Just in time to ride the wave of advertising for
the new Winnie the Pooh "Heffalump Movie", Ubisoft has created a game for the
GBA. Geared to audiences 3yrs old and up, it’s a mixed bag of fun and
frustration that might leave the younger players wishing to flee Christopher
Robin’s Meadow.
It’s a given that for every kid’s movie released,
there has to be a game– hopefully on every platform available. Here, we find
the tiny Pooh Bear on the Game Boy Advance with all his pals lending a hand. I
love Pooh. My daughter’s decor is mostly Pooh, and she sleeps with TWO Pooh
dolls each night. My very first real watch was Winnie the Pooh, and who doesn’t
just love that little guy? So, getting my hands on this game was something I
looked forward to very much.
Pooh is hungry. Well, hungrier than usual.
The game opens with a dialog between Christopher and Pooh. Through text screens
accompanied by the familiar "Pooh Music", we learn that the best way to keep
your mind off food is to have yourself a quest! So, off Pooh goes to stir
up some memories of past birthdays– from everyone. Along the way, you need help
from your friends, who will each lend a special touch to move you along. You
have your enemies, however! Yes, lovable Pooh is haunted and hunted by
Heffalumps and Woozles. I must take a quick second to acknowledge that I have
NOT seen the new movie, but it is my understanding (from the ad plugs and videos
on the Disney Channel) that the Heffalump is actually a friendly fellow–
and not something to be feared. Confusing, but I’ll buy it for now.
This is a standard quest type game. Designed for
small children, it is not fast paced nor intimidating. With that in mind, I
found myself able to roam and be nosey with relative ease. The threats are
minimal and easy to deal with. It seems that Piglet, once selected to assist
you, can conjure up a very scary face– which makes the baddies flee with
fright. Who knew there was a beast in the bacon? It’s a (personal) shame
that Piglet is so useful, as he is my least favorite character. Oh well, at
least it wasn’t Rabbit.
As mentioned, each character aids Pooh in their
own special way. Piglet gets scary, Eeyore gathers small critters, and so on.
The whole gang is there, and they all interact with the same dialog-heavy
manner. I know there are a lot of young geniuses out there, but am I missing
something when a key element of the game involves reading, and not many 3 year
olds can read? . This totally eliminates the (younger) child’s ability to take
this game off on their own and play without older assistance. Some of the words
aren’t exactly "Dick and Jane" level, either. I’m a speed-reading adult pushing
40, and stumble on pronouncing "Heffalump" and "Woozle". I am not sure how the
designers intended for this to be overcome. From recent experience, I can assure
you that some children want to be independent and not NEED an adult’s
help to play a kid’s game… but that’s exactly the case, here.
Back to the action. Assuming the child
understands the mission, they will then have to guide Pooh around the lands
looking for objects– in an effort to read his friends’ birthday party
scrapbooks (remember… trying to not be hungry, here). Nosey Pooh Bear has to
solve some puzzles and solicit help from specific friends to get all of this
done. If he sees some sparkling object, a good kick will reveal what’s hidden
there. Like…. honey pots! You have to collect the honey pots as you go. Also,
pick up keys and the usual quest-game things to get through gates and across
terrains.
Some of the puzzle-solving is too complex for the
minimal aged players. But, if they are not accomplished, you can do nothing but
walk in circles with the theme music driving you insane. If you stop the game,
you must wait until after getting a password (write it down!!!)– or you face
having to replay the entire level from the start. Again, a young player is being
asked a lot with that kind of pressure. In my first sitting, I explored and had
some fun learning the game, but even after 15 minutes of play, I had not earned
a password. I needed to stop for a while, so lost my game and had to begin from
the speech in the tree with young Christopher.
If you manage to eaves-drop on all of your
friend’s private diaries and finish the game, you are rewarded with the chance
to play it all over again– against the clock. Replay value– zilch.
The sound is warm and welcoming… for about five
minutes. The lovable tune that plays over my child’s crib at night is repeated
over and over until you want to turn off the volume completely. You can adjust
the audio levels, thankfully.
The graphics are quite nice, and the critical
text is large enough to read– by those old enough to do so. Pooh and his pals
are rendered quite nicely, and the terrain is easy to follow with contrasting
colored pathways. The visuals are the strongest part of the game.
Gameplay: 6
Christopher Robin’s plan to distract your rumbly tummy is easy enough to
understand, though the reading and puzzle solving may shut out a good group of
the intended audience. Pooh moves about quickly, and though there is no actual
speech, you can almost hear each character’s voice in your head– as you READ
the instructions. The pace is fairly slow, though does increase at a fair speed
without ever getting impossible for a young child to manage.
Graphics: 8.0
Definitely the best aspect of the game, the visual elements are nicely done.
The characters "pop" against the terrain background. Though I still appreciate
the effort, anything less than this level of clarity would have been terrible,
as rendering cartoon characters into video games is relatively simple. It’s
based on a cartoon, and thus looks like a cartoon!
Sound: 5.0
The audio will drive you sadly insane. The lovable tune soon grows into a
tortuous annoyance.
Difficulty: Medium
Provided the 3 year old can read well, the game should play very easy– even
with the puzzle solving. Some of those tasks are unclear– even when you know
what you are supposed to do. Which log am I moving??
Concept: 4.5
This is an adventure game with hazards. It is poorly designed if the age
target is accurate. Walking around collecting objects and avoiding (gentle) bad
guys is old and tired. Pick up the key, unlock the gate, kick a sparkling bush
for some honey-pots. I don’t recall seeing anything that was new or different–
aside from the originality of the characters, themselves.
Overall: 5.5
I suppose there is no way around the cycle of: Make the kid’s movie- make
a game for it. It’s just a shame that poor efforts are put behind them so
often. It’s as if the talent pool is exhausted from making the actual film(s),
and the game design gets the leftover, tired rejected ideas. Or, worse yet,
making a game that is merely a clone of a dozen other games that came before. I
am not sure who would benefit best from this game’s offerings. It is too much
for a small child to pick up and play– without help, but older kids will feel
as though they have played it before– long ago. They would be right. It’s stale
and the no wind in the sails. Oh, bother.…..
