Hook

Ocean, way back when, in the days when it still existed was well-known for their movie conversions, although admittedly, this usually meant action games. In fact, as far as I know this is the first - and last - adventure game they ever made. The story is an adaptation of the Peter Pan fairy tale, as seen in Steven Spielberg's movie: Hook.

Story

It has been ages since Peter Pan has left Neverland and he hasn't looked back since. He's grown up, has a wife and kids and is now living his life as Peter Banning, a hard-working businessman, his days as Peter Pan long forgotten.

One day, after returning home from a party, Peter finds his front door wide open, his house empty and his children kidnapped. His only lead is a note left by a certain J.A.S. Hook "requesting his presence". Dumbfounded, Peter doesn't know who to turn to, but luckily, an old friend is around to help him out: Tinkerbell.

Peter has to return to Neverland and fight his ultimate battle with the evil Captain Hook if he wants to get his children back. The only problem is, Peter Banning can't fight this war, only Peter Pan could.

Opinion

There are basically two ways to judge this game and, as usual, neither of them can give you the complete picture. Mind you, the game itself isn't this complicated, but in all fairness I think I should at least try to present both points of view.

One way to measure the game's merit would be to see it as nothing more than an ordinary, standalone adventure game. In this case, I'd have to say that even though the graphics are pretty nice and the few background tunes are well composed (in fact, some of them are quite beautiful), the game fails miserably at keeping the player interested and occupied for hours. I could blame the easy and predictable puzzles or the weak storyline for that, but the fact that you can finish the game in about an hour or two at the most (and that includes getting stuck, should you be so lucky) tells it all.

However, there is another way to view this game and that is to see it in the light of the movie it was adapted from. Obviously, the graphics and the music quality don't change much in this perspective either, but by being able to put the movie's story behind the events we see on the monitor screen, the game gets a whole new depth to it, that we didn't, couldn't see before.

I'm not saying this makes up for everything Hook lacks but it does turn that one or two hours of gameplay enjoyable and helps you get up from your chair after finishing the game feeling satisfied instead of disappointed.

That's why I - being one of the few people who actually enjoyed the movie as well - can honestly say after playing Hook that it was a nice little game and I had fun playing it.