While you'll be interacting with other characters a lot, many of the interactions are with inanimate objects. That's why much of the dialogue consists of the Gaius talking out loud and saying things like, "Wow, look... not just another empty bottle," or "This is certainly FORT-ified." While it's obvious that the game is geared toward a much younger audience, many of the jokes and references would probably be lost on them. Of course, this isn't anything new considering every animated Disney movie ever made does the same. Also, it does make the game more interesting for the slightly older gamer who may decide to play it.

As with any video game, Jolly Rover suffers from a few problems. Technically speaking, the game is solid, which isn't any wonder considering its extremely low system requirements. However, the lack of a manual save feature is annoying. Players will have to complete an entire scene or set of objectives before quitting or they’ll be forced to replay much of the scene again when they come back to play. Considering the nature of the game, repeating the simple task of clicking on objects and then fast-clicking through dialogue trees wouldn't seem that annoying, but doing it over and over can get tiresome. Considering how much the game holds your hand in other ways, the lack of a intermediate save just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Another gripe is your character’s movement speed, which can get very annoying when you have to watch him walk from one side of the map to the next. This is particularly noticeable when transitioning between maps, which is when Gaius will auto walk around a corner or up a hill for a few seconds before loading into the next map, at which point you'll have to watch him slowly walk down that path. Including a way to fast forward past transitions, similar to the way you can click to fast forward through dialogue you've already heard, would have been good to include.

Overall, Jolly Rover is a fun and casual, point-and-click adventure game that sets its sights on a younger crowd of gamers. It features simplistic gameplay, complementary visuals, funny dialogue, and even some fairly challenging puzzles. While it isn't a perfect casual game, it does what it is meant to do very well and with no noticeable technical bugs. Sadly, it doesn't have much replay value and only one story to play through. Then again, a much younger audience would probably have fun playing over and over anyway. In the end, the $20 price tag may not seem worth it to many, but to the parent or hardcore, point-and-click adventure fan, Jolly Rover may just deliver.

By Derek Hidey
CCC Freelance Writer