The summer holidays - music to a kid's ears, but not necessarily the most fun for parents. When you're not trying to arrange days out around the rather unpredictable English weather, there's children to keep entertained and brawls to break up. Maybe you'll go away for a week or two, taking them away from their army of consoles, TVs and gadgets, only to be met with choruses of 'I'm bored' all day, every day. Handhelds such as the 3DS and PS Vita really come into their own when away from home though, giving them something to do and you some much-needed peace and quiet. But what games do you get them, when they've mastered Mario Kart, caught them all on Pokemon and are stuck in a lull between Lego games? Our friends at Koch Media might have the answer, with not one, but two new 3DS games due out this summer!
First up is Paddington: Adventures in London - a kid-friendly game inspired by the recent film.
The adventure centres around the missing adventurer Montgomery Clyde, who once met with Paddington's legendary Aunt Lucy back in deepest darkest Peru, and the marmalade-obsessed bear gets to take in some of London's most famous landmarks, solving puzzles and playing mini-games as he goes. Whether it's helping the police hunt pickpockets or finding lost pets, you'll unlock clues that bring you one step closer to solving the mystery behind Clyde's disappearance - and hopefully finding a forever home for Paddington in the process.
Phone boxes - one of London's landmarks?
Garfield Kart meanwhile is perhaps the only way you'd get the perpetually lazy, pasta-obsessed feline to move - by strapping him into a high speed kart and racing the day away. In a similar vein to Nintendo's staple Mario Kart, it promises sixteen tracks of rubber-burning kart racing, with eight different characters, three difficulties and four different modes to choose from. There's the standard one-off Quick Race, a multi-race championship and an against-the-clock Time Trial, as well as a more unusual 'Daily Challenge' option, which hopefully puts a bit of a twist on the usual racing formula. Up to four friends can even duke it out in local multiplayer over WiFi, although whether it'll do download play (which may make it a winner!) or whether you'll require one copy per person remains to be seen.
Weapons seem to include some sort of mine/pie/bomb thing.
Both Paddington: Adventures in London and Garfield Kart will be hitting the 3DS on the 3rd July, in perfect time for the summer break!
