Bruce Von Stiers

The film Stuart Little was so successful that you just knew there was going to be a sequel. And there was. Stuart Little 2 supposedly earned as much as the first one. Along with the film, Columbia Pictures licensed out the rights to a game based on it. Activision got the nod and has released Stuart Little 2 for Game Boy Advance.

For those of you who don’t know about Stuart Little, he is a mouse who was adopted by a human family named Little. He is an adventurous little mouse and seems to find trouble easily. In this new adventure Stuart will have to find a missing friend and missing jewelry.

It seems that Stuart has become real good friends with Margalo. Stuart convinces the Littles to let Margalo hang out at the house. Then Margalo disappears. About the same time, Mrs. Little’s ring disappears too. Stuart will have to find both the friend and the ring before the end of the game.

There are 10 levels in Stuart Little 2. You begin in the first level by helping Stuart work on a craft project in the basement of the Little home. He is trying to build an airplane. Will it fly once it’s built? In the second level, Stuart has finished the airplane and accidentally started it up. Now you have to guide Stuart as he pilots the plane through rings and around obstacles.

The third level has Stuart in a classroom setting. Here he will learn that fun in education can be exciting and somewhat dangerous. In this level you will try to find a paper airplane that Stuart can use to hang glide with.

Anyone who knows about Stuart knows that he has a little car that he drives around. In Level 4, the player gets to control Stuart as he tries to drive his car home from school. But the streets can be mean and scary. The fifth level is where the Little family agrees to let Margalo stay with them. It is up to Stuart to remove anything that might be in her way as they settle Margalo into her new home.

Level 6 is where Mrs. Little’s ring turns up missing. Stuart will have to navigate dark spaces and utilize spider webs in his quest to find the missing ring. His handy, dandy flashlight is a must have item in this level. And in Level 7, Margalo is missing and Stuart must keep cool and be careful as he tracks down her whereabouts.

The levels in the game build on each other and follow the characters of the movie fairly well. There are several power ups in each level and things to collect in order to help Stuart in his objectives. The power ups are a Small Heart, which restores partial health, a Large Heart, which gives back full health, Life for an extra game life and Speed, which allows Stuart to fly faster.

The game gives you a password at the completion of each level. That way if you have to stop playing, enter the password the next time to begin playing where you left off.

Each level starts with a short video clip. These clips are based on the film as well.

There are two multiplayer games as well. The first is the Little Prix where Stuart will compete against a friend in a car race. The second multiplayer game is called Level Runners. Here Stuart will compete against Margalo in an obstacle race.

Stuart Little 2 is a cute game that is designed for younger players but anyone should get a kick out of it. The levels are fun and not too challenging. Figuring out how to maneuver Stuart through some of the obstacles can be trying at times if you are all thumbs like I am.

Stuart Little 2 is available wherever GameBoy Advance titles are sold. You can also get it through the Activision web site at www.activision.com.