It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been 20 years since Steven Spielberg
released the classic science fiction film E.T. You probably don’t need much of
a refresher course, but the adventures of Elliot and his extra-terrestrial
friend are as timeless and touching as ever. Of course, this being 2002, there’s
bound to be some new merchandise to accompany this much-anticipated release. French Developers Lexis Numérique and Publisher Ubi
Soft have combined forces to bring out a trio of new titles timed to the reissue
of the film: Phone Home Adventure, Away From Home and Interplanetary Mission.
Despite what you might think, these are all very different from each other. Look
inside and find out if they’re worth phoning home over.
> E.T.
Phone Home Adventure
Even though the E.T. license has been troublesome
for some game companies in the past (see the tragic results of the Atari 2600
game for a good example), Ubi Soft has decided to tempt fate with not one, but
three titles designed for the film’s Re-release. While all three games share
the same license and allow you to view the movie trailers as a bonus feature,
each has it own plusses and minuses and should be taken as individual games. The
best of these PC releases for is by far the adventure title E.T. Phone Home
Adventure. This accurately captures the spirit of the movies while not
neglecting the gameplay that’s essential. It’s really cool in recreating the
movie and many of the most touching sequences, such as Elliot and E.T.’s first
meeting in the shed are adequately recreated for this interactive game. While it’s
not the state-of-the-art title many would expect, it’s still pretty decent and
the graphics really make you feel like you’re in the movie. This is an
action-oriented adventure title is basically a point and click adventure, where
you move E.T. around various places and search for the parts he needs to contact
his ship and phone home. The game is fairly interesting and unfolds at a decent
pace, but the tasks and obstacles are fairly straightforward and easy to
understand, yet challenging. There are a variety of environments and a lot of
surprises making it hold your interest throughout the adventures. Of course, it
doesn’t hurt that you’re reliving the events of a classic film, though from
E.T.’s perspective, not Elliot’s. The action takes place in a variety of
places including young Elliot’s house, the forest and other locales. Like the
movie, the most exciting sequences are when he tries to escape from the
government agents and the famous moonlight flying bikes scene. While it closely
follows the plot of the movie, Phone Home Adventure also includes some
interesting mini-games that add some variety to the gameplay. These allow you to
bring a plant back to life, make a candy path for the kids to follow once you
leave the house. Of course, the biggest task is to build the phone and then to
get it operating. While the original actors are a bit old to play their parts
now, the replacements do a good job of recreating the characters in this title.
While far from cutting edge, the graphics are decent and its’ nicely
presented. Phone Home Adventure’s gameplay isn’t really challenging, but
this is aimed at younger players and should appeal to this audience.
> E.T. Interplanetary Mission (above)
The next release, E.T. Interplanetary Mission makes
a nice change of pace from the other titles. While there are some intersections,
it doesn’t completely follow the plot of the movies. At the start of the game,
you’re on E.T.’s home world and you have to go through a series of mazes and
puzzles in which you will learn his basic abilities. E.T. has the ability to
perform telekinesis, levitation, healing and his infamous heart-burn. It unfolds
slowly as you learn the abilities and the initial levels seem a bit drab until
you get the hang of things. The good news is that it becomes much more enjoyable
as you go along. Making it through some of the later levels can be quite
difficult. This is especially true when you get to Earth and have to use all of
your powers in order to build your spaceship. It pays to pay attention in the
early going because these abilities will help you get through each level but
their operation and workings are easy to understand. One interesting thing, is
that the game takes place from an angled perspective. This isn’t the most
aesthetically appealing approach but using this viewpoints allows you to see
where you are on each level and unlock the puzzles. There are four main worlds
and 25 missions to traverse in Interplanetary Mission. It’s not the cakewalk
that the other games are, but it’s difficulty lies in knowing when to use
certain actions. Unfortunately, The Laser encountered some problems in getting
the game to work properly, and the installation process doesn’t really help
this as much as it could, which is really aggravating. Once this was
successfully loaded and ran properly, this was a modestly enjoyable title,
though not without some serious problems in the gameplay itself. Too many
missions require you to do the same actions repeatedly, which gets old in a
hurry. This hurts the game’s replay value and made going through some areas in
the game more a chore than a joy. While the gameplay is a bit repetitive,
Interplanetary Mission wins points for at least some creativity in its design,
since exploring E.T.'s home world was quite interesting.
In the end, the game succeeds despite the predictable gameplay. It has some
problems but this is still a decent game with good graphics and the most
sophisticated, making it the best choice for older gamers looking to relive
their childhoods.
> E.T. Away From Home (above)
Ubi Soft’s simplest E.T. title is also unfortunately the least enjoyable of
the 3 games is E.T. Away from Home, a simplistic board game that doesn’t
really add much to the series. This is a fairly standard board game, where you
roll a dice and move to different squares on a gameboard. When you land on
special squares, you can move forward several spaces towards your goal or can
also find yourself pushed back a few spaces, which is to reach your space ship
and return home. However, some of these allow you to play While playing the 13
mini-games and the ability of the player to play as either of the 2 main
characters is fun, there’s more to it than that. Players will find that the
co-operative gameplay element makes things a lot more enjoyable. The graphics
are pretty decent and some of the mini-games included are a lot of fun. However,
this is pretty much a hit or miss game, and some of the pieces are more fun than
others. The interface is fairly simple and should allow even younger players to
play. This approach means that the gameplay is extremely limited and won’t
have a lot of replay value. Unfortunately, this is the least impressive of the
E.T. titles because it’s basically an electronic board game. While the
co-operative mode where you can play as either Elliot or his sister Gertie
attempts to mitigate this, it’s not enough to significantly deepen it’s
appeal. Even though the graphics are decent and the user-friendly interface
makes Away From Home easy to play. Unfortunately, despite the included
mini-games, the actual gameplay is too simplistic and it gets old after a few
plays. It’s a big disappointment, especially when you consider what a good job
was done with the other titles. For what it is, Away From Home isn’t a bad
kids’ title since it’s non-violent and features familiar characters, but
older players may want to look elsewhere.
By M. Palisano
> Related Reviews:
Monsters Inc. (PS2)
Monsters Inc. Scream Team (PS1)
