The Jolly Gang's Misadventures in Africa / Масяня в полной Африке Reviews

Top game I remembered my childhood but it’s a pity that this is only one part

[h1]Heeeeeeeee-he-he-he! Masyanya! ~[i]Masyanya Kuvaeva[/i][/h1] There are good games in [b]Steam[/b]. There are bad ones too. A lot of them. Like... [i]a lot[/i]. Tons and tons of bad games... But the thing is – there are also [b]WTF[/b] games. The games that are neither too good or too bad, but... well, you know how it is. Some games? They'll just make you wonder what the f**k is going on here. And this one? It's literally made of such “whatthef*cks”. First thing first, what the f*ck with the title? See, this game is based on a somewhat famous Russian character from the animated [b]Internet[/b] show of the same name – [b]Masyanya[/b]. And the original Russian title was “[b]Masyanya in Total Africa[/b]” (“[b]Масяня в Полной Африке[/b]”). What the f*ck is “[b]Jolly Gang[/b]” and how changing one title that means nothing to English-speaking audience to another can help selling the game? [i]What were they thinking?[/i] But OK, whatever. Who is [b]Mr. Put...[/b] I mean, who is [b]Masyanya[/b]? Like I said, [b]Masyanya[/b] is a character created by Russian artist [b]Oleg Kuvaev[/b] back in [b]2001[/b]. Back then [b]Internet[/b] only started to become a thing in Russia and there wasn't much Russian content there. So, it's not like [b]Oleg[/b]'s little animated show made with [b]Macromedia Flash[/b] and focused on social satire had a lot of competition. But the thing is – that wasn't the only reason for [b]Masyanya[/b]'s success. I mean, sure, it was a right show at the right time, but [b]Oleg[/b] (who also provides voices for all of his characters) has a pretty unique sense of humor and even the way he says things is just... hilarious. But that's exactly where we meet our next “whatthef*ck”. See, [b]Masyanya[/b] is one of those things with a very... [i]local[/i] kind of humor. Not only it's impossible to explain [b]Kuvaev[/b]'s jokes to English-speaking audience, it's literally impossible to preserve his funny way of saying things in translation. And without all that? There's literally no [b]Masyanya[/b]. In other words – you're not a native Russian speaker? Moreover, a native Russian speaker who lives in Russia and / or knows about the way things work there? There's literally no reason for you to bother about this game. It won't feel fun at all, it looks [i]extremely[/i] ugly (the game is supposed to look exactly the same with the original animated show which still keeps the cheap [b]Macromedia Flash[/b] look on purpose) and since what we have here is a dull hidden objects experience? It's not like there's a reason for you to care. I mean, you can easily get tons of way better hidden objects games for a couple of bucks. Way better looking and way more interesting. Why should you bother about ugly Russian stuff? But guess what? Our “whatthef*cks” don't end here. Like those crazy [b]Energizer[/b] bunnies, they just keep going and going... See, this game? It isn't even a stand-alone release. It's a direct sequel to another [b]Masyanya[/b] game — [b]Masyanya Under the Yellow Press[/b] ([b]Масяня Под Жёлтым Прессом[/b]). In previous game [b]Masyanya[/b] and her friends [b]Hryundel[/b] and [b]Lokhmaty[/b] (the characters are renamed in English translation too) found a treasure map and naturally, they'll try to find the treasure in this one. Not like you'll miss much if you won't play the previous game (it's a dull hidden object thing too, after all), bu-u-u-ut... you know how it is. It just sucks having a sequel without experiencing the original thing. And in [b]Steam[/b]? We only have second game. What the f*ck? Why in the world they've released the second game while skipping the first one, while both of them are pretty much the same exact thing, directly connected by the story? Seriously, what the f*ck? Already got the idea about [b]WTF[/b] stuff? Well, there's more. I've already said that [b]Oleg[/b] provides voices for all of his characters. And just listening to him talking is fun. I also said that it's impossible to translate his humor to English like it's impossible to translate any other “local” humor. But guess what? Aside from the fact that English translation here is not fun at all and didn't really worth making, there's another thing about English version of the game that makes it even more ridiculous. See, in English version... there are no voices. That's it. The entire voiceover [b]Oleg[/b] made for this game was completely removed in English version and there's literally no way to re-enable it without switching to fully Russian version. And I'm not talking about translation here. It's just that – all voices were removed from the game and all we have now is music. Ba-dum-tsssss........... So... yeah... No matter how you look at it, what we have here is one f*cked up release. You don't speak Russian? Forget about this one. You don't need it. Like... [i]at all[/i]. If you do speak Russian and can consider yourself a fan of [b]Oleg[/b] and his show (which is still going and just got some [i]really[/i] good new episodes, by the way), though... it's a little bit more complicated. But only a little. Like I said, this game looks like the original show and it comes with [b]Oleg[/b]'s voiceover in its original Russian form. Which means that people who like the original characters may actually find this entertaining just because. Don't expect much, though. Because this game? It's dull. Really, really dull. Don't think a proper point-and-click experience here. Think one of those cheap hidden objects things you get in bundles from [b]Fanatical[/b] and [b]IndieGala[/b] (not my sponsors, even though I won't mind, lol). You know, those dumb and cheap games that costs, like, five bucks for a dozen. And it's not like this game is especially funny either. Even though [b]Oleg[/b]'s performance here is still hilarious, the actual writing is far from the smart satire you can see in the original show. Quite the opposite, what we have here? Is just our usual “crappy Russian game” stuff. With some random nonsense thrown in together without any special reason or meaning. In other words, even for [b]Masyanya[/b] fans from Russia? I can't recommend this product. While English version of the game? Let's just say it's one of the most useless and pointless things ever happened in [b]Steam[/b]. Dixi.

The game is pretty ok. Im not really a fan of the style of the game and the minigames where pretty easy to manage. Its ok to play but way to pricy for my taste. If you like the style then i can recommend it

One of my favorite games while growing up. Such a fun game with many hidden clues and a good plot. The russian version captures all the character quorks and good humor from the show. A bit sad that there is only one part of this game on steam wich is part 2. Would love to play the entire series wich incude part 1 "Under Yellow Press" and part 3 "Euro tour". Also would be nice to have some of the achievements from the game as steam achievements. Overall 10/10 game, recomend to everyone. Although it will be a little bit underwhelming for those who do not speak russian, since the english dubbing is more than a little bit lac luster.

Very unexpected to see this game on Steam. Reason for nostalgia. It would be cool if trophies were added as achievements. Thanks.