Hasbro has had some success in the PC Gaming industry. This is a company which has released a number of excellent games, although they have released a bust or two as well. The Monopoly series has been successful (with editions such as France '98 and Star Wars) and Centipede and the Small Soldiers duo of releases were a group of great games. Glover is a very interesting game, it resembles Mario 64 quite a lot, yet the control is very awkward and annoying, much like Die By The Sword.

Graphics: 8/20

There are hardly enough characters or objects to judge the graphics by, which in itself brings this rating down considerably. The landscapes are clearly rendered surfaces lacking in detail. As far as hardware support goes, Glover does support 3dfx and ran quite smoothly on my Voodoo². I also noticed support for Matrox and ATI cards meaning Glover also supports Direct3D acceleration. There are no LOD (level of detail) options that you can adjust, which was irritating. As for the graphics themselves, the level's detail was very low and I found the best visuals to be the water. One of the only appealing effects occurs when Glover jumps into the water and a vibrating ring is produced; this is very nicely mip-mapped. In the third level high hills are introduced and as you take Glover up them, if he falls or slides back a very sharp-looking, well-rendered dust trail emerges. Graphically, Glover has some decent attributes and features to it, but as a whole, the visuals just don't compare to the standards set for today's 3D games.

Sound: 4/15

Turn off your speakers, stuff your ears, just don't listen to the sound in Hasbro's Glover. First off, when you begin to play the actual game, you'll hear this annoying-as-hell "evil" laugh - or rather, a pathetic attempt at one. There is no speech, which is not uncommon since Glover is a Platform\Puzzle game. The actions that Glover makes are heard through low-quality, generic sounds. "Woohoo!"s and giggles are the most you can expect when he jumps and does somersaults, etc. The quality of the sounds is at best 22khz, and as far as support goes, there's no setup or options for any 3D sound cards. Sound is definitely an area that Hasbro needed to work on here.

Gameplay: 6/30

I can't think of anything worse than the gameplay in Glover. First off I shall address the control. The combinations of moves and the movement itself for Glover are disgustingly annoying. Walking is at far too slow a pace, the swimming isn't realistic at all (you are still able to do somersaults and jump through the water at the same speed as on land) and the control of the ball, when you're in possession of it, is pretty wild. I do not mean realistically wild either, like on slippery surfaces where one would more wildly begin to slip, but on regular land the glove goes out of control a bit. Although it is a small error in control, it is noticeable while you're playing and is extremely annoying as you continue on in the game. Difficulty is another detriment. It's pretty obvious that Glover isn't exactly a teen or adult-oriented game with a sophisticated plot, extreme violence or coarse language when you first play it. However, when you really get into the game you realize the difficulty is not something a younger aged player could handle. It's not too difficult, but for the target players Hasbro is unquestionably aiming at here it is definitely a bit too complex. Playing the first level is not a challenge, but the second level and then the third even are evidence of the game being too difficult for younger players. The AI in Glover is hard to judge seeing that all you do is jump and fist down on the enemies until they turn into tasty tokens for you to collect on your way to a free life (now isn't that a revolutionary feature, never seen that before). Well, that and throw the ball through checkpoints to ensure you reappear at the most recent points possible in anticipation of your death. As for the interface, it is truly representative of the game's target age: bubbly letters, cloud-shaped borders and dancing options are what you can expect. Gameplay in Glover goes almost unnoticed, but the interface makes its mark as annoying as it can !@#$! be.

Fun Factor: 2/20

Glover has to be the most boring game I've ever played, and trust me, I've played some boring games. From the second I hit the jump key for the first time to the last time I threw the ball at the big-headed fish guy (who rather brutally comes down with a head crusher on you if you get too close :P) I was trying to keep my tears to a minimum. The very playing, solving of the "puzzles" and running around in the Hasbro-proclaimed "3D world" just made me want to break the CD (and eat it after). This game's serious lack of any fun whatsoever in any aspect of play truly destroys any possible quality it could have outputted.

Overall Impression: 0/10

There was absolutely nothing in this game that made me want to keep playing, recommend it to others, or be a glove. I first ran Glover knowing Hasbro was aiming for a younger group of players, but it is a 3D platform\puzzle game and any true 3D game has to be aimed for older, more experienced and knowledgeable gameplayers. Playing Glover is probably the worst gaming experience this reviewer has ever had. As far as recommending it goes, I would rather tell people to spend their time getting Wolfenstein working with their TNTs than encouraging them to get their hands on this title. The below standard graphics, low-quality sound, obvious lack of effort in producing it, strange control and gameplay as good as a one meg trident video card all combine into one of the worst games I have ever played.

Highs: Damn, this is one helluva sessio-er, the game? None.

Lows: Graphics that couldn't impress the 5 year olds it's meant for, absolutely ridiculous gameplay and sound that makes you wish you were deaf.