Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure (Nintendo DS)

I would recommend this game to children aged 7+ who are interested in sea creatures.

I am a big national geographic fan and looked forward to the release of this game, unfortunately I have been dissapointed with the finished result. It just doesn't feel finished, I think if they had spent a little bit more time developing the idea of the game they would of came out with a much more up to spec game, which would have broadend there audience.

When I started the game up I got a message on screen that said 'These messages will help you through the game' and a sea monster appeard, on the top screen of my ds. Another message popped up on the screen ' 100 million years ago danger was never far away. The area will only get more dangerous over time. You must find a way to escape these waters. You will need to figure out how on your journey'.

On the top screen you could see the sea monster in the sea and lots of other creatures passing by. I learned how to make the sea monster swim, its pretty easy and similar to most nintendo ds games, its just by using up, down, left and right on the left side of your ds.

On the bottom screen you can see bars for health, stamina and oxygen. Theres also a sonar, it displays predators in red and prey in green. Fossils are displayed in yellow and portals are blue. This is very basic, this is where I think National Geographic let us down, they could have thought out the layout a little better.

You must keep an eye on the oxygen levels and if they get to low you have to swim up to the surface by using the controls on the left of your ds. This is easier said than done when I tried to do it my sea monster naily drowned.

Also another part of the game is to collect fossils, you can do so by searching the sea bed, when you have found the fossils you are able to unlock other sea monsters. I think this part of the game is essential as it learns you about prehistoric sea monsters.

The under sea graphics are very good and the attention to detail is amazing. The music and sound effects are impressive too.

I find this game quiet difficult to play and I think the age recommendation should be 7+ as the controls do get a little complicated as you progress through the game.

I was dissapointed with the game as I am a big National Geographic fan, If I am honest I did expect more.