It’s time to start my Vita, it’s time for loading screens. It’s time for mediocrity in this basic platform game.
For the first significant Muppet game release since the Disney acquisition in 2004, this Europe/PAL-exclusive Vita game seems like it flopped on arrival. That restricted release ought to tell you something; there was also DLC planned as seen in marketing, in-game concept images, and even the PSN store description, which never materialised.
It’s not hard to see why when playing it; the game seems a little phoned in. It’s a simplistic sidescroller with not much to recommend it beyond the Muppet theming, and even that is half-baked. The broad Muppet cast is very pared down here, with only a handful of the mainstays showing up (with the occasional more obscure pull, to be fair). But they barely interact, and none of them even vocalise at all, the only voicework coming from a bland intro/outro narration for each stage, and the “director” who tediously and unskippably reprimands you on each death.
You see, the theme is hopping between movie genres. The menus establish that showbiz glamour strongly, which is very Muppety. Inside the stages, Kermit is a pirate captain or space explorer, Piggy is a warrior princess, Gonzo a vampire hunter, and Animal an Old West sheriff. This lets them explore different visual themes, and experiment slightly with changing up the gameplay challenges, which is nice. I wish they’d gone further with it, by leaning into the occasional fourth-wall breaks and, for example, making the levels actually look like sets. The graphics are quite nice, but don’t change too much within a level.
It’s just kind of humdrum, ho-hum, humbug, less than what the Muppets deserve. Controls are stiff, level design is repetitive, the occasional touchscreen interruptions obnoxious. I’m not mad at The Muppets Movie Adventures, just disappointed at the opportunities it missed.
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