The Muppets Movie Adventures

[FunnyBear]

Hey so remember this game?

Apparently it's only in PAL regions and I don't think it's coming to the states. It got a mediocre review and lacks any Muppet voices. That honestly stinks and even though the PS Vita is region-free, this doesn't make me want to get the system or the game. (If this game was good, I'd seriously think about grabbing a used system) So, anyone played it? What are your thoughts, if any?

 

[Drtooth]

Wouldn't be surprised that it's not a good game. We've rarely had decent Muppet games let alone good ones. Though NOTHING could be as terrible as Chaos at the Carnival. Just...wow... terrible.

 

[FunnyBear]

Wouldn't be surprised that it's not a good game. We've rarely had decent Muppet games let alone good ones. Though NOTHING could be as terrible as Chaos at the Carnival. Just...wow... terrible.

I mean, some of the PC games were good. Chaos at the Carnival was.....something. I've played the DOS version and watched gameplay of the NES version. The graphics are ok for the time, but the gameplay is just extremely poor, even for the NES. Some of the best Muppet games are on PC. Muppet Party Cruise is pretty fun though.

 

[Iscah]

I played it (and paid $30 to do so). Let me go find the post I made on ToughPigs at the time...

---

[8 November 2014]

I've finished the game now, other than going back for some collectibles. It was... okay. Could be worse, could be better.


Some thoughts as I go along:

- There isn't any voice acting for the characters. Not even minor stuff during gameplay. There is an annoying unseen director who nags you (unskippably) every time you run out of health, and a narrator with the awful-est script ever.

- Prettymuch all the storytelling is done by the narrator at the start and finish of each level. Very little interaction between the characters.

- The answer to "where's Fozzie?" is.... not in the game. But he IS on the language select screen - which is rather cutely done with the characters holding various country-flags - and he's wearing a 'private detective' costume, so I am assuming the forthcoming "downloadable adventures" are add-on levels, and Detective Fozzie is one of them. Hopefully we don't have to pay extra. [23/6/2015: No sign of these yet. May have been cancelled.]

- Prettymuch the only major thing not shown in the trailer, is Pepe as the villain in the sci-fi movie.

PIRATE WORLD

- Kermit's eyepatch is on the 'wrong' side in the 2D art vs the 3D model. This bugs me.

- Much more on the plus side, they remembered to make him left-handed.

- Also he runs rather slow and flailing. (Like, slower than it looks like he should be moving from the animation.) He's pretty awesome once you complete the level and unlock the double-jump ability - not that there's much to do with it except pick up the last few collectibles in the level, because the skill doesn't carry over to the other characters.

- There is a whole crew of fish-throwing enemy pirates, and Lew Zealand is not involved. Missed opportunity there.


FANTASY WORLD

- As well as the Snowth-gargoyles, the locked doors on the tower are decorated with the Statler/Marley doorknocker from "A Christmas Carol".

- The narrator's script is terrible. Well, clearly they were *aiming* for intentionally terrible, but it's just tedious.

- the boss battle against Uncle Deadly plays like the ones against Ganondorf in Legend of Zelda. Which would make Piggy Zelda (except she actually gets to be in the fight). And I guess Kermit's the right colour for Link.


WILD WEST

- Haha, spaghetti western. With tomato-sauce bandits and flinging meatballs. Very funny.


VAMPIRE HUNTER

- Guess who's playing the mad scientist.

- The level is a lot less linear than the other ones. I actually had to draw a map because I was having trouble working out where I still needed to look for the switches to open the next area.

- There were some vulture-like gargoyles, and I can't remember any vultures in The Muppet Show, so I have decided they are Skeksis. (They're not, but I like the idea.)


KOOZEBANE

- Kermit gets his double-jump ability immediately. Yay!

- As I mentioned before, Pepe is the villain. He's also a giant for some reason. (I think it could have been cool if they'd added a fake 'bluescreen' effect around him for that.)

- Every time you fail the boss battle, you have to watch the scene before it (ie. skim through lines of dialogue) again. It's unskippable. I failed so many times at it.


OVERALL

I just don't feel like it was very 'Muppety'. The characters are... not out-of-character, but just don't really do anything *in* character either. They're playing parts in a movie, there's not really any dialogue, and it makes it feel like they're just there for decoration.

I think they missed opportunities to work more characters into it. Maybe they didn't want to have to build too many 3D models, but the story introductions are all 2D artworks and they could have included more characters there. For example, Kermit's pirate crew are all Whatnots - they could have just as easily drawn actual characters, or even make a Treasure Island reference or something. It's a movie starring the Muppets, so why aren't more of them involved?

I can't recommend spending $30 on this. Just watch the trailer again.

 

[Drtooth]

I mean, some of the PC games were good. Chaos at the Carnival was.....something. I've played the DOS version and watched gameplay of the NES version. The graphics are ok for the time, but the gameplay is just extremely poor, even for the NES. Some of the best Muppet games are on PC. Muppet Party Cruise is pretty fun though.

Chaos at the Carnival is one of those games that you need to play on an emulator with save states. Not because of the difficulty, but because of the poor as poor can be controls, the tedium of the games, and the overall awkwardness. The last level isn't unplayable, but it's very close to it because of just...bad controls and awkwardly designed sprites, not to mention a crappily non-violent boss battle that puts you at close range. Just overall a bad game, and even the best of it (the Gonzo level) is just so hard to control. There are better space shooters and always have been.

And you're only reward for plodding through the game is a terrible 8-Bit Piggy picture with an in character so not unforgivable on that level message from her stating "Thank you for saving me! Took you long enough!" (or something to that extent). Overall, just.. bleh.

I just don't feel like it was very 'Muppety'. The characters are... not out-of-character, but just don't really do anything *in* character either. They're playing parts in a movie, there's not really any dialogue, and it makes it feel like they're just there for decoration.

I think they missed opportunities to work more characters into it. Maybe they didn't want to have to build too many 3D models, but the story introductions are all 2D artworks and they could have included more characters there. For example, Kermit's pirate crew are all Whatnots - they could have just as easily drawn actual characters, or even make a Treasure Island reference or something. It's a movie starring the Muppets, so why aren't more of them involved?

I can't recommend spending $30 on this. Just watch the trailer again.

Didn't expect it to be noteworthy at all. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason this wasn't exported was due to how lousy it was. I can see them being cheap as crap enough to not pay any of the Muppeteers or even bad vocal impersonations of them to give them any dialogue. At least we had that with Party Cruise, Racemania, and that Monster Mania one.