Jim Henson's Muppets 

Reviewed by: Mike Kaliski  (g0uli@yahoo.com)

There can be few households with children who have not got a hand held Nintendo Game Boy console. These pocket size game machines are ideal for keeping the kids amused for hours when travelling. The most recent version, the Game Boy Color, has given a new lease of life to many old games with a clearer colour screen and up to 24 hours use from a couple of AA size alkaline batteries. Over the last few months, quite a few new games have been released which are not compatible with the older monochrome Game Boy machines. Jim Henson's Muppets is one of the new generation games.

The game is supplied in a slightly larger than usual casing with a bulge at the top to incorporate a back up battery. This means that the game will not fit in a standard protective hard case and other measures will be needed to protect it when not in use. With most older Game Boy games, the score and game position are lost when the machine is turned off. The only way to resume a level is to either play the game again from scratch or to enter a password which is revealed after completing each level. This can be very frustrating, particularly for younger children.

Inserting the game cartridge and powering up the machine reveals an option screen with a choice of seven different languages. Then follow the obligatory copyright and title screens. If no keys are pressed a rolling demonstration runs which gives some idea of the game and problems that need to be solved. My initial thoughts on watching the demonstration were that it was just another platform game using the Muppet name to ensure sales. The game turned out to be much better than average.

characters have been separated from the rest and playing as Animal or Kermit the Frog, you must reunite all the characters who have been scattered across six playing areas.

At the start of the game you may select one of the six playing areas and then from a choice of three further scenarios. After completing a set of three scenarios in any game area, a fourth hidden level is revealed which must be completed to rescue the character in that area.

The battery back up feature stores the current position of a game, allows games to be saved, and maintains a high score table. This is an excellent feature. The fact that any of the eighteen initial game options may be played, in any order, means that if you are stuck on one level, you can play another, unlike earlier linear platform games where all puzzles had to be solved in order.

At the start of each level, two old gentlemen in the Muppet Theatre balcony give a clue about the object to find. After completing the level or loosing all your lives, the same two old gentlemen remark on your performance, or lack of it!

The game relies on familiarity with the Muppet characters for a lot its appeal, but the game play and multiple options available are sufficient to make this game very attractive. The characters are well rendered within the limitations of the screen and even some of the voices have been incorporated. The only flaw I could find was that small falls can result in the loss of a character's life and it is possible to move onto a new screen and find your character falling off a cliff or similar. Familiarity with the layout of the levels will probably overcome that problem. The playing areas seem suitably huge to provide many happy hours of gaming. There is an option to disable music and sound effects, heaven for parents.

Next to the ultimate test, I handed the game to my kids and let them play.

Keira - aged 9 - It's good, but a bit hard for me to start with. She then managed to complete two levels in three hours of play. (At that rate, there's still at least 36 hours of game play left.) Peter - aged 10 and three quarters - It's cool. I like the bit where you can save the game when mum calls.

So the verdict is a hit. A good implementation of the platform game genre with some humorous twists and based on the Muppets. It should keep kids and adults amused for some time.

Those of you who have no intention of owning a Game Boy can still experience all the fun and thrills of these spectacularly popular machines. A search on the Internet revealed several emulator programs that will run on a PC. Some of the emulator programs incorporate all the sound and colour features of the latest Game Boy machines. Cartridge images are also available to download and run through the emulators. Nintendo probably do not approve, but it is one way of finding out about the attractions of these mini game consoles.

 METCOM Rating: 90%