Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster Reviewed

Game: Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
Developer: Double Fine
Platform: Xbox 360 with Kinect
Achievements: 31 out of 41, 675/1000 points

Grover – Am I invited to the birthday party?
Cookie Monster – Me pretty sure. If not, you can be my plus one.

Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster for the Xbox 360/Kinect was developed by Double Fine Productions. In all of the games that Double Fine — and Tim Shafer have made, from Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Brutal Legend, Psychonauts, Stacking, Costume Quest, and Trenched — now known as Iron Brigade, there are many things in common – strong characters, hilarious dialogue, and beautiful art direction. Perhaps most importantly, and what shines through the most in Once Upon a Monster, is the pervasive charm. This game is simply charming from beginning to end and back again.

I can hear my daughter laughing out of pure joy as I type this. She has just dressed Seamus, one of the monsters that Double Fine has created in the Once Upon a Monster videogame. In addition to the new monsters in the game, a large number of Sesame Street regulars make appearances. Cookie Monster and Elmo are featured prominently, while Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Slimey the worm have supporting roles. The dialogue of all the characters has been written lovingly and carries much of the charm in the game. There have been many times that I laughed out loud while listening to Cookie Monster narrate a play, Oscar lamenting cleaning up a garden, and Grover discussing how to fly up a tree.

The game is split into multiple chapters, with mini-games spread throughout each. The mechanics of the mini-games do a great job balancing challenge and simplicity to the 4-year-old target audience. The games are just difficult enough that my daughter genuinely enjoys her success. The Kinect sensor can be finicky, notably during any of the throwing mini-games. This hasn’t detracted from the fun or the usability of the game. My daughter has played through the game twice now and is comfortable with playing the game by herself on occasion (like when her dad is sitting and typing!). The graphics and animations in the game are pleasing and succeed in conveying the personality of all the monsters. My daughter particularly liked the musical band leader Tallulah and the final monster in the game, the story teller and star singer, Ramona.

When deciding to buy this game, I will admit that having Double Fine as the developer swayed my opinion greatly. There is a definite lack of character in many of the numerous Sesame Street games that exist on the Wii, DS, VTech, or Leapfrog platforms. They can be monotonous, overly difficult, boringly easy, or just plain annoying. Let’s be clear, this game stands head and shoulders above previous Sesame Street games. I hope that Double Fine gets to make a sequel to Once Upon a Monster because they have succeed in crafting a game that is full of the humorous tone and tremendous charm in the Sesame Street name.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to enjoy being my daughter’s plus one.

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