Pajama Sam No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside
Ages 3 - 8

[This is, without a doubt, one of the best kid games ever. It is my benchmark of what a game should be. It has been re-issued by Infograms. Here is my original review]:

Pajama Sam's adventure with thunder and lightning were such fun that I had to go back and find his first adventure, No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside.

It starts out with Sam determined to go to sleep with his lights out, but to do this he must first confront Darkness. His journey starts in his closet where he believes Darkness is hiding. Once he enters his closet, he tumbles down into the Land of Darkness.

Sam comes armed with his flashlight, his mask and his Lunch Box Containment Unit for capturing Darkness. These items of course, are confiscated by treelike custom inspectors and Pajama Sam must find them before he can approach Darkness. He travels through a mine, a gigantic tree house, through underground volcanoes with exploding lava, down waterfalls and into an underground stream in search of his confiscated items.

The Land of Darkness is rendered with intense colors so that the effect is dark and mysterious instead of dark and dreary. The music is wonderful and varies between four or five themes so that it never grates or becomes annoying. Pajama Sam's voice changes depending upon the situation, from brave, to timid, to polite to gentle prompting, making him a pleasant traveling companion through the Land of Darkness.

For parents playing with children, there are a few clever asides that they will appreciate. The commands for saving, loading and pausing the game do not appear on the screen but are entered by keying in s, or l or spacebar - a little strange for a game rated for kids 3-8. But maybe there are other grownups playing the game besides me.

Educational value? Memory training - making connections between statements made in one part of the game with objects that can be used to solve a related problem (maybe this really is a game for seniors); and casual scientific concepts. Fun factor? Plenty, and lots of replay value too.

Reviewed by Genevieve