If the game stayed like that I probably wouldn't be reviewing it, namely because I would've taken a sledgehammer to my GameCube out of frustration. But luckily for all of us, there's progression. As Chibi-Robo flits about doing his duties, he earns both Moolah and Happy Points. Moolah, the game's oh-so-original term for money, can be used to purchase various items or power-ups that help out with his daily duties. Happy Points are, mind-blowingly, indicative of how happy he's made the family, [oh, and there I was, once again, thinking Happy Points = Happy Endings. Damn Puritans! - ed.] and also determine his status in the Chibi-Robo Rankings. Yes, tiny robots all over the (fictional) world are competing to be #1 Chibi-Robo. Shut up, it's totally realistic. As your robot gets closer to #1, you also earn improved battery life, so your Chibi-Robo can begin exploring further from the outlets with less recharging.

   Of course, Chibi-Robo is smaller than, uh, pretty much everything around him, so cleaning up an entire house is hard. But when you're little, you hone your creativity, and yes, I will resist the urge to make a dirty joke there. [Luckily, I am here to step in! All right, there was a priest, a minister, a rabbi, and a little boy... - ed.] Throughout the game you pick up things to assist you, one of the more humorous examples being a toy hypodermic needle (yeah, you read that correctly) that carries water. Everything proves useful eventually, even the one enemy in your game, the Spydorz, which is undoubtedly the dumbest and most incidental name ever given. The things don't even spy. ... Or do they? Mystery! Anyway, shooting the easy-to-beat Spydorz produces Scrap (as in metal, not crap with an s in front of it) that can be used to build Utilibots, which are ladders and warps that help you reach high places that would otherwise daunt even the least Chibi of Chibis.

Despite lost credibility re: object-naming abilities, the game comes through

   With super-cutesy names that make even myself a little sick (and I have an extremely high Cuteness Tolerance), one would guess that the game was designed for children, which it certainly is. But there's also a puzzle-solving aspect of it that appeals to adults and may even frustrate children at times. Then again, I haven't been a child in a while, so maybe I'm just underestimating their intelligence.

   But seriously, there's something fun about being tiny and seeing a prize on a high-up shelf, then figuring out how to reach it by climbing handy plants and navigating precariously thin ledges. And though the cleaning tasks are the easiest goals, there's a lot of other stuff to do as well, stuff that'll make you glad you can upgrade each cycle's time to ten or fifteen minutes.

   Most of your other tasks will come from the other characters in the game. Chibi-Robo himself can only say yes or no, but he can talk to others via Telly Vision, his flying robot manager. The pair's most obvious interaction is with their owners, the Sandersons. Unlike most Nintendo families in my recollection, this isn't the happiest family ever digitally designed. Mr. Sanderson is a lazy deadbeat, young Jenny dresses in a frog costume and refuses to say anything other than "ribbit," and poor Mrs. Sanderson is just trying to hold it all together. You can do various things to please them, like change the TV channel for Mr. Sanderson, or give Jenny the numerous Frog Rings you find around the house. [There is also a little something you can do for Mrs. Sanderson. But that's only possible in your DIRTY LITTLE MIND! - ed.]

   But when the humans are away, the toys will play. That's how the old saying goes, right? Well, that's what happens in this game, at least - the toys come to life and will talk and give you occasional assignments, too. So between tasks like finding a spoon for Mrs. Sanderson and bringing star-crossed lovers Pitts (princess doll) and Mort (mummy) together, you're generally kept quite busy.

Down and dirty details that don't involve scrubbing

   I mentioned above that a good execution seems to be the key to a successfully repetitive game, and then like a bad continuity fairy, ran away from the topic. Now, like a forlorn puppy, I'm trying to creep back to the subject, only to find myself slightly torn over what to say over it.

   Many of the game's finishing touches are great. As I hinted, I loved exploring the environment, and the developers found many creative and not overly-obvious ways of getting their tiny creation into all the nooks and crannies of the house. The player needs to pay attention to every detail in order to catch it all, and it's a great way of keeping you involved in the game. The graphics and textures are very typical of what you see on GameCube, nothing groundbreaking, but there's nothing wrong with that.

   The sound in Chibi-Robo is probably what has me most torn. Sound effects are everywhere; in fact, tinkling little notes play with your robot's every step, and the instrument changes depending on what kind of surface he's running on. This is can be both cute and annoying, but it soon fades into the background. Oddly enough, the background music itself also fades, sometimes stopping altogether for no apparent reason. It's only when you're standing still in the kitchen in 3AM that you realize that for some reason it's completely and eerily quiet. And not in an effective, bone-chilling way, because it's not that kind of game. It's more of a random, did-someone-unplug-the-jukebox? effect.

   The character voices in Chibi-Robo are a lot like the ones in Animal Crossing, which for the uninitiated means a lot of cute-sounding jibberish that resembles the intonation of a real speaking voice. The only problem is that some of the voices in this game piss me the hell off. Some are delightfully chosen, mind you, but others just grate on my nerves. And, you can't speed up their talk, or the speed of the text as it appears. Occasionally, a character will talk slowly, and the text will slow down accordingly, and it makes me want to stab the screen as I maniacally press A, the start button, ANYTHING, but it just WON'T GO ANY FASTER AAAARGH. [I tell you, what the Wii controller REALLY needs is an attachable CHAINSAW... - ed.]

Now that we've cleaned the house from top to bottom

   Despite my ending on a bad note just there, the text speed is certainly a minor point compared to all the positive things the game has to offer. Like other games of its genre, it's very easy to lose yourself in Chibi-Robo due to the ease and fun of the gameplay. It also has the uncanny ability to turn you into your mother, wondering why on earth Jenny and Mr. Sanderson can't just pick up a piece of trash once every blue moon or so, and who let the darned dog walk through the mud and then into the living room for the fourth time today!?

   My favorite part of the game is its ability to incorporate a storyline, even though it's so exploration-based. You can follow the development of the characters at your own pace, devoting three cycles in a row to the characters in a single room, then ignoring them for four days in favor of someone else, and they won't mind. Nearly all the pieces of this game add up to an enjoyable and relaxing experience, and an hour or so into it you won't even realize you're not causing the death and destruction that's the object in those other games. Or, you'll realize it, since cleaning is simply not comparable to carnage. But you probably won't mind, because the dulcet tones of Chibi-Robo's scrubbing song will have lured you into your restful happy place.

       ... Ellix