While Sony dreams of a PSone or PS2 in every home in America, Disney dreams of filling seats in theaters with kids and parents all eager to see their latest and greatest film creation. Then, they like to see us buying the merchandise, including shirts, socks and the inevitable videogame. And, I'm always first in line for the videogames, after a childhood filled with fond, fuzzy memories of great Disney classics. In recent years, I've had both wonderful gifts and terrible, flaming bags of crap but I always return with an open (if somewhat apprehensive) mind. Here I am with the latest Disney game based on the recently released Monsters, Inc. and happy to say I'm pleased as punch with the game.

In producing a long line of 3D Platformer titles, Disney has fallen prey to some common problems of the genre, coupled with awful, sickening, 'Is it 1995?' graphics. But, even with PS2 and all its glory fresh in my mind, Monsters, Inc. comes off looking sharp. Creative camera angles and pans remind me of Ape Escape, although the definition and crisp quality of graphics doesn't quite come up to that level. Watching the characters move, watching faces animate, I found myself chuckling and enjoying the experience, feeling that old Disney magic. This is a very good thing. The levels are a pleasant mix of well-designed environments that don't have much to do with the movie, but this is admittedly 'Inspired by the movie...from Disney and Pixar.' Neat little visual cut-scenes and mini-games again brought me back to thinking of the better examples in this genre, like Spyro and Ape Escape. One disappointment is that there's not much actual footage from the movie, but this comes from trying to maintain a coherent plot for the game since it doesn't follow the movie much if at all. What we have in place of this are scenes built in the game's engine that while cute, are noticeably absent of the vocal talent of Billy Crystal and John Goodman. Too bad. But, listening to those kids scream when you scare them: Priceless.

Monsters, Inc. The Game takes you into the training facility at Shadow Moses... I'm sorry, at Scare Island, where you'll have to help Sulley and Mike attain mastery over the art of scaring little kids silly. Level by level, you'll have a chance to take on every dirty trick a kid ever thought up to defeat monsters, and perfect different routines guaranteed to rattle even the most jaded youngster. The delivery is solid, as you begin by choosing one of the two monsters. Each has his own strengths, but without any special handicap being given to one character, gamers are free to spend time with the character they liked most from the movie. When you start out, you'll enter basic training that illustrates what you're capable of. This really amounts to moving around, jumping and climbing and examining or destroying objects. Don't think that you just get to butt-bounce though, because if you've seen the movie you'll know that Sulley and Mike are all about scaring kids. The butt-bouncing is reserved for inanimate objects that you come across in your training. The kids are fairly helpless against you, but they do enlist certain toys that can put a hurting on a monster. So, you'll need to know how to defeat the toys, which isn't always as easy as you might think for a big tough monster.

Dealing with kids is a little beyond the scope of your training, so the scientific folks at Scare Island cooked up special kid stand-ins called Nerves. Nerves look and act like kids, but they're actually little robots. They've got these little flashing lights on their heads, just like Ape Escape (so much like it that I suspect someone's cutting a fat royalty check as we speak...) that tip you off to their awareness of you and their level. High-level Nerves can't just be knocked down by any old scare. You'll need all the juju you can muster to put them down, and in Monsters, Inc. juju comes in the form of Ooze. Collecting Ooze is your main task in each level, and with each bit you grab, your scary potential rises a little. It's actually color coded, so you watch the Fright Meter fill with various colors as you collect Ooze. When you have a section of your meter completely filled with a color, you're ready to tackle Nerves with the corresponding colored light. Taking on a Nerve is like a little mini-game. You get close to them, get their attention, and start the scare by pressing (O) to enter Scare Mode. Once in this mode, you'll cut to a side view of your chosen monster and the Nerve, and will see the first button sequence needed to create a scary move. Really, at this point you play Monsters, Inc. like a rhythm game, following more button sequences and repetitively pressing buttons until the Nerve is sufficiently scared to fall down in a dead faint. And, as with any of the good rhythm games, you're treated to some very cool moves by Sulley and Mike as they pull out all the scares they can muster. No good scare would be complete without a finishing move, and you'll crack up at these every time. Other than scaring and collecting the items you'll need to scare, including health pickups and key items, Mike and Sulley open special areas by completing levels and collecting Monster Tokens. Suffice it to say that this is a good replay element, and not just some lame ruse to extend the game. There's plenty of gaming here, thank goodness.

Monsters, Inc. really is a simple game. It is not comparable to Ape Escape or Spyro, even though it definitely has taken elements of style and substance from them both. Kids will love playing this, and it's geared toward them 100 percent. The good side of this is substantive gaming for the young ones you may be buying for this Holiday and the only down side is that you may not be stealing the controller from them as often as you were when 'helping' them play Ape Escape.

As an average 3D action game (which for Disney at this point would mean 'great game'), Monsters, Inc. shows most of the usual problematic issues in its engine. Some bad seams, some slowdown and frustrating edge detection are par for the course, but this experience is equivalent in quality to 80 percent or more of the similar games out there. Even though you'll notice more than a few places where you expect to jump and reach something or tail-swipe something only to find thin air, Monsters, Inc. keeps the levels short and full of action. So, just where you might get frustrated and ready to move on, there usually is something new. None of the enemies are unreasonably hard, and if you can't scare a Nerve to death I pity you. If it doesn't seem that novel after you've been playing for an hour or so, it's only because you probably aren't the target audience. Each level is progressively harder and more complex, but the goals are always the same. Gathering items and scaring Nerves is the name of the game, broken up in places by NPC interaction and mini-games. Using the analog controls, each monster moves around easily and responds well to commands. The environments allow you to explore different ways of reaching Nerves and gathering items, but nothing about the control scheme should make the job more difficult. Especially when new moves or items are introduced slowly and as part of training, they're easy to learn and remember. (X) and ([]) take care of almost all the action, while (O) and (/) used only during scare sessions. Nothing like a 2-button control scheme to make things easy, eh?

PS2: Somehow, the smoothing really does help round out a few of the jagged edges, and although there isn't a lot of loading in levels, having a bit less time to wait between the main island and the training areas is always nice.

Maybe those folks at Disney just like to keep our expectations lowered a bit and then surprise us, but I'm happy to see Monsters, Inc. come out as well as it did. The movie was fun, the characters are easily recognizable and the whole premise of the movie translates so well to a game like this. They could have gone wrong and tried for the same platforming pap that they've pushed several times within the last year, but this is just the right combination of solid controls, smart gameplay and fun design. A great gift for some little one with a PSone or PS2 who liked the movie, and just in time for the holidays.