High School Musical 3: Senior Year - Nintendo DS

The High School Musical movies are not for 34-year-old men but my daughter is a big fan.

From what I’ve seen of the films they seem to be fun, energetic and well produced entertainment for kids – and the latest DS game in the franchise, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, can be described in the same way.

There are too many tacky movie tie-in games out there which very unimaginatively and lazily retell the story of the film they are based on. These tend to be poorly put together, with lacklustre gameplay and usually take the form of a dire platform adventure.

Luckily, this isn’t one of those. Clearly Griptonite Games have put a decent amount of effort and thought into creating this game.

Young fans of the movie won’t feel they have been gypped by a cheap bit of merchandise and parents buying this for the kids at Christmas will feel they have actually got value for money from their purchase.

The main aim of the game is to rotate a pinwheel using the stylus in order to keep rhythm with songs from the movie while characters such as Gabriella and Troy dance along.

In-between the musical numbers there are various mini-games to play, including capturing photos for your own East High yearbook, taking the Wildcat quiz and seeing which character you have most in common with.

Fans of the movie will no doubt love every second of play, though with the controls for the music part of the game being a bit tricky, it may suit slightly older players – 12-year-olds will get on better with it than six-year-olds.

Overall, a very slick game which will delight its target audience.

Verdict: 7 out of 10