MAD has become the true satirical superstars of our time; from movies, famous celebrities, and even our favorite toons, MAD’s mascot, Alfred E. Neumen’s stare is not too far behind to poke fun at them all. Recently MAD has made a resurface onto the television market with the show simply titled MAD.  It isn’t worth pointing out that the show has become a big hit with viewers as its Prime Time Emmy already shows that but now I will talk about it’s game adaptation, What Me Worry? Starring the one and only Alfred E. Neuman.

Starting the game the rules are simple, before each level a graphic will appear showing you how to move your mouse, whether it be moving it left and right, up and down, or in circles, just follow the movement and the games are a snap. What better way to go through the games then one by one?

Pop the Zits

You click on the zits on Alfred’s face and they explode with puss leading to your success on the level.  Works perfectly fine and visually the puss bursting is cartoonishly disgusting which is always fun.

Down the Tubes

Circle the mouse until Alfred gets sucked into his own toilet. The frame rate slightly chugs when you circle the mouse but it’s funny and it works which is all I’m really asking for.

Clean off the Mirror

Circle the mouse until the screen isn’t foggy and you can clearly stare into Alfred’s eyes. Nothing too special… in all honesty, pretty freaking dull and simple too.

Catch The Ball

Definitely the most difficult out of the bunch but that isn’t saying much. Move the mouse left to right to catch the onslaught of falling baseballs, miss one and a piano on Alfred’s head will end Alfred’s day of fun. Really? This is the best moving left and right game that was brainstormed? MAD is all about satirical humour with some very intelligent societal lampooning and this game has us just catching falling baseballs. The other mini-games aren’t too stunning either.

Find Alfred E. Neumen

Click on the doors until you find Alfred. This game is a lot like Where’s Waldo if each page had just only Waldo on it. The game is just insultingly basic. If the game implemented a “game over” door that when you open that door you lose the level then it wouldn’t just be a game of click all the doors open until you win making the whole game feel just “eh.”

Pick a Winner

Do circles on your mouse until Alfred picks his nose. This game kinda confused me with its instructions. I understand the very nature of circle the mouse to pick the nose but wouldn’t a more dynamic action in conjuncture with the activity be moving the mouse maybe left and right until the booger is removed from the nose or a movement similar to fighting to get the booger out. I can’t believe I just spent a paragraph talking about the game mechanics to picking a nose.

Reel ‘em In

Oh let me guess. Circle the mouse so that the fishing reel can reel in Alfred from the bottom of the lake. There seriously needed to be more variety in the mouse movements because 50% of these games are just circling your mouse, which gets repetitive after a while. In fact in several play throughs, I for 4 levels all I had to do was the circle mouse movement. Just non stop circling the mouse. A little more variety can’t be too hard is it?

Oh My Aching Teeth!

This is hands-down the second hardest mini-game in the group, but not for the right reasons. Sadly there’s a slight interface issue, as you have to click on the center of the rotten tooth for it to be removed and sometimes when you click on the sides (still on the tooth mind) the game wouldn’t register it and then you would need to move the mouse again to click again. Not a big issue but it wastes precious seconds to counteract this slight bug.

Vote For Me!

There’s an arrow moving left and right at the bottom of the screen when the arrow is pointing at Alfred you click the mouse and your throw a pie in his face. Quick, simple, and frankly the most resembling MAD and funny out of the bunch.

Pump It Up!

Move the mouse up and down to inflate Alfred’s head until it flies away. This is the only game to have you move the mouse up and down. Come ‘on. They could have at least had a game where you used a plunger to remove Alfred from the toilet. Adding games with the other control schemes would have helped greatly with the repetitive nature of the game.

 

Now after listing all those games what’s my final thoughts? It’s just Wario Ware for the wii but with Alfred E. Neuman and a mouse. All the Mini Games function properly and the music in typical Bop-It fashion speeds up to make the player become more tense and in turn more engaged to continue playing the game. Other then that there really isn’t anything to it. This game really needed some more level choices like in Wario Ware, maybe a level where you make a wave motion with the mouse to cause Alfred E. Neuman to surf on a huge tidal wave. If the game had more variation in mouse movement then What Me Worry? would be able to offer a less repetitive experience and more difficulty as the more weird mouse movements could be implemented into later in the game.

The other major issue is that all these mini games except for three are just mundane in context with its own branding MAD. Catching baseballs, defogging a window, reeling in a fishing line; is this really supposed to go alongside the satire giant that is Alfred E. Neuman and MAD. How about games based on famous genres of film like a western shooting game, or a quick operation style hospital game? The game designers just were thinking too basic when it came to these mini games where quite frankly, like Wario Ware they could make any sort of outrageous game and it still would work because Alfred’s face is there.

When you get right down to it MAD What Me Worry? isn’t the worst out there to offer but it does have much miss potential that leaves it rather mediocre. Can’t recommend this one but it’s harmless just for a single try.

 

5 Out of 10