| Gamebar |
Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso |
| Vitals |
|
Developer: Juniper Games Publisher: Juniper Games Genre: Adventure > General Released: Sep 04, 2006 Players: 1 |
| Related Articles |
Website
Point-and-click adventure games aren"t seen as often in this generation of gaming. Ten years ago the adventure genre was a popular genre for PC gaming. Now, it"s all about multiplayer and action. 720 Games, however, has a unique little game that brings back some of the classic elements of the beloved adventure games. Yet Mr. Smoozles is furnished with some invigorating arcade gameplay effects that keeps the interaction levels high.
The actual story is about an invasive alien race called the Goragons. They"re bent on controlling Earth, ruining reality as we know it, and capturing everything that could pose a threat to their despotic rule. During this process Mr. Smoozles is turned into a crazy nut-job by the Goragons Mind-ray. He was already an edgy character (something that"s further illustrated through comic strips scattered around each scenario). Reluctantly, and questionably, the gray cat named Ed must avoid and save Mr. Smoozles, as well as rescue his friends. ...Oh yeah, Ed also has to stop reality from being over-turned into a disastrous dimension and prevent the aliens from ruling Earth. Big job for a small cat, eh?
Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is a game that is adequately self-absorbent enough to be funny. The characters are colorful and the plot is witty; the game doesn"t take itself too seriously, and this allows for players to care and become more immersed. Each character is also riddled with an unmistakable personality that does shine through during the visual comic-strips and scenes of interaction.
Actual gameplay in Mr. Smoozles consists of controlling Ed and running around (mostly away from Mr. Smoozles and some other hazards) and collecting various artifacts to either activate certain items, disable certain items, or save certain characters. The good part about this game is that players will mostly have to scavenge specific items before gaining access to another item, etc. For instance, in order for Ed to activate a device to help save his friends, he first needed to collect a keycard followed by a specific amount of shards, after unlocking the area to access the device. The game carries on in this way, affording players a lot of back and forth level searching, dodging, puzzle solving and strategic maneuvering. So it"s almost like taking a lot of the tense action from a 2D side-scroller – but without all the jumping platform puzzles – and combining it with all the character development and story from an adventure game.
While the game started off kind of slow, it quickly began to pick up given the layered story elements and the comical cast of characters. The gameplay maybe rather generic, but it at least grants itself as a title that anyone can play with ease and simplicity. And the presentation of Mr. Smoozles, while somewhat dated in comparison to some newer indie games, at least comes across in a very professional manner. Character designs are brought to life with a very bright and attractive color scheme, which should at least grab the attention of most casual gamers. Although, if I did have a grip with the game it would be with the initial loading time and sometimes ill-responsive controls. With the controls...the character would sometimes stop or keep running while I was pressing another directional button. It"s not a painful malady and it doesn"t happen often, but slower computers may run into this problem quite often. As for the initial loading time, it takes the game a while to boot up and will eat up quite a bit of the system"s resources. However, as long as nothing else is open the game should run fine.
Overall, though, Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is the kind of game that should satisfy the waking hours of any gamer who enjoys the strategy and scavenging from classic point-and-click titles, but wants something with a bit more interactivity and driven action. The witty dialogue and near-random chasing from Mr. Smoozle just might be what gamers are looking for in an alternative adventure title.
Graphics:
The entire game has a bit of a comic-book theme to it. I don"t mean the Batman or Spawn comic-book theme, either. This game has more of a casual comic-book look to it; every character is smoothly animated with an eye-catching color scheme, which is accented with beautifully drawn backgrounds. Even auxiliary visuals are done nicely; from the well depicted comic-strips scattered throughout the game, to the reality-bending shticks. Basically, the visuals in Mr. Smoozles is a definite plus.
Sound:
Music isn"t always a necessary factor when a game has a lot of other elements making up for it. But in this case, the music at times is a little less sapid than it could have been. Everything else comes together well in the game, regarding the sound effects.
Gameplay:
Controlling Ed, in general, is rather easy: directional buttons are to move, and “Enter” and “Ctrl” are to activate or interact with the environment and characters. The only downside, as I mentioned earlier, is that on any computer that isn"t entirely up to par with the recommended requirements (or just barely passing them) might encounter a little stiffness when controlling Ed. Other than that, the game ran smoothly and offered players a lot of simple but highly interactive objectives.
Concept:
Based on the on-line comic and bringing gamers arcade-style gameplay certainly wasn"t a wrong move on 720 Games part. Combining the characters and storylines usually found in an adventure game, while allowing players to freely runaround like an arcade game, resulted in a generally entertaining title.
Value:
Constant objectives and goals kept the game moving at an even pace. So whether players are trying to access an area or uncover more of the game"s plot, the developers made sure each aspect of the game showed plenty of variety and interactivity. Players may actually find themselves liking this game more and more as they play.
