Ah, human drama. The trials and tribulations of star-crossed lovers, the agonizing decisions made on the battlefield, the ...supreme annoyance of having some rotten kid try to steal your favorite toy?
Child's Play, a wonderful piece of interactive fiction created by Stephen Granade, brings us back to a simpler time, one when 'the Mom' took care of our every need and the ills of the world were no worse than a spilled glass of milk. You are an unnamed child, somewhere between baby and toddler (crawling: yes, walking: no), and today is playgroup day! This would normally be all well and good, except for one unfortunate fact: your nemesis, a little red-haired girl named Zoe, will be there. She's smart, she's determined, and she wants your favorite toy. Oh, but there is no way that you are going to let her get her grubby little hands on your treasure, is there?
And so unfolds the very entertaining yet surprisingly complex scenario of baby vs. baby. Granade does an excellent job imbuing an adult sort of awareness into the unique mindset of a young child; the protagonist is entirely self-aware (as well as savvy enough to realize that adults will be of no help whatsoever) but must contend with limited abilities (cannot talk, cannot walk, etc). So, instead of relying upon strength or sophistication, you as baby must watch the world around yourself, observe patterns of behavior and learn how to manipulate the other children and adults into doing your will. Surprisingly Machiavellian!
I love the game's childlike yet witty way with words, which also contains some truly awesome imagery (one favorite: "Zoe is sitting in a fog of grump on the floor"). The other child NPCs are remarkably well-integrated into the gameplay and display individual character and personality without saying a word; the parents are simply funny, and their interactions shine a bit of a light on the absurdity of adult behavior. Still, what stuck out to me most about the game is the steely determination of the protagonist and nemesis to gain control of the toy; no battle over land or riches was more single-mindedly fought. You'll need to muster all your adult intelligence to win this child's war!
Time to enter the fray:
Play Child's Play Rated yellow :o due to (mild) adult conversations going on in the background.
Cheers to Emily for the suggestion! =)
The links above point to JIG's internally developed Flash-based Z-Machine interpreter (thanks asterick!), with the story files hosted here with permission from the game's author. That means you can now play these games in your browser rather than having to download and run the game in a standalone interpreter.
If you would rather download the game, you may do so at the Interactive Fiction Database. If you choose to download the game, you will need an interpreter to read the z-file, just like most IF games: try Gargoyle for Windows, or Zoom or Splatterlight for Macintosh and Unix.
If you enjoyed "Child's Play," take a look at other Interactive Fiction we have reviewed here at JIG.
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
Partial walkthrough. (goes up to Chapter 2)
Smothered In Darkness:
Mommy is squishing me too hard. It's all stuffy and hot, so I start to cry. Mommy puts me down and makes some sounds. Hm! That'll teach her.
Middle of the Living Room:
Today Mommy wants me to learn to do this "standing" thing again. She took my favorite toy. Mommy is making me pull up on footstool. Then she makes some sounds and then goes away - I sit down. My toy is still on the footstool, but the footstool is all wobbly and wiggly, so I just push the footstool and toy goes Plop! and falls down. Aw! All these pillows are blocking my toy. I go push the pillows, but they're all big and squishy and don't move. I look at the pillows, and I see Alphadog, and I think maybe he can help me move the pillows. I turn on Alphadog and he moves wizzes away. Weeeee! Alphadog move all the pillows at the east. Yay!
Chapter 1:
Zoe. She wants my toy. Mommy put it in this backpack with Care Bears on it, and hide it behind the rocking chair. Parry is rocking, so I can't get my toy. So I go get another toy, and show it to Jemison. He starts looking at my toy. So then I have this idea!
I chew the toy and then go pull up onto Parry. And then Jemison follows, so then I drop my toy on Parry's lap, and then I wiggle so Parry drops me and then gets Jemison! Now the rocking chairs is not rocking, because Parry is holding Jemison. Then I go open the backpack and get my toy, but the onesie get's stuck on the zipper and now Zoe is screaming. Oh no, now Zoe's mommy is comming to see what's wrong. I try to find my toy fast but the onesie is covering it and I can't find it and now Marion has the backpack. I cry but nothing happens. Marion doesn't take my toy out.
