U.B. Funkeys is a new “e-play toy” – a toy that provides access to a virtual world. In order to play U.B. Funkeys your family will need to buy a starter kit. The kit comes with a game CD, a USB Hub in form of a large Funkey character and two small (4inch) Funkeys. The small Funkeys can “piggyback” the big hub character, which changes the appearance of the in-game character. A large variety of additional small Funkeys (42 as of product launch) are available at toy and online retailers. Each new Funkey character unlocks new zones and small minigames. Some Funkeys are more common than others, which Mattel hopes will spark Funkeys collector craziness among our 8 to 12 year old kids.
The virtual U.B. Funkeys world looks very “slick”, for lack of a better word to describe the unique style of buildings, boats and objects throughout the different Funkeys zones. Unfortunately, most of the buildings are mere decorative and cannot (at least at this point) be accessed. We spent a lot of time walking around, wondering how fun it would be if we could interact with items in more creative ways. Buildings that can be entered usually feature a store, to buy items for the players personal “Crib” – a room that can be customized, and a minigame to earn money.
Arkadium and Mattel also included a small story line, in which the Funkey’s are trying to rebuild Funkeys Town’s transportation system and save it from evil Master Lox. Master Lox’s henchman are vicious little creatures that roam around in all FunkeysTown Zones. Upon contact with a henchman your child will loose his/her hard earned coins. Rapid clicking on a dedicated on-screen button may limit the damage, but your child is likely to take some loss regardless. This may add a little action to an otherwise relatively unexciting virtual world; However, younger players will probably loose all their coins rather quickly and consequently interest in the game.
The collectable vinyl Funkeys are unquestionably cute and will appeal to a much wider audience then the targeted 8-12 range, adults included. Hopefully the gaming experience will be enhanced in future upgrades. We recommend parents to allow the game to access the Internet in order to automatically search for game updates every time the program starts.
U.B. Funkeys are definitely more fun to collect than play, at least for now.
