Roughly five years ago, Kao the Kangaroo first appeared in his own 3D adventure game on Sega's ill-fated Dreamcast console. It wasn't a groundbreaking effort by any stretch, but the easygoing run-and-jump design and charming characters made Kao (pronounced "K-O") a worthwhile pickup for anyone seeking a weekend of lighthearted fun. The same holds true of the boxing marsupial's latest adventure, a budget-priced disc that's available for the GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 consoles, as well as for Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld.

On consoles, Kao's latest is called Kao the Kangaroo Round 2. On the PSP, it's called Kao Challengers. The difference in the titles primarily reflects the fact that the PSP disc contains multiplayer combat and race modes that aren't found in the console versions of the game, although there are also four additional levels tacked onto its single-player mode as well. Those extras notwithstanding, all four versions of the game offer roughly the same single-player experience, which spans 20-some-odd levels spread throughout six worlds.