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Kids will be enchanted by this challenging
adventure starring E.T. if they don't get too frustrated by some of the
activities, but the enchantment may be short-lived, as there isn't much replay
value to attract players again.
Elliot, along with his brother and sister, is
trying to help E.T. collect items to make his long distance calling plan a
reality. If you remember, E.T. has been stranded on earth, and needs to find a
way to contact his ship to let them know his status and hopefully come back and
retrieve him. Fortunately, everyday objects will work just fine to build a
machine that will send signals into space, so E.T. won't need to go further than
the backyard of Elliot's house to complete his collection.
Players will play as E.T. and move him around the locations. E.T.'s hand is
the cursor, and will change into a grasping hand when something needs to be
collected. Movement is somewhat awkward, as there is no way to tell if E.T. can
move into another location, as the cursor looks the same for general movement as
it does for movement into another scene. Clicking madly around the edges of the
screens is the only way to find a way out of the rooms. Items collected will be
placed in Elliot's backpack for use later.
The characters all appear to be 3D, although as the system requirements don't
specify a 3D graphics card, I'm not sure if they really are in the correct usage
of the term. However, semantics aside, they LOOK 3D. The scenes are drawn
beautifully, and the characters, although not looking exactly like the movie,
also are well done (for some reason, it's just harder to get realistic animation
of people). E.T. looks exactly like himself, and waddles around just like in the
movie. The music is a nice change from most children's games, and is pleasant.
Although the items to be collected are just laying around in open view for
the most part, actually accessing them is the tricky part. Elliot's mom has been
in a cleaning mood and many of the toys are locked away. Elliot's little sister
won't hand over her toys unless E.T. plays with her, and the dog has to be
bribed to relinquish control of an umbrella. Access is gained by playing various
activities mostly in the realm of critical thinking puzzles, with a smattering
of arcade games. These games range in difficulty from fairly easy to pretty
hard. There are twelve activities in all and most are very engaging. The
critical thinking ones are the best and require no hand-eye coordination, just
lots of brain activity. However, the arcade games are another story, especially
for the arcade-challenged among us. I and my daughter are card carrying members
of this club, unfortunately, although she is a little better than I at these
sorts of games. But there is no time limit, thankfully, so players can take as
long as needed. Our favorite activities were the sorting containers one in the
cupboards, similar to a "Towers of Hanoi" type game, the moving of boxes around
a room to their correct places without getting the boxes backed into a corner in
the attic, and the driving ambulance arcade game at the end, similar to PacMan.
Our least favorite game was the typing game, which simply is impossible unless
you know how to type. Most kids are just going to have to get their parents to
do that one for them to advance in the game.
Most of these games are a lot of fun, but for some strange reason, you can't
play them again after completion! Once the item is collected, the activity
becomes inaccessible. To play the activities again, kids will have to play
through the entire adventure again. This is lazy programming.
Toward the end of the adventure, animated movies of Elliot and E.T. are shown
between activities, which really add to the atmosphere of the game and helps to
build excitement. The sense of drama increases as the game progresses, and kids
will be anxious to complete the adventure.
Lexis Numérique, the developer of this program, has done a superb job of
translating the charm of E.T. the movie into a computer game. The story and
games are intriguing, and whether your kids have seen E.T. or not, they will
want to play and finish the adventure. There are a few problems, though, mostly
having to with replay value and the difficulty of some of the activities.
Although most kids will want to play through the adventure one or two more
times, having the activities accessible and randomized would definitely add to
the enjoyment and longevity of the game. Many of these activities are lots of
fun, and kids will be disappointed they won't be able to play them as often as
they want. The difficulty level could be a problem, as well, as the suggested
age range is 8-up. My daughter is twelve, and found some of these games fairly
difficult, and frankly, the typing game is impossible to finish. It requires
kids to type words like "revolution" while Gertie counts to 5, and a
"hunt-n-peck" approach just isn't going to do it. The remaining games are a good
mix of critical thinking exercises and arcade excitement, though, and will
please most kids. My daughter is counting down the time right now until her
school work is done and she can finish the game.
Install: Easy
Installation was easy and simple.
Gameplay: 7.8
The game is not too hard to play, which is a good thing as the copy I
received didn't have a manual, and the readme file was technical notes. Elliot
does offer instructions for the activities during the game, though. Maneuvering
around can be a bit of a trial and error approach - the interface could use some
improvement. The auto-run feature is a tad annoying, too, as it starts the game
up, instead of asking whether you want to play.
Graphics: 9
Beautifully rendered characters and scenes.
Sound: 8.5
Nice, attractive music, unlike many kids games.
Difficulty: 7.5
The game is of a medium range of difficulty, probably better for kids ages
10-up, rather than 8-up as suggested. As stated above, the typing game is much
too hard for most kids, unless they've taken typing.
Concept: 7.5
Making games based on popular movies is certainly nothing new, but this is a
well-done effort that stands out from most of the crowd in terms of appeal.
Overall: 7.6
While this is an attractive vehicle for E.T., and a fun game in its own
right with its mix of thinking games and arcade fun, the fact that the
activities aren't available separately from the adventure hurts the game as a
whole. Still, the price is reasonable compared to many other kids' games out
there, and will please most kids ages ten and higher. Parents, remember to help
out with that typing activity!
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