Chibi-Robo is the story of a small robot on a quest to spread happiness. Along the way he will meet a wide variety of characters and explore a house full of wonders. Is this just an exercise in household chores or is there more behind the cute little robot themed game?

So its Jenny Sanderson's birthday party and her father, Mr. Sanderson, has surprised his daughter with a neat little gift. The gift is you, Chibi-Robo. This is just the start of what turns into a crazy adventure, one that might not be expected at first glance. So shortly after the birthday party is over and you had the chance to meet the whole family you will begin your quest to "spread the happiness" as your friend /companion Telly will inform you of.

The gameplay in Chibi-Robo can be summed up as a mix of Harvest Moon, platformer, and adventure all rolled in one. When I say that I mean that Chibi is a good mix of other games before but with a charm and style that just oozes at the seams. Chibi can walk around scrubbing, squirting, and picking up loose trash and dirt all around the house. You've got the typical soda cans and crumpled up papers around the house along with puddles of water, mud tracks and other various things that can be cleaned/or picked up. You can do this with a variety of tools that you find along the way but I'll let you discover those on your own. The other main thing you will be doing is helping the various people, creatures, and toys around the house. Yes, you'll meet many toys that get up and walk on their own when no human is looking and you'll meet animals as well. All these various characters you will meet throughout the game will want help in some form or other. Whether your helping them gets an item hidden somewhere or figuring out how to help them perform various tasks, you're constantly trying to help everyone out. What makes the game even more appealing is that all these characters are hilarious and you really want to see what's next in store for them. I haven't laughed this hard at a game in awhile, the scenes are that good.

Chibi has a style that could be called cute or simplistic... yep that's what comes to mind when I first think of Chibi-Robo. I personally think the look of the game matches the feel of it and comes off being done in great style. Some textures are a tad blurry, but again its something that is easily overlooked. The characters themselves all come to life and look great. You will meet a crazy cast throughout your adventure, one you'll most likely not forget ranging from a super hero that's always talks about justice to a teddy bear that seems to have a personality complex. While meeting everyone you also get to explore the house in great depth. You've got a kitchen, living room, foyer, upstairs, two bedrooms, a basement and also the backyard to explore to your heart's content. There is a price to pay for all this exploring and that is your battery life. While exploring and performing certain actions your battery life will drain. Staying alive is as simple as finding an outlet and charging up (which also serves as a savepoint). When you start off your battery life is pretty low and you have to watch your life constantly but shortly after you start earning happy points you get upgrades. Your battery life will get significantly bigger so don't worry about that being a big issue later in the game. When the day or night ends you automatically go back to your Chibi house and recharge and exchange happy points to your total. Also inside the Chibi house is a store where you can buy various upgrades and also make utility bots to use around the house. These utility bots make ladders, bridges and warps for you to use in certain rooms. These are definitely something your going to want to use to find everything the game has to offer.

Controlling Chibi around the house is a simple task. Chibi has simplistic controls and has many gadgets to use along the way. You can open the menu with the X button and then simple highlight the said item and hit A. A is used a lot in the game so get used to it. Chibi can go into first person mode with the Y button and look around the room spotlighting various key items in the entire room. This is a game anyone can simply pick up and play. While walking around the house and exploring you'll be treated to a single music theme during the day and during the night. You robot makes different noises depending on what type of surface he is walking around. It hard to explain but once you see and hear it you'll know what I'm talking about. Every time you talk to specific characters the background music changes to what I would call character specific themes. Every character has their own theme. The characters also talk in a gibberish talk similar to Banjo Kazooie or the original Star Fox. It's all gibberish but its cute and it goes to compliment the style of the game.

If I had to name any of Chibi's faults it would be that the game isn't terribly long, but that can vary depending on if you do a lot of the side missions or not. It lasted me about 12 hours with some side stuff completed. The cute looking graphics might distract some gamers from even giving the game a chance and while looking like a kids game it definitely has appeal for both kids and adults, again I was laughing throughout the whole game.

Chibi is not a game for everyone. If you like different and unique games with a sense of humor then I'd definitely suggest giving this game a try. It doesn't seem like there is much to it but give it an hour to grow on you, its world will open up, and you just might be hooked. Chibi is a small robot but he surely makes up for his size with insane funfactor. Chibi-Robo is a little robot with a lot of spunk; don't let this game pass you up.

- - Justin Celani