Despicable Me: Minion Mania Review

As we climb the corporate ladder, gaining rank and status, there's one perk that seems to hold more promise than just a pay raise or corner office: having your own minions. In this game based on the CG film Despicable Me, you're given three Twinkie-shaped minions to perform your simple tasks and tests.

You control the minions two or three at a time on each of 20 levels, switching between them with a tap. Puzzles often revolve around reaching the exit by standing on colored switches, blowing up walls, or grappling your way to the exit.

It's all pretty basic puzzle stuff, but there are a few inspired additions, like a freeze ray that lets you transform minions into blocks of ice or boiling lava into hard slate. There's also a bubbling potion that makes your minions float up on steam vents, as you tilt your device to steer them.

Each level grants you points for time completed and coins collected, and deducts points for minions you lost to the lava or giant threshing machines. You're then awarded a gold, silver, or bronze award, and can use the coins to unlock goofy outfits for your minions. We have to admit, it's more fun bossing them around when they're dressed like a cowboy, pirate, or Elvis.

Though the game is fairly short (it may take less time to finish than the movie itself), it's a decent challenge, especially for younger players. The levels are small and self-contained, but sometimes the trick to completing a level will escape you while you try to put the pieces together. It's a more interesting approach than a simple platformer, and some of the solutions might make you feel like a PG-friendly evil genius.

Minion Mania doesn't seem to have much to do with the movie, though. The Steve Carell character only makes brief appearances and vague references to the film's plotline, and each minion stage is just a mocked-up testing chamber. We would have liked the chance to take these minions out into the real world for some mischief.

It's doubtful we'll see more content released for Minion Mania in the future, since movie-based games tend to be tied to the film's release and abandoned soon after. So if 20 puzzles lasting an hour and a half sounds like a good deal to you, we'd encourage you to pick up this cute little movie-companion game. Or have your minions buy it for you.