''Curious George'' is a 2006
platform game
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
published by
Namco
was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
, and developed by
Monkey Bar Games
Monkey Bar Games was an American division of the defunct video game developer Vicious Cycle Software, based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Monkey Bar's mission was the creation of family entertainment products on all handheld and console video gam ...
, a division of
Vicious Cycle Software
Vicious Cycle Software was an American video game development company based in Morrisville, North Carolina.
History
Vicious Cycle was founded in 2000 by Eric Peterson, Dave Ellis, Marc Racine and Wayne Harvey after layoffs at the local MicroPr ...
. It was released for the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...
,
PlayStation 2,
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...
, and
Microsoft Windows, and is based on the
2006 film of the same name. A separate 2D version was developed for the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
(GBA) by
Torus Games
Torus Games is an Australian video game developer founded in 1994 by Bill McIntosh. The company is located in Bayswater, Victoria. Its managing director is Bill McIntosh. The company being a family business.
History
They'd begin developin ...
.
Most of the animated film's original voices were not used in any of the in-game dialogue, except for the cutscenes, while
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...
and
David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitc ...
reprise their roles as
Curious George and Junior respectively.
Gameplay
''Curious George'' is a
platform game
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
where the player controls George, a monkey who can jump, swing and slide around different environments. The game features 13 linear levels, which closely follow the plot of the film; each level also features
cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...
s taken from the film.
Each level features collectible
banana
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...
s, with the main goal being to collect
idols, which advance the player to the next part of the level.
The player may also be tasked with finding hidden key objects in order to advance.
The levels also feature a series of highlighted objects, which award the player "curious points" for interacting with them.
These points can then be used to unlock bonus items, which include hats that George can wear in-game, and the ability to replay minigames and cutscenes.
The game features four minigames, three of which are fairly similar, requiring the player to press a button at the correct time.
The first is a
rhythm game
Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to pr ...
featuring George dancing to a beat.
The final minigame involves breaking balloons, with the player having to complete 18 rounds of the game to collect the tokens needed to complete the level.
Plot
The game begins with Ted discovering an ancient idol in an African jungle, only to find it is three inches tall. He leaves the jungle in disappointment, giving George (voiced by
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...
) his yellow hat. George follows Ted through the jungle and on board a cargo ship, which serves as the setting for the next level. Onboard the cargo ship, George makes his way out of the cargo hold, where he is greeted by two sailors on deck. The sailors tell George to dance, which leads to the first dancing minigame. After the dance, the sailors challenge George to complete an obstacle course. George explores the rest of the ship before returning to the hold, where the level ends as the ship arrives at its destination.
Following Ted off the ship, George rides on the top of cars and follows Ted's cab through the city, before arriving at a construction site. Navigating through the construction site, George spots Ted entering his apartment building, and makes his way inside Ted's room by climbing the balconies. Upon his arrival, his scent attracts the attention of Ivan, the building's
doorman, who enforces a "no pets" policy. George sneaks through the apartment to avoid Ivan, before entering the penthouse of Ms. Plushbottom, leading to the second minigame. George is then discovered and evicted from the apartment along with Ted.
The next level takes place at the museum where Ted works; he dodges questions regarding the size of the idol as George sneaks through the museum. Junior (voiced by
David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitc ...
), the son of the museum's owner, becomes suspicious after Ted repeatedly mentions a monkey, and sets out to find George. George's repeated antics eventually send a frustrated Junior home, but George and Ted are kicked out regardless after the monkey accidentally destroys an
Apatosaurus
''Apatosaurus'' (; meaning "deceptive lizard") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Othniel Charles Marsh described and named the first-known species, ''A. ajax'', in 187 ...
skeleton. Left with nowhere to sleep, the duo take refuge in a park, where they find solace in the
fireflies
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
, which George collects.
