kknd_cf
La vieille dame et les pigeons
Introduction
The other day i was getting caught up in nostalgia as usual and I remembered how good the Moomins was so I though I'd see if there are any games of it. I came across Moomin's Tale which is a brilliant game. So I put it on my gp32 and now I though I'd right a pleasant review of it.
The games loosely based on Moomin's Adventure which is also on the game boy colour but is Japanese and rather than being a platformer it's a 3rd person adventure game. But some sprites and backgrounds are used in Moomin's Tale.
Basically Moomin's Tale is a westernized version of Moomin's Adventure.
Anyway.......
Story
Well there isn't really much of a story, you're just given various tasks to do, for example you have to find Moomin Mama's hancherchief. Also you have to get the hand organ back for the party etc.
The cut scenes in my opinion keep you in the game as you're rewarded with them quite a lot, they're really pretty and nice
But I know what you're thinking, this is a stupid kids game. but suprisingly some levels are quite challenging, especially nearer to the end.
Gameplay
The levels are so different, working on different dimensions and different styles. A lot of the levels at the beginning end by you collecting a certain amount of question mark bubbles but then they don't, this may annoy some people but I lived with it. You collect fruit ion these bubbles which you eat to gain health. The kill system is the basic jump on their noggin routine. One thing that is crazy is the bosses, it's not that they're hard it's just that they only make the opportunity for you to hit them very rarely, so you have to go through their pattern constantly...
But it's not really annoying.
Also throughout the game there's various mini games which keep you in the game.
Graphics
Well on the Game boy colour you may have noticed that it seems to have a rather dull palette for some reason. But Moomin's Tale is ok with this for some reason. It gives you some of the best backgrounds ever! Because there's some transition levels with just beautiful views to be honest, it's lovely.
The main sprite; Moomin is lovely, he's animated superbly and me and a lot of my friends were quite amazed at some of the rotation animations which look nice. But sadly the rest of the sprites are quite poor to be honest.
Sound
When it's cutsey it's cutsey when it's evil it's evil. This is pretty much how the music is on the different levels. It's nothing special but it's alright. The general sound is not amazing apart from one boss which is a giant eagle where the sound of it's wings flapping against the air sounds brilliant!
Final Verdict
This is a great fun game, you'll complete in a day or two (on usual short gp32 hour-long blasts or so). It's worth giving it your time and be patient as the game does have quite a progressive theme. There's a few flaws and it may bore the pants of some people. Also if you never watched the Moomins it could defeat the whole object of it's enjoyability but anyway find out!
How to play it
You want to play this precious game on your gp32 eh? Well you need to download fGB32 by rlyeh. You then need to download the rom but of course I can't tell you that as it's not allowed on these forums.
How it runs
It runs at a good speed all the way and the sound's in sync. The only thing I ever came across was bits of two sprites disappearing on the dragon boss (near the end).
Anyway have fun with this great game! hope you enjoyed my review!
