Dallas Morning News Cover-Up At Roswell Review

The following appeared in the Dallas Morning News. The citation is Bueno, Tony (1996-11-01). "ELECTRONIC ADVENTURES". The Dallas Morning News p. 3C. The Dallas Morning News Company. Only the Quest portion is presented.

CARTOON CONSPIRACY

Title: Jonny Quest: Cover-Up at Roswell

Maker: Virgin Sound and Vision

Game platform: Windows 95 CD-ROM, Windows 3.1 and Macintosh

Number of players: 1

Suggested price: $35

This interactive cartoon adventure game is similar to its TV-series namesake.

The episode begins with a UFO crash--landing on Earth. The player's mission is to recover the mysterious objects the spacecraft jettisoned before they fall into the hands of the evil conspirator Dr. Surd.

The gameplay combines exploratory adventure and puzzles, woven together by animated cartoon clips that advance the story. As you control the actions of the Quest team, your tasks range from hacking into the Pentagon computers to shooting sewer rats with a slingshot.

When the team travels on foot, you direct them via a comic book-style interface, which represents your movements with still frames of the characters and their surroundings. The colorful animations are on par with the TV cartoons.

When the game requires your interaction, the graphics shift to a crisply rendered, high-resolution interface. The voices and sound are pleasing, except for a few annoying effects during some of the puzzles. At one point, I simply turned off the speakers to avoid a buzzing sound.

Jonny Quest attempts to produce a high-intensity orchestral sound, and the result is admirable except for one shortcoming. Like a broken record, most of the music consists of looping sound clips that are three to five seconds long.

As for the game design, the plot is linear, which means replay value is limited. The game also lacks multiple levels of difficulty, and experienced gamers may find the puzzles too elementary.

Despite these flaws, Jonny Quest: Cover-Up at Roswell provides good entertainment and variety at a reasonable price. It's recommended for ages 8 to 12.

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