I need to get Marion to do something else, so I go take Zoe's toy, and Zoe starts to scream again and Marion comes over and the onesie is still stuck. Marion tries to get Zoe to stop crying, and then gives Parry the backpack. Parry puts my toy in his lap! I pull up and get the toy, then go back down but then Zoe is all loud and screaming again. Oh no, not again! Mommy takes my toy, and carries me to the kitchen. Aw, snack time - but i'm not even hungrrreeey! But I eat anyway, until mommy puts us back.
Chapter 2:
My toy is in the cabinet, and there's no baby gate now. But I still can't get it because Zoe won't let me open it, and even if I could there's a baby latch. I need to keep Zoe occupied, get it that funny piece of paper behind the cabinet, and find something really heavy to push the baby latch down.
Jemison is funny. There's a funny sticky (Velcro) jangly ball, and Jemison follows wherever it sticks. I went and stuck it on Zoe's back, and now Jemison is always following her. Zoe looks annoyed - heehaw... Jemison is distracting her when I go open the cabinet, but I still can't because of the baby latch/lock.
I can't crawl behind the footstool and behind the cabinet, but I saw Cassie pulling up the couch and cruise along it. So I cruised behind the cabinet and took out that paper. I think the paper makes the cabinet not wobbly, because when I took it out it started to wobble. Which gives me a new idea! I think if I can wobble Parry's tumbler onto the baby latch, it will open and I'll get my toy! Oh wait... Parry took the tumbler for a drink... Now how do I get him to put it back on top of the cabinet?
I think if Parry doesn't want to drink from the tumbler, then he will put it back on the cabinet. So I think I should make it all yucky, but Parry won't let me. I need a distraction.
I was making these stairs with the blocks, and Cassie is always climbing on them, them jumping down from the tall one and getting hurt. So once I made the stairs again and she jumped, Parry went to help her. So I went and put the slobbery wet smooth stone in the tumbler, and then slobbered all over it for good measure.
I go back to the cabinet and try to open it again. This time, Zoe is blocked by Jemison, and the cabinet is all wiggly and the tumbler falls on the baby latch. The door opens and I get my toy! But Jemison got all wet though, so they made everyone change into Halloween costumes and now we have to take pictures. Mommy took my toy... again!
I finished the game, but i'm to lazy to finish the walkthrough. heh. The hardest part for me was getting a mental image of what the room looks like.
Posted by: Ainegue
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July 31, 2008 8:50 PM
Cruddy "Map" of the Room.
Note: Contains a few things that may spoil the game later on, such as newly accessible locations and toy locations for each chapter.
Each number/symbol corresponds to the number/symbol on the map.
1 - Couch at the East
2 - Couch in the Middle
3 - Couch at the West
4 - Loveseat at the South
5 - Loveseat at the North
6 - Behind the Loveseat (Accessible in Chapter 2)
7 - Kitchen (One Time Access after Chapter 1)
8 - By the Rocking Chair (Toy In Chapter 1, Temporarily Moved to
9 - Small Open Area (Northeast Playpen)(Bookcase, Toy in Chapter 3)
10 - In Front of TV (Baby Swing, moved to 9 later)
11 - Middle of the Living Room (Southwest Playpen)
12 - Space behind cabinet (Accessible in Chapter 2)
C - Cabinet (Toy In Chapter 2)
@ - Opened Baby Gate (Opened in Chapter 2)
"" - "Cruise In" Area (Available in Chapter 2)
| - Blocked
.
. ` . ` . ` . 7
6 @5``8``9
C |4``11`10
12""3``2``1
While it may not be helpful to look back at this map every few seconds, it will help you get a general view of the room. A good way to find things is simply to say "Get (object/person/toy)", and the game will say something along the lines of, "The squishy ball is at the loveseat at the north to the northeast, and is much to far away for you to reach.", and you will know now to go to the northeast.
Posted by: Ainegue
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August 1, 2008 11:16 AM