Garfield is arguably the most famous fictional feline of our time, though some would argue that his days of glory are long behind him. Gluttonous and sadistic, he personified what many of us perceived to be the true nature of the “domesticated” cat: a furry extension of the Dark Lord himself. As his popularity grew, it seems Garfield became something of a softie. He spent less time playing cruel tricks on his human master every Sunday, and more time entertaining kiddies on Saturday mornings. Indeed, Garfield Gets Real appears to continue the trend of his more recent child-friendly antics.

After being digitally animated for a live-action feature film, the pudgy protagonist found himself appearing in a computer-generated animated series, alongside other comic characters. Garfield Gets Real is based on a new film, which is based on this new series, which in turn, was based on the original comic character. Confused, yet? The important thing is that Garfield will not be making any dark jokes about how his uncle was killed by a bus; this is absolutely a children’s game, with simple gameplay and basic concepts that probably won’t hold the attention of adults for very long. The levels are designed around bizarre cinematic premises, each one having a theatrical name, and it is Garfield’s job to ensure each scene is perfectly executed.

In truth, the game’s premise is so ambiguously introduced, it’s difficult to even rationalize any of the absurd situations that Garfield must be guided through. Generally, none of the mechanics feel unique or innovative. This is strictly a basic design that happens to take place in the Garfield universe. In the first “scene,” Garfield needed to perform all manner of improbable acrobatics in order to “catch” books that were inexplicably flying off the shelves. In the following level, Jon hurled bits of breakfast food through the air, so Garfield is compelled to scurry around the screen in a desperate attempt to scarf everything down. This premise, it seemed, at least made a bit more sense for a Garfield game. In addition to the usual sausage and eggs, Mr. Arbuckle would sometimes throw large plates at Garfield. Why he does this is not exactly clear, as the plates shatter on impact and obviously can harm the hungry cat. It is possible that the man could only take so many years of abuse from his pet before finally fighting back.

Of course, this is hardly a deterrent for the greedy Garfield. By the level’s end, he’s downed a breakfast so appallingly fatty and rich, it would make Michael Phelps red (or possibly green). There are also bonus tokens that can be collected for more points, the idea being that you want the highest score possible for any given “scene” before the final edit is submitted to the studio. Some levels mix things up by introducing new settings, such as obstacle courses, but it’s all rather easy to pick up since these mechanics have been used in countless other games. During seemingly random parts of a level, the player needs to make Garfield dance in the spotlight by using the D-Pad. Apparently, these are important media photos for advertising purposes, the irony of course being that the entire game feels like an advertisement for the DVD movie upon which it is based.

As far as I can tell, Garfield Gets Real is something best enjoyed by very young children, particularly those amused by the latest animated Garfield cartoon. Strangely, there is no actual tutorial in the game itself, so reading the poorly-written manual is practically required for anyone who wants to understand what exactly the game expects of them. Since this is clearly a children’s game, parents will be overjoyed to learn they will have the task of studying and teaching the game mechanics to their child. What fun.

While the levels themselves scroll in three dimensions, Garfield Gets Real maintains a fairly modest presentation. It is usually colorful and clear enough so that you can tell what is going on, even if what’s going on doesn’t make much sense. The slowly-revealed yet strangely unhelpful text throughout the game reinforces the “made for kids” element, even when the lack of clear direction will obviously cause problems for beginning players. The music is predictably zany, but the audio cues (particularly Garfield’s responses when eating) are rather obnoxious. It is disheartening to see that Garfield has been given such a poor treatment in video-games. Only die-hard fans will feel the need to experience this game, while the rest of us (even those of us under ten years of age) will find out money better spent elsewhere.

Gameplay: 5.5
There is a bit of variety, and the pacing is decent, but the whole thing gets tedious very quickly.

Graphics: 6.0 
Some effort to make the characters recognizable and lively, though it isn’t exactly “eye candy.”

Sound: 5.0
You can usually tell who is saying what, but the repetitive effects are incredibly annoying.

Difficulty: Medium
There is no tutorial to speak of, so many players will be finding things out as they go along. At its core, Garfield Gets Real is a prolonged reflex game.

Concept: 5.0 
If it wasn’t based on a movie, some of the content might feel genuinely original. Even so, many of the scenarios are ridiculous rather than pleasantly memorable.

Overall: 5.5
Some decent variety in the mechanics and a fairly amusing premise aren’t enough to save Garfield Gets Real from its monotonous and absurd level design. Very young devotees may find it a briefly amusing adventure, but this really feels more like an advertisement that someone is expecting you to pay money for.