Muppet Monster Adventure

Muppet Monster Adventure is an adventure game in the vein of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon. In this, the Muppets are attending the reading of a will from the uncle of Professor Honeydew, but when they get there, Robin freaks out and faints after seeing a monster. He wakes up in a lab where he, the professor, Beaker, and Pepe Le King Prawn have escaped to, as the others were captured and turned into monsters. Now, armed with a glove to fight back and a backpack needed to store evil energy, Robin must go out and save his Uncle Kermit and the other Muppets.

So basically, this plays like almost any collect-a-thon game. In it, you control Robin, Kermit's nephew. He has a spin attack, and can emit a sonic blast from the glove. However, one of the core elements of the game is the ability to transform into the various monsters to use their powers to explore areas (like Wocka Wocka Werebear can climb certain walls, Ker-Monster can push blocks, etc). The two attacks are important as there are enemies and containers that can only be defeated with one of them (shielded enemies and chests can only be defeated with a spin attack, while larger enemies and knight helmets must be destroyed with a glove blast).

To unlock new levels, you have to collect Evil Energy (which are stars that function like the gems in the Spyro games, as each color they come in award a different amount), and to unlock the boss battles, you need to collect Muppet Tokens, which are gotten by various things (Collecting the BONUS letters in each level, finding them in stage, or completing one of Pepe's various challenges). Pepe's challenges are varied (like racing an enemy, destroying certain objects, or other objectives). However, playing this game, I felt the challenges are too easy, with the only hard ones being the one where you have to flip and push blocks to a certain slot with a certain picture (mainly because of how iffy the controls are, as the button inputs are delayed). Another collectible are Muppet Coins, but those are optional and collecting those only unlock stuff in the gallery (which has some good stuff, like pictures from various Muppet movies with audio, FMVs that serve as tips for getting to hard-to-reach areas in a level, and even fan art, which is cool because the developer managed to slip in some art of the Sesame Street muppets as monsters, including a zombified Elmo).

As for the levels, there are six worlds in the game, each having three normal levels and a boss fight. Each level is based on a different horror location (the first level is set outside the manor the Muppets are visiting, while another is set in an Egyptian-like tomb area). The bosses are the Muppets transformed into parodies of the classic monsters made famous by Universal Pictures (Ker-Monster is a parody of Frankenstein, Gonzo become Noseferatu, a parody of Dracula, and Clifford becomes Muck Monster, a parody of the creature from the black lagoon). These battles each have their own rules, as Pepe explains how to beat them, making each one fresh and challenging. This game is okay, but lacks the challenge of adventure games before it.

This is a very cute game for the Playstation - very engaging, interesting levels, and not overly-difficult or easy. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys adventure games that don't involve running around shooting things.

When you start the game, you are enchanted. The music is exquisite, the graphics are SO colorful and appealing to the eye, and you feel like you just wanna play around. But then, the more levels you play, you start to notice a pattern. After the first boss, you realize yourself getting rather bored. Although, the music is still fun to listen to. But the gameplay makes you bored, and you almost become a enemy with the control. The levels are challenging, but in a annoying way. The bosses are too simple to beat, and not so fun either. But since you can transform into several beings, it should make it more fun, right? As I said; maybe until after the first boss. And also, you can ONLY transform into one of the form in certain situations. This will make you feel somewhat limited. It's a mediocre platformer - nothing else. Gameplay: 4. Control: 5. Music: 10. Story: 7. Graphics: 9. Overall: 6.