Children's games can be something of a curse for reviewers; I mean, honestly, what adult really wants to review the latest Barbie game or groom a horse for a few hours and then write about it? The best children's games are arguably those that are accessible to children but entertaining for adults as well - something that Nintendo is famous for doing incredibly well. While Tamagotchi Connexion: Corner Shop 3 isn't one of those universally appealing kids' titles, it still provides a fair amount of enjoyment and challenge for its junior target audience.

The game begins with a Tamagotchi coming to Earth to request your help; once inside their spacecraft, you define your name and must promise to appear in Tamagotchi form at all times, then you are whisked away to help the citizens of the Tamagotchi world boost the trade of their thirteen shops, which is quite topical really, given the current economic crisis. Anyway, here we go then - Geotchi to the rescue!

The first thing that strikes you about the game is its visuals; the bright colours and childlike drawings with limited animation frames that comprise Corner Shop 3's world are very endearing and will doubtlessly appeal to young children. The shaky, hand-drawn lines and misshapen bodies of the dozens of Tamagotchi that you encounter, as well as the handful of shades used on the painted backgrounds that again take the form of pre-pubescent artwork, are really well conceived, and while they're certainly not pushing the power of the DS, their quirky style is great fun and perfectly suited to the target age group. For once there are no 'lost in translation' issues with the copious amount of dialogue either, which is very well written and kept simple and snappy, presented in the form of speech bubble exchanges that are accompanied by the gobbledygook mumbling of the Tamagotchi, each of which has its own unique tone. The audio is just as sickly sweet as the visuals, with strange, vocal-style noises applied to a lot of the actions that you perform; this might grate with some people but my tolerance is pretty high so they weren't a problem for me. Neither was the handful of tunes that accompany each shop and the other areas where you can hang out; each is as well orchestrated and catchy as the last and they're upbeat yet relaxing, ideal for easy listening background music.

When it comes to the gameplay though, I was initially less than impressed, as it's pretty simplistic and lacking in depth. However, when I stopped to really think about the game from the perspective of a child between the ages of four and nine (any younger and they'll probably struggle, any older and they'll likely get bored), there's plenty of challenge here and more than enough to keep young children occupied for a little while. There's absolutely nothing here for teenagers and adults though, so even if you have fond memories of Tamagotchi from your youthful years, don't even think about picking this up for yourself. Trust me on this - it took great perseverance and dedication on my part to soldier on through the game! Anyway, let's take a look and see exactly what it all involves.

There are four shops available when you first arrive, with another nine to unlock as you progress. The game is entirely controlled via the stylus, so the top screen displays various characters on a static background and the area where you work in each shop is shown below. Gardening is one of the initial tasks. A seed drops down into a plant pot and then you must sweep a trowel back and forth with the stylus to bury it. The plant then tells you what it needs via thought bubbles and you simply select and use the required tool (all of which are displayed on the right hand side of the screen for each game, with clear icons eliminating any doubt as to what each item and tool does). You usually begin with the watering can and the stalk begins to grow, then you sprinkle the appropriate fertiliser onto the plant. Bees and butterflies come in to pollinate the flower and sometimes clouds form, which you blow away using the mic, while weeds are plucked out with a pair of tweezers. You finish off your gardening task by ringing a bell or blowing sparkling dust onto the plant in order to give it some love (ahhh) - then the flower blooms and you're done. The whole process takes a couple of minutes to complete, then the next customer comes into the shop and off you go again, with the added twist of needed to nurture two different plants at the same time as you upgrade your shop. The best part about this mini-game is that you don't know what the plant will look like until it blooms, and each of the many varieties is quite pretty (I'm standing in the diminutive shoes of a young child, remember!)

Next up is the Recycling Centre, where you are sent off to one of a range of locations to drag all the litter into the recycle bin at the bottom left of the screen. Once back to the Centre, the litter scrolls slowly along a conveyor belt and you must drag it into the appropriate bin. Initially you only have Wood and Paper to sort, making the game very simple, but as the shop is upgraded (which in each case occurs every ten customers or so, up to a maximum of four levels) more bins are added, and some items like cans need to be flattened with a hammer, while wooden planks must be sawed into thirds before they can be placed into the bin. Frustratingly, if you don't get them off the belt in time (which often happens when you have to break down the litter), you have to watch them scroll painstakingly slowly across the top screen before they come around again.

Treasure Hunt is one of the most simplistic games but also one of the most enjoyable. You begin by scrolling around a fairly wide area of dirt or grass with your metal detector, then you repeatedly tap with your pickaxe to excavate a boulder, which you chisel or drill to reveal the item within (careful not to crack it!) and finally brush it or blow on it to remove the dust. While the gameplay is repetitive, as with every mini-game in Corner Shop 3, it's fun to see what treasure you've just discovered, as well as putting a big smile on the face of each customer.

