Conveniently released between Halloween and Christmas, Buzz! Junior: Monster Rumble clearly has its eyes on the kids' market this season. Like the previous Buzz! Junior titles (Jungle Party and Robo Jam, each of which are highly recommended although it'd be silly to buy both), Monster Rumble is a game loaded with mini-games, all thrust together into a playable and competitive narrative (much in the style of Mario Party). The game's edge comes through its use of the Buzz buzzers; not only are the buzzers simple to use and perfect for response-based games (as well as the main buzzer, the buzzers have four buttons of different colour - perfect for most of the colour-recognition-based mini-games) but they also allow four players to play using just one USB slot.

So, to cut to the chase, how is Buzz! Junior: Monster Rumble played, and how enjoyable is it? Well, Monster Rumble boasts a total of twenty-five mini-games - about half of these recycled from previous Buzz! Junior titles (a recurring gripe with this series) and the other half making their first appearance. Like the previous titles, Monster Rumble offers the choice between Quick Start games, where you choose only the length of your game (short, medium, long or marathon), and the game allocates which mini-games are to be played, or a Custom game, where, again, you choose the length of your game, but this time you also choose which mini-games will feature. This prevents the game getting boring too quickly, but there are a few ways it could have been improved. For a start, every Quick Start game features the same order of mini-games. Why not choose these by random or in a cycle using the memory card? It would add a bit more variety, especially since Monster Rumble's selection isn't exactly the most enjoyable pick. Of course, there's always the Custom option, but, in my experience, this can be a little time-consuming and convoluted to set up - and will surely only be more so for the demographic at which Monster Rumble is aimed.

Next up, it's on to picking your monster. Once again, Buzz! Junior allows the inclusion of CPU bots with variable difficulty levels (and unlike previous Junior titles, the difficulty level actually seems to make a difference this time). Considering Monster Rumble's junior audience, you might find the opportunities to 'customise' the monsters to be pretty sub-standard. Yes, you can change their heads, or the number of their arms, but there's something about the end result that seems to be sadly devoid of imagination. Throughout the game there are some brilliant backdrops and amusing touches - the cartoon style of the game is distinctive and beautifully rendered, with some lovely animation and great comic touches, so it's a shame that this talent couldn't have manifested itself by making the monsters a little further ranging and more creative. Anyway, once you have your monsters it's onto the main game and, once again, each different mini-game is preceded by an informative instruction video. One of my favourite touches is how each video is shown to the monsters (avec popcorn) in an old, retro cinema theatre. While it's likely to go straight over the heads of an audience of children, I still think it's worthy of a mention.

There's a good scope of variety between all the mini-games. Like previous Buzz! Junior titles, there's still a dominance of reaction-based games. For example, there will be four holes on screen, each a different colour (corresponding to the colours of the buzzer buttons). A zombie pops out of one of the holes and the points go to the first player to hammer the correct colour. To spice things up a bit, there are also a few things you shouldn't hit - and if you happen to press the button at the wrong time, your points are usurped. The first few games are fun, but most players, particularly after a long or marathon game, will find themselves bemoaning the lack of variety. Of course, it might be a little unfair to penalise a children's game for something that annoyed me and my adult friends, but other family games (again, holding up Mario Party as the benchmark) never suffered from similar problems.

So which are the better games? Well, treasure hunt is rather good - and at least gives kids more than one thing to focus on the game. Basically, the scene is divided into sixteen small islands, and, using the buzzer, each player must hop between the islands, timing the jump correctly so as not to fall into the water. As treasure chests begin to pop up on random islands, the aim is to leap there before the other players. The fun comes, however, as the monsters start to collide in mid air and tumble into the water. Then there's the manic Ping Pong Splat, where a monstrous plant shoots out spores, which can then be batted around. The aim is to keep an eye out for unguarded players, whilst still guarding yourself from incoming spores. It's fast, furious and very fun. There are plenty more games to enjoy, some of which are more fun than others, but I'll leave those to discover for yourself - suffice to say, there's enough here to keep your interest for a while as long as you play in short bursts, and the games are accessible to newcomers and easy to pick up and play if you're a first-timer.

Buzz! Junior: Monster Rumble is a strong game that's perfect for the holiday season - provided, this is, you don't already own a Buzz! Junior title. You see, as playable as Monster Rumble is, it's essentially a rebranded version of the last release (something I grumbled about when reviewing that game, too). So, seeing as this is essentially the same game, I shall give you the same advice. If you don't own a Buzz! Junior title then this is well worth buying (although one of the previous titles might be a cheaper option). If you do own a Buzz! Junior title then unless you're a really huge fan or particularly like the theme of this latest release then there's no real need to pick it up.

Reviewed by Robert Jackman for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).