Starring the little characters from the Cartoon Network, Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak is one of those cutesy adventures that actually play really well (See: Pokemon and Monster Rancher). Surprisingly this hamster adventure is very engrossing and decisively original, even for the older crowd.

Hamtaro, the star hamster, must find all of the eleven main Ham-Hams, and bring them back to their senses. Problem is, Hamtaro had this horrible dream. Spat, the game’s true antagonist is unleashing all his mayhem in preventing the other Ham-Hams talking to one another. Even worse, the Ham-Hams love for each other comes to an end. Hate is everywhere. All of a sudden when Hamtaro wakes up, he finds out that his dream came true. Why you ask? You’ll have to find out yourself.

Hamtaro has this Hamster dictionary, where the Hamspeak language is translated. However, he barely has any of these words at the beginning of the game because of a certain “accident.” Therefore, he can’t speak most of the words, unless he learns them during the course of his adventure. Early in the adventure, Hamtaro learns only several Ham-Ham phrases such as the greeting “Hamha!”, “Digdig!”, a dig command, and “Tack-Q”, a rolling attack. Each of the 85 different words in the Hamspeak language activates a sort of action that solves puzzles in different areas all over the game. Hamtaro will need to utilize each and every one of these Hamspeak phrases, learning new ones during the way, to progress in gathering all the Ham-Hams, and canceling the spell of anti-love. From there, it’s up to you learning new words to get through the adventure.

The puzzles in Hamtaro are abundant, and generally easy to understand since the game is focused around the fanbase of the game. Hamtaro basically runs around different areas trying to organize the relationships between different Ham-Hams, and sometimes the overall result is quite funny. Just like Golden Sun, the characters in this game uses chat symbols above their heads while speaking to get that “cartoony” feel. Question marks, love signs, and exclamation points will be spotted numerous times on top of hamster heads, hence giving you a better feel on how their mood is. The cute conversations and references to the Cartoon Network anime are there, but it’s nothing an older gamer will find too childish because of the fun factor.

The adventure is a solid 15 hours long. However, after finishing the game, you could always continue to collect all the Hamspeak phrases. I ask myself: Why does Nintendo keep forcing the idea of collecting things? Because it’s fun and adds replay value. You can finish the game with only 70 or so Hamspeak words, however there are so much more to find. You can also buy sunflower seeds, which are the game’s currency, which can be exchanged for clothing items, used at the clubhouse and the title screen. Tack-Q bowling, Ham-Ham dances… they’re all here!

Hamtaro: Ham Ham Heartbreak is a well-made cutesy videogame that’ll sure to please GBA owners who simply love to watch cartoons. Well done.