Worth Its Weight In Gold
A Review of Muppet Treasure Island
John Butterfield
Jim Henson's creations have taken on a life of their own. His unique geniusbred the furry creatures known as Muppets, but they now have such well-establishedcharacteristics, quirks and foibles that they function more as familiar character actorsthan fur-and-plastic constructions. Their personalities dominate whatever format theypopulate, be it television, numerous movies, or now, CD-ROM. Muppet TreasureIsland is a triumph, the best non-educational CD-ROM I've yet encountered.
This is interactive entertainment at its finest, a worthy successor to the Muppet's previousconquests of televison and film. Not that Robert Louis Stevenson would approve. Theseare the Muppets, after all, which means their version of Treasure Island comeswith the gruesome puns, irreverent attitude and gleeful anachronisms that the Muppetsdisplayed in their earlier work on television and film. Yes, Muppet TreasureIsland is tied closely to the recent film of the same name. But unlike some recentattempts to use CD-ROM's to cash in on a kid-movie success (take Disney's interactivestorybooks -- please), Muppet Treasure Island more than holds its own as adistinct, vital work on CD-ROM. In the game, the player is Hawkins, joining in as theMuppets, portraying good guys and pirates, and two human actors -- Billy Connelly asBilly Bones, and Tim Curry as chief bad guy Long John Silver -- enact the familiar tale ofgreed, hidden treasure and unlikely friendship. In a sort of grade-school version ofstandard-issue seek-and-collect computer games, you (Hawkins) must collect a map,skeleton key, stones, and the like in order to find your way to Treasure Island and, youhope, the treasure. Along the way you'll travel from the Benbow Inn to the seaport ofBristol, aboard the good ship Hispaniola, and onto the mysterious island. Familiar Muppetcharacters portray the same characters they did in the film, most notably: Kermit asCaptain Smollett, Fozzie Bear as Squire Trelawney, Miss Piggy as Benjamina Gunn(sorry Mr. Stevenson), and Rizzo the Rat and Gonzo the Whateveritis as a kind of Abbottand Costello for the gradeschool set.
In addition to finding and collecting the necessaryitems, the player must complete a variety of simple yet amusing games and puzzles:pitching pies at pirates in Pop's seaside store; playing back a tune on a wild-and-woolykeyboard; building a model ship in the captain's cabin; matching shells in Benjaminaboudoir, and so on Play your cards (or shells right), collect all the required objects, bonkenough pirates with coconuts, and you'll find yourself returning to Jolly Old Englandwith a hullfull of gold and the thanks of a grateful nation. And that's about it -- nodifferent in format, tasks, or outcome than a gazillion other kid-oriented computer games.
So what makes Muppet Treasure Island the Citizen Kane of kids'CD-ROMs? The details. This CD-ROM has the clearest, smoothest video I've yetencountered on disk. The Muppets and the two humans merge seamlessly into paintedcartoon backdrops with nary a hitch, twitch or dropped frame. The producers parcel thepixels out over three disks, giving them plenty of elbow room to fit it all it in. Itshows.
The script is silly and sophisticated at the same time -- another trait successfullycarried over from earlier TV and film Muppet incarnations. Muppet TreasureIsland is carefully, even gracefully written, full of asides, horrible puns (which, ofcourse, is just what puns should be), jokes the zoom right over kids' head to entertainkibitzing adults, and a variety of hot spots that animate dishes, sails, dancing natives, and,in a memorable cameo, the Muppets' Swedish chef. Click on everything and anything;you'll be well rewarded. Careful thought was given keeping situations easy enough to notfrustrate kids, yet challenging enough to keep them interested. For instance, the locationof some findable items shifts on repeated playings, so that kids can come back to thegame again and again without being able to switch their brains onto automatic pilot andgoing through the motions -- a welcome addition, and one that's too often missing fromkids' games.
Another example of the creators' knowledge of their audience: While oneeach of the required four stones is located on each of the game's main locations, kidsmight move on to the next scene without locating the stone in the present locale. Noworry; if that happens, the remaining stones can all be found on the island if they'remissed in earlier scenes. Is it perfect? Nothing is. My 8-year-old enjoyed several hours ofplay and worked through to the happy ending, but pronounced the game "not interactiveenough" for his age range.
Parents might be better off aiming Muppet TreasureIsland at the 4-to-6-year-old set. Be prepared to join your youngster at the controls atthe start. Muppet Treasure Island boasts a hefty array of mouse-driven controlsand commands: saves, picking up of items, clickable actions, and the like. They might beconfusing for little ones just starting in unless a parent is on hand. When a game is asentertaining as this one, parents won't mind sitting in. And a new Muppet character --Stevenson the parrot, a wisecracking parrot with a Brooklyn accent and an attitude tomatch -- can grate on the nerves in short order. He serves as a helping voice from above,found in each scene. Click on him and he provides clues, hints, and access to itemspicked up along the way. Mostly though, he proves charmless -- a necessary evil. Theseare mere quibbles, however.
From start to finish, Muppet Treasure Island sports apolish, sophistication, technical wizardry and attention to detail that effectively raises thestandard for video-based children's CD-ROM entertainment. Myst showed that aCD-ROM game didn't have to feature mayhem and detached body parts in order tocaptivate. In its own wonderfully creative, silly way, Muppet Treasure Islandshows that a children's CD-ROM doesn't have to be childish in order to appeal tochildren. Play it with your kids; just remember not to monopolize the mouse. Jim Hensonwould have wanted it that way.
School House Scorecard
| Product: |
Muppet Treasure Island |
| Company: |
Activision
|
| Cost: |
$39.95 |
System Requirements:
IBM:
486 DX2/66 Mhz processor with 8 MB RAM,
Double Speed CD-ROM drive (300K/second sustained transfer rate),
35 MB of uncompressed hard disk space,
15 MB for virtual memory recommnended,
VESA local bus (VLB) or PCI video, 256-color SVGA (640 x 480),
100 % Microsoft compatible mouse,
100 % Sound Blaster compatible sound card,
WinG, Video for Windows and Indeo video interactive R4.1 (included),
Microsoft MS-DOS 6.2x operating system, plus Microsoft Windows 3.1x.
MACINTOSH:
68LC040-66/33 Mhz or any PowerPC processor, 8 MB built-in RAM,
(5.8 MB free) for 68LC040; 8 MB built-in (5.8 MB free),
8 MB virtual memory -- 16 MB built-in RAM recommended for Power PC,
Double Speed CD-ROM drive (300K/second sustained transfer rate),
35 MB of uncompressed hard disk space
(plus an additional 16 MB if virtual memory is used),
256-color (640 x 480), 13-inch color monitor, system 7.5.1, QuickTime 2.1,
Sound Manager 3.1, Indeo Video 3.2, QuickTime Musical Instruments 2.1,
and (PowerPC only) QuickTime PowertPlug 2.1 (included).
Breakdown:
Ease of Use 4
Learning Value 4
Entertainment Value 5
Graphics 5
Sound 5
Overall Score:
Copyright © 1997 InfoMedia, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.