12th November 2011 - This is the review lalala (sorry got distracted by the music! Lol) of Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster. The game your Kinect loving younger brother/sister or child has been waiting for, so toss out the Wii cause they won’t be playing with that again. Double Fine didn’t go out to create the new big FPS here; they designed this game with the sole purpose of entertaining the kids and teaching them something along the way.
Double Fine really did put in a double effort here and I would have to say “Mission Successful”. Joined by Elmo and the Cookie monster with some appearances from Sesame Street favourites such as Oscar the Grouch and Grover, your child doesn’t just read the book or watch the show -your child jumps in the book and becomes the show. Entertaining and interactive from start to finish Sesame Street Once upon a Monster doesn’t let you down and neither do Double Fine.
GAMEPLAY
Controller free gaming has never worked better or felt better, from simple actions to jumping on the spot or searching through clothes to dress up a monster. The movements in Once upon a Monster are pretty spot on and generally very accurate to what you are doing. The child in me danced away with Elmo and played garbage basketball with Oscar, Each mini game brought a new action to the game that had every inch of my body feeling like I’d just done a workout.
GRAPHICS
The developers didn’t really need to push any boundaries here. The show is based on puppets and lucky for Double Fine, puppets can generally carry across to animations fairly well. The colours are bright and draw the attention of the player (4yr olds not 24yr olds! lol) and I have not yet noticed any glitches in the animations. It’s a top effort and one that shows promise for future Kinect titles.
SOUND
The sounds are as you would expect from a normal Sesame Street episode, Cute and bubbly just like kids love. There really is nothing out of the ordinary here but again there doesn’t need to be.
VALUE
If you have a young child then you can’t match the value of this game, it’s a whole bunch of mini games and activities thrown into story books that will keep your child hooked for hours and navigating the Kinect menu better than most adults in no time.
CONCLUSION
Nothing about this game is going to have you telling your friends about it, but this game isn’t meant for you. This game is meant for your 4yr old Son/Daughter or Niece/Nephew and they will love it. Count the amount of times you’re asked for this game to be put in the disk tray and it will eclipse any other game you own.
I asked my 4yr old son what score he would give the game out of 10 and he told me “lots and lots” however we don’t have a “lots and lots” in our scoring system here at AAG so I’ll be slapping this game with a very respectable 8/10.
Score: 8/10
Pros:
+ It can keep the kids entertained for hours
+ The animations and sounds make it look/feel like you’re watching an episode
+ Movements are almost flawless with very little mistakes
+ The Step in/step out feature works well and having One player walk away won’t stop your game.
Cons:
- Not much value for adults
- Short game easily finished by any adult in 3hours
- Simple gameplay that won’t appeal to older gamers
Reviewed and Written By Will Muscat