As a videogame historian/fancier of outdated and redundant software, it’s great to play a licensed game. Maybe it can’t quite be called a “pleasure”, but it’s easier to pick apart the bones of a videogame rather then to dissect its bloated corpse that arrived dead on arrival at gamer’s doors.
M&M’s: Shell Shocked (2001) was a Playstation One game that was ostensibly in all ways a commercial that gamers can enjoy for themselves once by paying for it with their own money. As with many examples of its kind, the licensed part is the best part of the game as everything else is slapped together in a pleasing manner to shareholders and accountants, but not to anyone on the receiving end of this hot chocolate enema.
As there have been several M&M games over the past decade, it appears there must be some demand for this product. And yet, the term “fan of the genre” doesn’t really fit here. M&M has a core product to push before promoting any incidental merchandise. This game is nothing more than sharing brand awareness among a younger generation of Playstation players who don’t have better taste in games. And ironically, for a commercial, M&M’s: Shell Shocked doesn’t promote the consumption of its products like a commercial should.
The gameplay of M&M’s: Shell Shocked follows videogame logic that refutes marketing logic. Crates carrying the collectible players need to obtain are strewn all over the place, and in the driving sections of the game, this means all over the road. Despite the hazard to other drivers who can’t drive safely anyways, no one pays attention to these delicious crates free for the taking. Are M&M’s not delicious in the M&M universe where anthropomorphic candies advocate the eating of themselves and their peers?
Labor conditions at the M&M factory aren’t any better. Once Yellow decided to go on vacation with Red, the M&M Minis took control over the factory in the resulting dereliction of duty. The result is a perilous work environment that isn’t safe for its workers and the production of delicious M&M candy products.
Videogames need a dystopic premise on which to base the game on, but product marketing requires a positive message to encourage consumption. In combining the two together in one product, no one considers the resulting mess because “videogames are just toys for children”, just the low-rung on the ladder that M&M’s: Shell Shocked wants to be.
M&M’s: Shell Shocked is a rip-off of Crash Bandicoot, right down to the spin attack that is well-loved by underpaid animators. And yet, if we were to employ good writing for this game that would make it both acceptable to videogame logic and corporate interests, we would see that you’re ripping off the wrong game.
There already is a game about eating little dots that could be construed as M&M’s: Pac-Man. An M&M tie-in would be perfect with such a premise: Oh noes! Professor M&M has accidentally created a potion that has caused production of M&M’s to expand exponentially! With the world overrun by deliciousness, it’s up to you to keep the streets clear so that emergency vehicles can still operate unhindered. But watch out, evil supervillain Diet Beastlies is hot on your tail, and catching up! (It writes itself)
If they can’t get the rights to the voracious, eyeless mouth, then they can always go the way of the many Pac-Man clones we’ve seen over the years: KC Munchkin, Jawbreaker, uh, Ms. Pac-Man. Gamers should be reminded of how this product is a reward, and need to be consumed rather than represented by the videogame logic of crates that need to be smashed.
In the end, it’s probably just for the best that this correlation hasn’t been discovered, and that licensed videogames continue to perform poorly. Woe is the videogame industry when these games become the best examples of videogame art.
How far I got in 20 minutes: the second factory level, but then I got discouraged that I’m just playing a commercial that is a stupid game, and stopped
The good: You don’t have to watch some stupid TV show and wait for the commercials to enjoy the bickering of M&M’s iconic mascots.
The bad: For some reason, a hot chocolate puddle can be fatal to an M&M character, which is like saying a bowl of blood soup is fatal to humans. And, aren’t there any other shell puns available?
Will I play this game once the year is over: No. Neither this M, nor the other M.
Days so far in the Year of the Play-a-DayStation: 49
Play-a-Daystation 