 The McDonald's themed game, McKids or M.C. Kids (I'm not sure what called for
the periods after the letters, after all, this isn't M.C. Hammer we're talking
about) actually isn't as bad as most Nintendo games out there. The game came
out back in 1991, so it was a later Nintendo game, as the Super Nintendo was on
the horizon.
The original idea of the game was that McDonald's was going to sell M.C. Kids
themed Happy Meals to advertise it. However, McDonald's canceled the idea
once they saw the game. Because of this, few even knew about it, and sales were
poor. That's really a shame, because this game really isn't all that bad.
Gameplay
You play as either Mick (the white guy) or Mack (the black guy), so there is
some variety. Yay! Personally I always played as Mack, because it's not every
day that you get to play a black guy in a NES game.
The gameplay itself is pretty standard for a platformer. You jump around
collecting items, dodging and killing bad guys, all while looking for the end of
the level. Each area contains a certain number of "cards" in it as well. You
need to collect these to progress to higher levels.
There are several flaws in the game play, including the fact that there is no
way to save your progress -- this game isn't exactly short. Also, it's kind of
a pain to recover missing health.
Graphics
The graphics are a mixed bag. Some areas and enemies look quite
good, especially for a Nintendo game. But others are really rotten.
The animation is a little static, but bearable. Really, if they
didn't reuse the tiles so much, I'd be inclined to give it a higher
rating.
Sound
Some of the music is quite catchy, but gets repetitive pretty fast.
The characters and enemies really make no sounds specific to them (but
hey, this is an NES game). Blocks make bouncy noises that fit the
setting and water splashes. There aren't a huge amount of sound
effects, but there isn't much of a need for many.
Longevity
The game is fairly long. There are 33 good sized levels and a
bunch of bonus areas hidden within them. You also need to explore
them well to find hidden cards. If you find all the "special"
cards, you get to play some REALLY hard levels in Ronald's PuzzleWorld.
If you're playing on an actually cartridge (and not a ROM) like you
should be, you may have to play through multiple times. The game
has no save feature, and you probably won't feel like finishing it in one
go.
Overall
This game is not bad. Really...I'm serious! I felt it was
one of the better platformers on the NES. It was fun to play, had
good level design, and an...interesting theme. If you see it for
sale anywhere (yeah right!), it will probably be very cheap, so you may
want to pick it up.
| Gameplay
|
7 |
| Graphics |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Longevity |
7 |
| OVERALL |
6.5 |
|
