It's not often that a children's game is just sheer fun. Too often, they're adult games dressed up with children's animation. Not so of Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg - unless of course you're the type who runs around in a Legendary Chicken Suit rolling eggs into food.

Today's review was helped along by Aleandre's 4-year old little brother Sam. Sam's too young to manage a game pad, but don't let that fool you. He knows his way around the island and through the battles along with the best of them.

(I'd suggest looking at the official site for some really great images)

WarCry:: What is the name of this game?
Alexandre: Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg

WarCry: What do you do in the game?
Alexandre: You hatch all 6 Chicken Elders then get all the information about the Giant Egg. Then get the Giant Egg before Raven gets it. Raven's a big bad crow.
4-year old Sam: Hatch all 6 eggs so you can do all the levels!

WarCry: Who is Billy Hatcher?
Alexandre: He's a little kid and he was late for something with his friends. And then he saw a little baby chicken with a diaper on and two crows were looking at it. So, Billy picked up a stick and whacked the crow with the stick before they got the chick. Sorta like playing baseball.
4-year old Sam: He's a boy who wears shoes and clothes and then the starts change him into a chicken suit.

WarCry: Why is he called Billy Hatcher?
4-year old Sam: Ummm....he goes "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!" and hatches his eggs. He has to find food for the eggs so they can get feeded and when they get full he does a cock-a-doodle-doo and hatches the eggs.

WarCry: Why do you want to hatch the eggs?
Alexandre: Because it gives animals and special toys and chicken bombs to scare away enemies.

WarCry: What do the animals do?
Alexandre: There's one that does ice and one that does fire...
The ice is special when you're on Dino Mountain. It will put places to get to the Dark Gate by freezing the lava.

WarCry: What is a Dark Gate?
Alexandre: It's a place where Captain Glur is. He's a crow made out of a bunch of crows. At first, he's kinda east to beat. First he's a lizard, then he's a big guy made out of water then a guy who jumps on a dinosaur and tries to get you.

WarCry: What kind of special things can you do?
Alexandre: We defeat crows by blasting out of cannons and jump in rubber rings that make you flyyyyyyy.
4-year old Sam: And orange and blue and green things -buttons! They're boingy things.

WarCry: How do you know what to do in the game?
Alexandre: There are little baby chicks that talk to you and give you help with going around the island.

WarCry: Why do you have to go around the island?
Alexandre: We're trying to make day come back to the Earth. Because, well the crows made it dark by locking up all the chicken elders.

WarCry: How many people can play this game?
Sam: Two!
Alexandre: No, four. We just don't have enough controllers for a battle.

WarCry: What is a battle?
Alexandre: It's something that up to four players do and what they do is try to hatch more eggs than the other person.

</WarCry: How many different eggs are there?
Alexandre: 72 different eggs - except the 6 chicken elders.

WarCry: How many lives does Billy have?
Alexandre: He starts out with 4 chicken paws. (yes, he said paws)

WarCry: How does Billy Hatcher do anything?
Alexandre: The Legendary Chicken Suit gives him powers to push (roll) the eggs around - that's how he moves them and hatches them when they've had enough to eat. You don't want the egg to crack because if it gets too cracked you get scrambled eggs or smelly eggs.

WarCry: What can you use the eggs for?
4-year old Sam:: To kill the bad guys. **giggles** Roll over them or push the egg at them....

WarCry: What do you feed the egg?
4-year old Sam: Vegetable and fruits. Only one vegetable - celery leafy vegetable **giggles*
Alexandre: The fruits are cherries, watermelons, grapes and any kind of fruit.

WarCry: Is this game hard?
Alexandre: A little bit. Each level gets harder.

WarCry: Is this game scary?
Alexandre: No, or else no one would be playing it. (disgusted look)
4-year old Sam: No!

WarCry: Do you like this game?
Alexandre: Yes, pretty much anyone would.
4-year old Sam: Yes. But its time for Mario Games now.

Parental Commentary:[i] I limit my children to 30 minutes per day of video/pc games and this is one that keeps them entertained without over-exciting them so its easy to get them to stop. Because it has more than one way to play - there's the story but there's also head-to-head-collect-as-many-eggs-as-you-can-before-your-opponent it allows for we, as parents to play with them. Besides, who wouldn't want to be Bantam and yell "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!!!"[/I]