Mort the Chicken - Defeated
My son beat his first video game yesterday. The game being Mort the Chicken. I was very excited for him, he on the other hand wanted to know why there were not more levels.
In all truth, it is a pretty stinky game and one of the shortest I have ever seen. The game controls are awkward and the overall play experience not satisfying. Considering it is a game for kids, you figure it would do both of those better.
But this does allow us the magnificant “end of game”. You wait to beat a game to see what coolness is at the end. Guess what? This is the second lamest game end - ever. The title for worst ending falls squarly on Super Mario Brothers 2. After a challenge and a Luigi only finish - you get Mario sleeping and the credits.
Jason
November 22nd, 2005As a fellow gamer, please pass along my congratulations to young master Lyric.
From your description, Mort seems more like a lame duck. I agree that a game targeted for children should at least have smooth controls. You normally sacrifice things like unique gameplay for mind-numbing repetition, but that’s sort of expected.
I try to block Super Mario 2 out. That game was just a lot of weird. It feels like the crappy game design ideas that they had sitting around thrown into one place.
I know that I let you know my intention to get Lyric Kingdom Hearts for Christmas. I realize that it’s not totally “kid specific”, but I’m sure that he can enjoy it. I’m all for letting kids challenge themselves, and not limiting them to just what the suggested ages on a box tell you too. For things like “A Clockwork Orange”, yes, but for a game, I say let them have at it. The look of Kingdom Hearts is like a cartoon, and the controls are not an issue at all. There are a few spots where the camera angle gets a little wonky, but not enough to make it a noticeable issue. I hope that he will have fun with it. It’s something that can be enjoyed on the surface, and then there are TONS of side quests and mini-games and things throughout. The depth and beauty of the game still impress me. There’s a sequel coming out next year, and it would take a miracle to top the original. I’m still psyched to give it a whirl though.
Here’s to good games, and less sleeping Mario…
David http://
November 22nd, 2005I am psyched about Kingdom of Hearts as well!
I have looked at it for a while and glad it will be making a holiday appearence.
One of the problems that Lyric had (and I) with above mentioned Mort is the mind-numbing repetition. As soon as he figured out where the baby-chicks that you (Mort - our hero ) were suppossed to rescue, we would wrap up the level quickly. The game controls were awkword at best with the camera control being very weird.
One other problem was the 3-d scaling, items would break apart and disappear when you moved the camera around. Now, I am not talking through them (something has to happen when you move a camera through something) but just at random moments of movement. Of course, it is a PS1 game.