The Muppets Movie Adventures

The Muppets Movie Adventures is a 2014 platform game developed by Virtual Toys and published by mh:awesomegames:Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation Vita. The game is based on the films The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted, and was released to coincide with the recent home video release of the latter.

This was the first collaboration with Virtual Toys and Sony Computer Entertainment, with the others being Looney Tunes: Galatic Sports and Phineas and Ferb: Day of Doofenshmirtz.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) The gameplay can be best described as ‘lifeless’ and ‘soulless’. Most of the game has really simple gameplay elements that literally take no skill to complete, and most levels have very simplistic platforming which also take no skill.
 * 2) Very simplistic controls, with it using three buttons, which is the X button for jumping, the Square button for attacking, and the Circle button for activating the touch screen sections and opening doors, this control scheme feels like it would fit a mh:awesomegames:Sega Mega Drive game from the early 90s more than a 2014 mh:awesomegames:PlayStation Vita game.
 * 3) Levels drag on for so long, mostly lasting around 30-45 minutes, which is an absurd length for a kid’s game, and most of the levels are very slow-paced.
 * 4) The touch screen sections serve no purpose to the game and feel like they were shoved in at the last minute, most of them consist of solving a puzzle or pulling a level and all of them take less than 10 seconds to complete.
 * 5) Almost no voice acting at all throughout the game, the most you get is the narrator in the cutscenes, and the director spouting quips either at the start of a level, or when you die during the level.
 * 6) Sub-par graphics, even for Vita standards, with it looking like an iOS game ported to the Vita through the PlayStation Store, or a late mh:awesomegames:Xbox game.
 * 7) The way of reaching the collectibles just serves as artificial padding, what you have to do is first finish the level, then go through the level again to a locked area only accessible with a gadget you unlock after beating the level, then you can collect it.
 * 8) * The collectibles are very lackluster as well, since all you unlock is 16 pictures of concept art, and nothing else.
 * 9) Hit detection is a little wonky, where it can sometimes not register your attack and you get hit.
 * 10) Only five levels in the whole game, which is very poor for a game released in the 2010s, and because of that, the game can be completed in roughly 2-3 hours even with the overly-drawn-out levels.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) Its concept of taking Muppets characters and putting them into different movie genres is very interesting.

Reception
The Muppets Movie Adventure received negative reviews by critics, who criticised it for the lack of voice acting, overly drawn out levels, simplistic controls, and the pointlessly shoehorned touch-screen sections.

On Metacritic, the game received 48/100, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews", based on 12 reviews.

Push Square awarded the game with a 4/10 rating, stating "With its basic controls and guilt-free deaths, The Muppets Movie Adventures is a competent place for your child to start their gaming adventure. Everyone else, though, will find this title's lack of depth and, worse, lack of fan service a bit of a letdown."

Trivia

 * Physical copies were only released in Europe and Australia, as this was initially a digital-only game when it first launched, and the physical version came out 2 days after the game’s release in that continent, with it being a digital-only game in North America.
 * The narrator in the cutscenes are voiced by Cheryl Henson, the daughter of Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, and the current president of The Jim Henson Company.

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