The final game of the initial four is the most complex and varied: the Card Shop. Here you create a range of different artwork, from birthday cards and paintings to name cards and posters, with the customer specifying the background, characters and items they'd like used. You select each in turn from the icons on the right, after which you can move them around the area freely and express a bit of creativity, adding extra items (like birthday cakes, flowers, hearts and musical notes) if you want to get the Awesome rating. Each task is rated with one to three smiley faces and this is one of the few shops where it's possible to get anything less than Awesome, mainly due to the card type icons not being as clear as they could be, along with the fact that you're not told that extra items need to be added.

The biggest issue I have with Corner Shop 3 is that it takes too long to unlock the rest of the shops - you need to upgrade each shop to its third level to gain access to the next shop, meaning that you have to repeat each mini-game at least twenty times if you want to see everything that the game has to offer. This seems a bit much - it would have been wiser to open up the rest of the shops sooner, because the appeal of these initial four could well start to wane fairly fast due to their repetitive nature. The game would have benefited from the added variety that the rest of the mini-games provide being available sooner rather than later.

Of these unlockable shops, Piano Lessons is a highlight, as well as being surprisingly tricky. A piano keyboard is displayed at the bottom of the screen and divided into coloured sections (usually only two or three). Coloured notes scroll across the screen above it and you must not only tap the corresponding area of the keyboard to play each note, but you need to do it in time, with the notes displayed as crotchets, quavers and so on. You can then listen to your student playing the tune back and hear the areas where you went wrong. This is quite a charming and fun representation of playing the piano, with an unexpectedly diverse range of classic tunes that includes Der Flohwaltzer, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Dvorak's Humoreske, Bach's Minuet in G, Gossec's Gavotte and Beethoven's Für Elise.

The Event Coordinator, despite its name, is another of the best games; here your job is to host a party for a group of Tamagotchi and you begin by setting up the requested furniture, decorations, music and special effects (party poppers, fireworks, disco ball, etc.). Once completed, you get to watch the party while providing refreshments, using a knife to slice food along the dotted lines and then distributing it onto plates, or adding toppings to desserts. This mini-game will definitely appeal to the little ones!

The Ice Cream Parlour is also good fun, although it's quite hard to get the ice cream layers to build up smoothly as the mixture that you've stirred pours out of the machine. You must move the cone or cup back and forth to create the twirled shape before adding the requested toppings from a wide selection. Beyond the problems with getting the shape right, the only other problem with this mini-game is that it really makes you want to eat ice cream! Some of the mini-games that aren't quite so interesting include the Day Care Centre, where you must give two babies the food, drinks and toys that they cry for and the Day Spa, where you carry out facial scrubs and beauty treatments, as well as chasing down and sucking away the germs that could cause pimples.

There are rewards for progressing other than unlocking new shops, with a range of items to collect, such as outfits to buy for the four Tamagotchi who accompany you around town and guide you in the shops, seeds to plant in the park, gifts to give and even new types of clock tower, which serves as your base of operations. In here you can send items to friends wirelessly, as well as keep a little journal and write entries in your friends' journals on their copies of the game. Out in the park, you can plant seeds, hunt for treasure, buy various decorations and tidy up the litter for recycling.

Most of the mini-games are not only fun and challenging for young children, but they might even spark some enthusiasm for real-life activities, such as learning to play the piano, doing a bit of gardening or making birthday cards. The mini-games for creating ice creams and babysitting are the types of things that young children might role play with toys, while games like the Day Spa and Recycling Centre promote personal hygiene and environmental awareness. You might laugh at these remarks, but young children are wide open to all forms of influence and it's nice to see a game that presents a positive message as well as providing some entertainment.

This is something that is prominent throughout the game; all of the Tamagotchi are very polite to each other, they compliment your great work, they always say thank you and they happily pay the fee for the service. Your helper Tamagotchi expresses his or her satisfaction at doing a job well, too. The game even takes note of the current time and comments if you're up late, as well as reminding you not to be a fussy eater and to do your homework (okay, okay, I'm doing my 'homework' right now!) Games are often criticised for being a bad influence on children, but Corner Shop 3 delivers a clear and simple message in a fun way. The only real issue is that of longevity; given that none of the games really appeal to adults, it's not easy for me to judge how long they will last for children - but I can see their repetitive nature causing kids to lose interest once the novelty has worn off, which could happen sooner rather than later.

Tamagotchi Connexion: Corner Shop 3 is a charming little mini-game collection with a range of simple activities that vary in challenge and depth but are all pretty accessible and easy to get the hang of for young children. There's absolutely nothing here for adults, but if your child can read and hasn't yet hit double figures then the chances are that he or she will find the game appealing. Its bright, colourful and adorably cute visuals will serve to draw children in like bees to flowers - but, like the bees, I won't be surprised if they decide to flit off to another pretty looking game before too long.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).