The next day, George collects tokens in the final minigame by popping balloons with a group of children; he tries to buy a balloon with the tokens, but ends up taking the entire bunch and floating away, to Ted's horror. This leads to the next level, where George floats through the air, while dodging obstacles and collecting balloons to sustain himself. He eventually lands safely, only to be captured by
animal control and sent back on a ship to Africa. Luckily, Ted rescues George aboard the ship, but then has his idol stolen by a rat. George chases the rat through the ship, and comforts a
musophobic sailor through dance. On deck, the idol is swooped up by a seagull; George distracts the bird by offering up a stolen potato, and recovers the idol.
In the final two levels, George and Ted find themselves back in Africa, with Ted realizing the tiny idol was only the key to a larger one. Together, they navigate the various puzzles guarding the path to the idol, some of which prove to be dangerous. The game ends as George opens the entrance to the idol, with the final cutscene from the film showing Ted presenting the idol at the museum, and emphasizing the importance of curiosity on his journey with George.
Production and release
The console and PC versions were developed by
Monkey Bar Games
Monkey Bar Games was an American division of the defunct video game developer Vicious Cycle Software, based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Monkey Bar's mission was the creation of family entertainment products on all handheld and console video gam ...
, while the GBA version of the game was developed by
Torus Games
Torus Games is an Australian video game developer founded in 1994 by Bill McIntosh. The company is located in Bayswater, Victoria. Its managing director is Bill McIntosh. The company being a family business.
History
They'd begin developin ...
. The game was first announced in late 2005, and development of both the console and GBA versions were complete by January 2006.
Demos of the console version were revealed at a Namco press event shortly after the game's announcement, which showed an early version of the museum level. Much of the content described by reviewers made it into the final game. At the time, Namco wanted
Will Ferrell
John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 20 ...
to reprise his role as Ted from the film, but this did not come to fruition.
The game was released on February 1, 2006, nine days before the release of the film. Its release in
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory that covers most of Europe and Africa, alongside parts of Asia, South America and Oceania. It is named PAL because of the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) television standard traditionally used i ...
s was scheduled for October 2006, after
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...
reached an agreement with Namco to publish the game in the regions.
Reception
The game received "mixed or average reviews" on all platforms according to video game
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, with the GBA version getting the most praise.
[
The console version was praised for its ]cel-shaded graphics
Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimi ...
, which reviewers felt were able to capture the cartoon style of the film. While praising the graphics and animations, ''IGN'' criticized the game's main menu, calling it "bland" and "unfinished"; the reviewer was unsure whether he had the final version of the game or not until gameplay started.
Aspects of the gameplay were negatively received, such as the controls and the overall repetitiveness of the game. The stiff controls, particularly the double jump
Double jump may refer to:
* Double jump (cheerleading), performing the same jump twice in a row in cheerleading
* Double jump (figure skating), two revolutions in a figure skating jump
* A bid that skips two levels in contract bridge
Contract ...
, and the hard to control camera, frustrated reviewers. While the levels were designed to be simple, critics felt the gameplay issues made parts of the game too complex for young children, the game's target audience. The platforming gameplay was otherwise described as lacking depth. A review for ''Gamespot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' described the level design as "extremely linear" and without "measure of exploration", and the interactive objects were described by ''Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' as "a nice idea" but "pointless" due to their repetitiveness. The minigames received mixed reviews from reviewers; IGN called them a "much needed break" from the main game, while others found them too repetitive. Eurogamer characterized the final balloon minigame as "a staggering EIGHTEEN rounds of lethargic bemani action".
References
External links
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*
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{{Vicious Engine games
2006 video games
Game Boy Advance games
GameCube games
Namco games
Platformers
PlayStation 2 games
Vicious Engine games
Video games about primates
Video games based on animated films
Video games based on adaptations
Video games based on books
Video games scored by Jason Graves
Video games set in Africa
Video games set in museums
Video games developed in Australia
Video games developed in the United States
Windows games
Xbox games
Curious George
Video games with cel-shaded animation
3D platformers
Single-player video games
Monkey Bar Games games