure. If you have this equipped, you can roam around town, following the glowing paw prints, and dig up treasure in the various unplanted dirt sections. The treasure could by seeds or treasure chests. After you have adequately impressed your new neighbors, and Bearemy, who acts as a sort of helper and guide throughout the game, he will start awarding you with special golden seeds. You can give these to Pawlette to grow a very special golden garden in a large dirt patch at the edge of town. There is space for a great many golden plants, so keep up the good work to fill the entire area. Once you have met all of your neighbors, you can go back to visit them and play their games in any order that you wish. Each game has quite a few levels to get through, so you’ll get many, many hours of fun and enjoyment. You can also go back and replay any level that you have already completed, to try to get a better score or time. If you want added competition, you can connect wirelessly to another DS owner who has their own copy of the game, and play against them. The Build-A-Bear franchise is so successful, and widely loved, and this title is a great example of why that is. Build-A-Bear Workshop: Welcome to Hugsville is incredibly cute, with a cheerful, positive game world, and tons of hours worth of fun and addictive mini games. I’d recommend this for any age kid, even full-grown ones who still have a child inside.
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