Small Robot, Huge Fun

One thing that bothers me about video games is that sometimes, a great game comes out. But because no one hears about it or knows about it, it doesn't get played. This is unfortunate, because fantastic franchises can wither away into the shadows simply because they did not get the attention they deserved. Such is the case with Chibi-Robo.

Chibi-Robo is a tiny house-cleaning robot who is trying to help a family get closer together. This particular Chibi was purchased by the Sanderson's. He starts out walking around, picking up garbage and cleaning up muddy footprints. As the days go on, he starts to notice that the family is not all that close. The Dad is sleeping on the couch because he has spent all the family's money. The wife is constantly hungry, cause she refuses to eat with her financially-deficient husband. And the daughter is upset because her parents are upset at each other.

Now, of course, it sounds like a ridiculous premise for a game. But just like Animal Crossing or The Sims, real life scenarios somehow become engaging in a video game. Anyways, Chibi-Robo continues to clean the house, but he also helps the family, plus their come-alive-at-night toys, who have their own share of problems. Chibi turns out to be the perfect solution to every problem in the Sanderson household.

The game is not limited to cleaning dog prints or picking up candy wrappers. Chibi races cars with a hot-rodding egg. He feeds a bird who dares not leave his nest. And he helps a group of soldiers find the strength to come together and defeat the enemy. Chibi makes many friends on the way to solving the Sandersons' problems. And because of his size and position outside the actual family, he becomes the glue that holds the family together, like how he can slip in vents to talk to the disgruntled mother who locked herself in the bedroom.

Chibi-Robo is one those gems that keeps you involved constantly as you try to help and clean your way to the top. The more you help, the more items you can buy. For example, Chibi-Robo has a battery that needs to be charged after a short time. The more you help people, the larger battery you can buy, thus letting you roam around longer without charging.

I could go on and on about this game, but there is one point that needs to be remembered. This game is one of the best the Gamecube had to offer, and more people need to play it. It's probably hard to find now, but I can assure you it would be worth it.

In any case, the game is great and when new Chibi-Robo games come out, you should consider buying (or at the very least, renting) them. The DS version of the game is also amazing, but I'll talk about that one another day.

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased: