Pajama Sam has a chance to get his favorite comic book autographed by Pajama Man at the local mall, but first he has to find it, which is going to be somewhat difficult as his room is a horrible mess. Just as he sees his comic book lying on top of a pile of stuff, it gets mysteriously sucked down into the junk. Diving after it, Pajama Sam is swept down into a dark land of grit and grime!

The Pajama Sam series is a beloved staple of the former Humongous company, which was bought several years ago by Atari. The last Pajama Sam game to be released was three years ago, and many kids have waited patiently for the next installment. The box promises the same fun found in the previous games, with randomized gameplay, lots of locations, clue gathering and inventory objects, mini-games and of course, loads of clickables. But the proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes, and this game isn't quite the same delightful adventure of old.

Players will immediately notice a big difference right from the get-go, in that this game has to be installed, where previously kids just popped in the CD and played from the AutoPlay window. There are two choices of installation, 160MB or 550MB. The minimum system requirements are for a PII 350Mhz with 48 RAM and a 4MB video card, but judging from the comparison of performance between my PII 450Mhz and P4 2.4G, this game requires a higher end computer for optimal play than what is listed as the minimum requirements. On my older computer, the load time between each scene was very slow and became annoying after time, and it was even a little slower than other Pajama Sam games on the newer system. For some reason, the voice of Pajama Sam isn't synchronized very well with the animation, which is very noticeable. The voice actor is different, too (formerly the same person who does the voice of Spinelli on the cartoon Recess), but that's just one of those things that can't be helped.

The adventure itself is cute and charming, and the characters, items and clickables are all humorous. Sam will need to listen carefully to each person he meets, to gain valuable clues! Just like always, Sam is ever polite and always helpful. The puzzles are in a mid-range of difficulty for the most part, but there are a couple that are humdingers, and kids will probably need help from their parents or older siblings. Most Humongous games have hints on their games which could be accessed from the keyboard, but not this program; parents will need to visit the Help section at the AtariKids web site for hints if needed.

There are two nicely done mini-games that are fun, and that kids will enjoy playing. There are also tons of great clickables that show that a lot of attention was paid to their design, with multiple animations and funny jokes. Throughout the game, Pajama Sam will collect trading cards of his favorite heroes from the Pajama Man comic books; this is a nice touch in light of the mania the last several years over trading card games, but the reading level required for these cards is high and most kids playing the game will have to have mom or dad read them.

As adventure games go for kids, this is a decent one that offers good animation, lots of clickables, gentle humor and plenty of puzzles. However, it just doesn't impart the same depth of the previous Pajama Sam games that have become such classics. The adventure isn't as long, and there aren't as many puzzles to figure out. Also, although the game claims to be randomized, in actuality only a few things change each time, as most of the items are found in the same locations and the game paths are always the same. Pajama Sam is still cute and charming, but the game itself doesn't offer as much replay value, as it is short and doesn't really change any. Another odd item is that the word "darn" is used twice. Many families don't allow their young children to say this word, so the usage of it in this age range is strange.