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Right, let's start with the plot, shall we ? Ronald McDonald's magic bag has been stolen by his arch-enemy, Hamburglar (what a name). You can imagine he's not feeling too good, but hey, can you do anything about it ? Well, actually you can, because the MC kids just showed up and they really want to help ol' Ronald. This is where you step in, taking the place of either Mick or Mack, ready to travel round seven worlds and thirty levels, in order to retrieve Ronald's stolen bag. And basically that's it. The plot, I mean.
McDonaldland is a platform puzzler. In each level, you must collect a red M card in order to proceed to the rest of the game. There are also power ups, namely extra-lives and yellow M letters. If you collect 100 M letters you gain an extra life. It's not as easy as it sounds though. The M cards are hidden in the most strange places and sometimes you have to explore (and map) the entire level in order to find 'em. Even when you do find them though, it's not always easy to get them. You see, there are various features in the game which you must discover in order to reach the desired goal (be it bonuses or cards or whatever). There are devices which make you walk upside-down for example, and thus allowing you to reach formerly unreachable platforms. Even then though, you must use strategic thought so as to choose or even find the best route to the rest of the level. There are various other features too, like springs which launch you skywards, crates which you can use for killing enemies or as extra platforms, shortcuts, mazes, and other stuff which I 'm not going to tell you so as to discover them yourselves. Having found the M card, you must then find the level exit (recognizable by a giant M letter).
The levels are big, and overally the game is huge. Graphics are colourful and change dramatically with each new level. The speed of the scroll however leaves a lot to be desired : it's very slow, sometimes not even catching with the main sprite's pace. This, although disappointing, doesn't affect the gameplay in a big way. There are loads of merry tunes to accompany the action, and the whole thing has a very cute and atmospheric feeling. I really feel there should be some more action though. The emphasis is put mostly in the puzzle aspect of the game, neglecting the arcade bits. I don't have a problem with it, but I reckon that arcade-platform fans will be disappointed.
What really annoyed me, is the multiload. Having multiload for 30 levels isn't a good idea. Making matters worse is that when you die, instead of continuing at the same level, you return to the main map, which makes for extra loading time (death, loading, main map+choice of level, loading, start again). And there really should be passwords for each world. Completing the game in one go is almost impossible, mainly due to the required loading time. Despite all this, I really like the game. The level layout is very clever and there are some fantastic ideas in there. It's just a shame that the overall mark is dragged down by things that could have been corrected in the first place. It's not going to appeal to everyone, but you should at least try it out.
Downloads: Music
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| GRAPHICS - 7/10 |
Cute, colourful and atmospheric. Particularly varied. But
the scrolling is disappointingly slow.
| | SOUND - 7/10 |
Loads of merry tunes to accompany the action.
| | PLAYABILITY - 8/10 |
I like it very much, but it's not going to appeal to
everyone. Great level design. It could do with some more action (at times).
| | OVERALL - 7/10 |
Mainly dragged down by the multi-load and the slow scroll.
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| COVER |
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; "Click to zoom!")
; "Click to zoom!")
; "Click to zoom!")
