I'll come clean. I'm not an Elmo fan. Elmo operates at that bone-shearing pitch and mindlessly optimistic attitude that makes you want to grab a palmful of his fur and smash his head against Oscar the Grouch's dustbin lid.
"Life isn't nice, you hooting moron. We're dying the moment we're born." But this game isn't about me. It's not about you, either - the fact you got past that first paragraph without bursting into tears means that you're too old to play Once Upon A Monster alone.
It's quite light on the winks-to-the-grown-ups, but that's fine. It's a colourful world. It's a friendly world. It's a life-affirming, sweet world where monsters dress up for birthday parties, happy-faced bees accompany you around a lovely garden, and there are plenty of familiar faces that star or cameo. It's more an interactive TV show.
It's a colourful toy that'll distract young children long enough to give you precious hours in the kitchen drinking fortified wine.
10 comments so far...
Vegetunks9000 on 13 Oct '11 said:
GOTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha
CunningSmile on 13 Oct '11 said:
Elmo is overly optimistic but that's because he is designed to be. Sesame Street has specific characters designed to match the emotional levels of different viewers, and Elmo is supposed to be a three year old. By smashing his head against a trash can (incidentally belonging to a character designed to match the viewers older teenage sibling) you are beating a toddler.
I hope you're happy Log.
Bezza89 on 13 Oct '11 said:
Why are there 'Page 1-2' icons for comments when there are only two comments? You're not going to do that cvg thing where they put page 1-2 etc for articles as well. It's rubbish, I don't understand why... probably for idiot-phones... oh look, my phone can also be a spirit level! ...I'm not jealous...
CunningSmile on 13 Oct '11 said:
My phone can also be a paper weight and that's the extent of its multi function-ness
Waffles2541 on 13 Oct '11 said:
Sometimes when i'm in a bad mood and i just happen to watch Sesame Street I get the urge to set elmo on fire with Napalm, and then repeatably smash him round the head with a chair, that is also on fire, covered in carnivorous ants, also on fire.
Luckily this doesn't happen that often. I need to sit down...
OXM Log on 19 Oct '11 said:
I wasn't, until I read this comment. Now I'm positively beaming
Windowlicker79 on 19 Oct '11 said:
http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/img/130196-10192011110945pm.png
lol is that the verdict?
pauloselhombre on 20 Oct '11 said:
Is this review unfinished or something? I know it must be difficult to review a game that is aimed at young children, but (barely) 12 lines of text, no breakdown, and no real exploration of actual content is a little half-arsed isn't it? I mean sure, no movie critic would want to review a Teletubbies movie, but when it's your job you really should try to make an effort.
Windowlicker79 on 22 Oct '11 said:
I agree. There doesn't really seem to be any explanation at all about what happens in the game. No clue as to what sort of game it is or what you do when playing it. If I was thinking of buying this game for my child, this review is of no help at all. I can see that the reviewer liked it simply from the score of 8, but I have no idea why he liked it!
thewrongtrousers on 25 Oct '11 said:
So do I, how lazy was this review, do your job properly you layabout, you should be ashamed to call yourself a game reviewer with this half-arsed attempt at a review.
Would have been better to have just not bothered.