Pap the Disney Gamer's
Highlights: Disney's Pocahontas
Developed by: Funcom
System: Sega Genesis
Disney's Pocahontas is seen as a
bit of an odd duck in Disney's line of
prestigious films. Released in 1995, the film
would herald the beginning of the so-called
'silver age,' films that were still financially
and critically successful, but not as popular as
the films that preceded them. Not only that,
even if the film was praised for its lush
animation and epic soundtrack, the story took
many liberties when presenting the legend of
Pocahontas. Even with historians protesting the
historical inaccuracies of the movie, that
hasn't stopped Disney from promoting the film in
various ways. Pocahontas is now part of the
famous Disney Princess lineup, and even a
direct-to-video sequel was released years later.
A year after the film's premiere, and just as it
was approaching a home video release, Disney's
Pocahontas was released for the Sega Genesis, a
gentle game that loyally follows the beauty of
the feature film.
Disney's Pocahontas stays true
to the plot of the film. When the game starts,
the dark presence of the English invaders is
looming over Pocahontas's home. From there,
Pocahontas will meet, befriend, and eventually
fall in love with John Smith and fight for peace
among the native Americans and the English
settlers. It is not the most combat heavy game
out there, but the film isn't an action packed
epic either, so the game was designed to fit its
gentle ideals.
While being a 2D platformer like
many of its kin, Pocahontas deviates from the
norm by being more about exploration than combat
or energetic adventure. After all, Pocahontas is
all about peace and interacting with nature. The
levels are large in scale. In order to explore
them, Pocahontas can climb on trees and rocks as
well as swim through rivers. One of the film's
themes is mankind's connection to nature,
symbolized in the song 'Colors of the Wind.' The
game actually takes note of that and has created
an interesting mechanic around it. Pocahontas is
able to obtain the spirit of an animal and make
it part of her own spirit. This means that she
will have their power, such as the frightening
presence of a bear and the speed of a deer. In
total, there are nine powers to obtain and use
throughout the adventure.
Due to how unique this game was,
it unfortunately received mixed reviews. One of
the most perceived problems with the game was
that it was its pace was too slow. This was at a
time when games such as Disney's Aladdin and The
Lion King were popular among gamers and known
for their high octane action sequences. By the
time Disney's Pocahontas was released, the game
was judged against the standards previous games
had set. But much like the feature film, the
game did receive a small following, and many of
its assets were heavily praised.
The game's graphics are just as
lush as the animation in the film. Once more, we
are treated to hand drawn animated sprites. The
sprites are not as large and detailed as in the
Genesis version of Disney's Aladdin, they
animate very well and convey the story's high
emotions in a subtle yet effective manner. The
backgrounds seen in the levels are very simple
in their execution, but are very pleasing to the
eye. The developers behind this game paid close
attention to the film's art style and have
succeeded in nearly every way. The wonderful
music has also been preserved in this game. The
16-bit rendition of 'Colors of the wind' plays
throughout the game. Other interpretations, such
as the opening theme song and more are present
to give the game an authentic Disney feel.
Regardless of how the film that
inspired it was received, Disney's Pocahontas
for the Genesis is a solid effort in turning a
movie many believed would be hard to adapt into
an interactive video game, but Funcom passed the
test with flying colors. You don't have to hear
a wolf cry to the blue corn moon in order to see
the beauty that lies within this video game.