Parents' Guide to Bolt

Game Xbox 360 , Nintendo Wii , Nintendo DS , PlayStation 2 2008
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Common Sense Media Review

Chad Sapieha By Chad Sapieha , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 10+

Movie game has good graphics, lots of mild combat.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 10+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 7+

Based on 7 kid reviews

 

 

See all 7 kid reviews

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What's It About?

The requisite video game spinoff of Disney's CGI movie, BOLT is actually based on the television show within the film, in which the scrappy little pup Bolt really does have super powers. Players are led on an adventure that spans the globe (allowing for some scenic environments in countries including Russia, Italy, and China) as the superhero dog and his master Penny take on evil criminal mastermind Calico and hundreds of his faceless, ninja-like henchmen as they try to rescue Penny's dad.
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Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say : Not yet rated
Kids say ( 7 ):

For a game based on a movie, Bolt is surprisingly compelling. The voice cast, graphics, and animations are excellent; it sometimes feels as though the game is an interactive computer-animated movie. And it's a cinch to learn. On-screen instructions provide all of the information players need to understand and execute Bolt's stock of moves and attacks, and hints pop up if the player is struggling against a particularly tricky foe.

It does, however, fall into repetition a little too often. The game has a tendency to cycle between activities, making players, say, spend a few minutes navigating a treacherous area before arriving in a big open area where they spend several minutes fighting a seemingly never-ending stream of cookie-cutter villains. A better blended series of challenges would have made things a bit less monotonous and more organic. Still, it's short enough that the repetition doesn't become a major factor. If you have a Bolt fan in your household, this is a good pick.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the relationships children have with their pets. Would you want your pet to be in show business? If you had a pet, how would your interactions change it were it suddenly to become intelligent and gain super powers? Would you still think of it as belonging to you, or as being more of a friend? You can also discuss the game makers' decision to base Bolt on the television show within the film rather than on the film itself, which saw the pup disenchanted upon realizing that he didn't actually have any super powers.

Game Details

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