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U-M CIS 487 - CIS 487- ASSIGNMENT 1

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CIS 487 Fall 2003 Assignment 1Game Analysis and Review9-23-03CIS 487 Fall 2003 Assignment 1Game Analysis and Review9-23-03Analyzed byJessica [email protected] Dr. Bruce R. Maxim (CIS 487)Game analyzed:Maniac MansionBasic InformationGame title: Maniac MansionCompany & Author: LucasArts Entertainment CompanyOriginally designed by Ron Gilbert and Gary WinnickType of Game: Interactive Sci Fi gamePlatforms: NES, DOS, Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64Price: $5 for NES game cartridgeMinimum hardware: Nintendo Entertainment system, game controllerActual hardware: Nintendo Entertainment system, game controllerGame SummaryQuick overviewA mad scientist kidnaps a cheerleader Sandy. Sandy’s boyfriend, Dave, picks 2 of his friends to go the Maniac Mansion to rescue her.Story Line A teen-ager named Dave, picks two of his friends to go with him, and sets off, to the old Mansion, owned by Doctor Fred. Twenty years ago, a Meteor landed near the mansion.. Ever since then They have all been acting pretty weird. Dave is out tonight, to see what isgoing on. His girl friend, has been kid-napped and Fred and family, are the prime suspects. After reading the sign out side, ''Trespasser's will be horribly mutilated'', They set off to the Maniac Mansion. The awesome thing about this story, is that it gets better, as the game goes on, and you can see stuff through cut-scenes.Player’s roleThe game plays in 3rd person point of view. You manipulate where you want the player to move, use or pick up by pointing to the commands on the screen or pointing to the area ofthe scene. What the player can do and how the game can be won depends on the other 2 characters you pick at the beginning of the game to rescue Sandy. A description of each player is given below. Dave- Sandys boyfriend a character that your automatically stuck with is the quarterback of the football team.Razor- Is in a rock in roll maniac who wouldn’t say no to an alien starting up an ailmutant band. Syd- With keyboards or a guitar, Syd is a happy guy but he’s tone deaf. The green tenicle could give him some lips Jeff- He’s the surfer guy of the group. His thing is making tubular connections with phones and totally gnarly waves. Benard- Is the nerd of the group. With an IQ that reads like the national debt, Bernard can do anything. Electronic is his special field and interest. Wendy- Is the writer of the group. She has a way of taking other peoples words and making them better. All she needs is a typewriter and some memoris Michael- He is the photographer of the group. He is the only one in the group who knows how to develop film. As it turns out, this is a darn useful thing to know.Game PlayThis is a point and click game, and you use commands to get around. (As I said, before) Through out the game, you solve puzzles, while trying to avoid the Mansions owners, Doctor Fred, Nurse Edna, Weird Ed, Dead Ted, and two Tentacles. Running into them will get you a trip to the dungeon. But by doing all kinds of things, you may even be able to make friends with some of them. The awesome thing about this game, is that there is so much to do, to the character's you meet in the Mansion, and to the itemsInstallationFor NES – Need to have a Nintendo entertainment system, with one game controller, and the Maniac Mansion game cartridge.For PC – Need to download the Maniac Mansion rom. Need to download an NES game emulator such as Nesticle. Open up emulator and load in game rom.User InterfaceThe user interface is pretty simple to use. Maniac Mansion is more of a point click game. You use the white curser to point your character to the area of the screen you would like him to move to. If you see any objects you would like to interact with , you can use any of the verbs listed at the bottom of the screen such as push, pull, give, open, close, go to, get, use, read, turn on, turn off. New Kid option will take you to a menu with a list of the other 2 players you would like to switch to, to manipulate them around. Once you collect objects within the mansion, the objects are stored under the command list for you to click on and use.Maniac Mansion gives you the option to save and restore old games, so the player does not have to replay the game again from the start, after the game has been shut off.ScoringThere is no actual scoring in this game. The object of the game is to rescue Sandy from Dr. Fred.ArtworkThe graphics are like a cartoon, in a way. They have got a lot of color, and depth, to them adding to the atmosphere, of the areas you will explore. Ie cut-scenes in the game, the graphics don't change, they look the same as in the main game, but they are still good.Sound and MusicEach player carries a cd player with them. So once that player is picked to manipulate then a different type of music is played. Each players tunes, fits the personality of that person. There is an option to turn the cd player off for each person. Other sound effects are given such as when the tv is turned on or during the cut scenes.Special featuresOne special feature is that there are multiple ways to win the game. I found that there are 7+ different endings that could take place depending on which players you pick to rescue Sandy, what you make the players do during game time, or if you kill off your players. Another feature is that there are different versions of the game. The Maniac Mansion created for NES you can not blow up the hamster in the microwave, where as the version you can find online you can. NES had video game standards that would not allow the players to say certain things or have certain names on the items because they were too dirty.ManualThere is a manual that comes with the the Nintendo game that gives an overview of each player and the game controller instructions.Game ReviewWhat is good about the game and why?This game was one of my favorite games that I played on NES because it was weird. It has a good story plot and I give it a high replay value since there are multiple ways you can win this game.What is bad about the game and why?The monotony of pointing and clicking at things was pretty frustrating and time consuming. Other than that, this game was awesome.How does it compare to other games in its genre?Maniac Mansion was the first game in the genre that featured both a point and click interface and animated characters.Why is it better or worse than other games?I would say this is better than other games, because there is not a


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U-M CIS 487 - CIS 487- ASSIGNMENT 1

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