" Another 6 months in the oven may have made this one a winner…but right now it just feels incomplete. "

      Title: My Street by Sony

      Format: PS2 Mini-game Bonanza

      Reviewing Monkey: Our Ape Masters

      The Hype: People love mini-games…and people love to play on line…so if you made a game that was all about playing mini-games on line it'd be a huge hit, right? Well, Sony sure thinks so…

      What This Monkey Thought...

      Graphics: Definitely aimed at a younger audience, My Street is full of vibrant colors and wild abstracts that will load up your senses and shrink your retinas…and that can really be a good thing. Personally, I hate overly dark environments or drab colors, and thus the shockingly bright Street is a pleasant change of pace. So that's the good news. The bad is that the target audience is evidently so young that Sony didn't feel the need to firm up or polish the presented graphics and the arguably overly cartoonish visuals definitely could have used some more time in the shop. 3 out of 5

      Playability: Composed of 7 mini-games (most of which are classic games that date back to the old days of the NES and DOS), Street really aims at the fun you can have jamming with 3 other people. With party games half the rage right now, this season seemed the perfect time for Sony to unveil it and I, for one, was really excited to get my hands on it. Initially I wasn't exactly disappointed, with the games bearing a nice combination of originality and old school charm and a solid on line component to let me find other geeks to jam with (though, as with any four player on screen at once game, it's a lot more fun to play with other monkeys in the room with you). Unfortunately, however, the more I got into the game the less fun I found myself having. For starters, and most importantly among Street's flaws, is the horrific control scheme it sports. You can look far and wide and I don't think you'll find a bloody person who actually think the controls are handled well. Jerky, difficult, and unnatural, what is easily the most crucial part of any game becomes unnecessarily bulky and difficult to work with. So that's the start. Move from there into the fact that none of the games are exceptionally well done, the on line component tends to be far more laggy than logic dictates it should be, and wrap up with the fact that, when you get right down to it, 7 games doesn't end up being that many and you'll be hurting pretty bad by the end of the first hour. 2 out of 5

      Story and Drama: No story, but Street does manage to implement a pretty nifty create a kid feature that let's you create and customize your icon into the 9 year old punk you always wanted to be. Unfortunately, though, with the character will come the dialogue he or she spews and you will quickly tire of the combination of archaic slang and hip hop catch phrases that streams never-endingly from their mouth. 2 out of 5

      Multiplayer and Replayability: As I said, with up to 4 players hitting a game at any point in time the multiplayer element of Street has some promise. Unfortunately, the control scheme is difficult enough that you may have trouble keeping your friends interested and so will be relegated to the on line multiplayer…which can often be a frustrating mass of lag and chaos. 3 out of 5

      The Verdict:

In the end, I really liked the premise My Street sported but the execution was sadly lacking. For a game based on the simplicity of mini-games, My Street is plagued with a ridiculous amount of problems and limitations. Another 6 months in the oven may have made this one a winner…but right now it just feels incomplete.

      The Good: Fun concept and some cool mini-games

      The Bad: Poor controls, not enough games, no strong appeal hook

      The Overall Ugly: There're just too many other fun party games to take this one seriously.

      What it's Worth: 15 bucks.