Recommendation:
There"s no harm in trying out a game that will probably appeal to a lot of other reviewers in the industry. Fans of the on-line comic probably won"t be disappointed, and action adventure fans should at least check this game out. Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso doesn"t necessarily break any boundaries, but it is as fun as it is charming.
The actual story is about an invasive alien race called the Goragons. They"re bent on controlling Earth, ruining reality as we know it, and capturing everything that could pose a threat to their despotic rule. During this process Mr. Smoozles is turned into a crazy nut-job by the Goragons Mind-ray. He was already an edgy character (something that"s further illustrated through comic strips scattered around each scenario). Reluctantly, and questionably, the gray cat named Ed must avoid and save Mr. Smoozles, as well as rescue his friends. ...Oh yeah, Ed also has to stop reality from being over-turned into a disastrous dimension and prevent the aliens from ruling Earth. Big job for a small cat, eh?
Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is a game that is adequately self-absorbent enough to be funny. The characters are colorful and the plot is witty; the game doesn"t take itself too seriously, and this allows for players to care and become more immersed. Each character is also riddled with an unmistakable personality that does shine through during the visual comic-strips and scenes of interaction.
Actual gameplay in Mr. Smoozles consists of controlling Ed and running around (mostly away from Mr. Smoozles and some other hazards) and collecting various artifacts to either activate certain items, disable certain items, or save certain characters. The good part about this game is that players will mostly have to scavenge specific items before gaining access to another item, etc. For instance, in order for Ed to activate a device to help save his friends, he first needed to collect a keycard followed by a specific amount of shards, after unlocking the area to access the device. The game carries on in this way, affording players a lot of back and forth level searching, dodging, puzzle solving and strategic maneuvering. So it"s almost like taking a lot of the tense action from a 2D side-scroller – but without all the jumping platform puzzles – and combining it with all the character development and story from an adventure game.
While the game started off kind of slow, it quickly began to pick up given the layered story elements and the comical cast of characters. The gameplay maybe rather generic, but it at least grants itself as a title that anyone can play with ease and simplicity. And the presentation of Mr. Smoozles, while somewhat dated in comparison to some newer indie games, at least comes across in a very professional manner. Character designs are brought to life with a very bright and attractive color scheme, which should at least grab the attention of most casual gamers. Although, if I did have a grip with the game it would be with the initial loading time and sometimes ill-responsive controls. With the controls...the character would sometimes stop or keep running while I was pressing another directional button. It"s not a painful malady and it doesn"t happen often, but slower computers may run into this problem quite often. As for the initial loading time, it takes the game a while to boot up and will eat up quite a bit of the system"s resources. However, as long as nothing else is open the game should run fine.
Overall, though, Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is the kind of game that should satisfy the waking hours of any gamer who enjoys the strategy and scavenging from classic point-and-click titles, but wants something with a bit more interactivity and driven action. The witty dialogue and near-random chasing from Mr. Smoozle just might be what gamers are looking for in an alternative adventure title.
Graphics:
The entire game has a bit of a comic-book theme to it. I don"t mean the Batman or Spawn comic-book theme, either. This game has more of a casual comic-book look to it; every character is smoothly animated with an eye-catching color scheme, which is accented with beautifully drawn backgrounds. Even auxiliary visuals are done nicely; from the well depicted comic-strips scattered throughout the game, to the reality-bending shticks. Basically, the visuals in Mr. Smoozles is a definite plus.
Sound:
Music isn"t always a necessary factor when a game has a lot of other elements making up for it. But in this case, the music at times is a little less sapid than it could have been. Everything else comes together well in the game, regarding the sound effects.
Gameplay:
Controlling Ed, in general, is rather easy: directional buttons are to move, and “Enter” and “Ctrl” are to activate or interact with the environment and characters. The only downside, as I mentioned earlier, is that on any computer that isn"t entirely up to par with the recommended requirements (or just barely passing them) might encounter a little stiffness when controlling Ed. Other than that, the game ran smoothly and offered players a lot of simple but highly interactive objectives.
Concept:
Based on the on-line comic and bringing gamers arcade-style gameplay certainly wasn"t a wrong move on 720 Games part. Combining the characters and storylines usually found in an adventure game, while allowing players to freely runaround like an arcade game, resulted in a generally entertaining title.
Value:
Constant objectives and goals kept the game moving at an even pace. So whether players are trying to access an area or uncover more of the game"s plot, the developers made sure each aspect of the game showed plenty of variety and interactivity. Players may actually find themselves liking this game more and more as they play.
Recommendation:
There"s no harm in trying out a game that will probably appeal to a lot of other reviewers in the industry. Fans of the on-line comic probably won"t be disappointed, and action adventure fans should at least check this game out. Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso doesn"t necessarily break any boundaries, but it is as fun as it is charming.
By: William Usher
Posted: Friday February 09, 2007
Posted: Friday February 09, 2007
Action
Adventure
Arkanoid
Fighting
Platform
Puzzle & Casual
Hidden Object
RPG
Shooter
Simulation
Sports
Strategy
Download Games
