Garfield: The Search for Pooky is a 2005 video game released for the Game Boy Advance, based on the Garfield franchise. It was developed by Danish company Interactive Visino and published by The Game Factory.
Story[]
One night when Garfield is sleeping, three mice come and steal Garfield's beloved teddy bear, Pooky. The next morning, when Garfield finds out that Pooky is missing, he sets out to find out what happened to Pooky and get him back.
Gameplay[]
During the game, players control Garfield in a side-scrolling platform adventure through Muncie, Indiana and the surrounding countryside. Some levels have enemies which can be defeated with Garfield's attack. Every regular enemy in the game is either defeated with a single attack, or is invincible. There are also three boss enemies which take multiple hits to defeat. Every enemy deals one point of damage to Garfield, except for some enemies which deal no damage on contact but throw harmful projectiles. Garfield starts each stage with five health points, and dies when he has zero left. Every level has a different assortment of food items for Garfield to collect, which count towards game completion but have no effect on Garfield within the stages themselves. There are also larger, rarer food items which will heal Garfield when collected.
The game has 12 levels, which are each comprised of three stages. Upon completing the third stage in a given level, the player is given a password and can proceed to the next level. Three of the levels have bosses at the end of the third stage, which must be defeated to proceed. There is one cutscene before every level and one cutscene after every level.
Between levels, the player has access to a level map, from which they can replay any level they have previously completed. Each level has its own completion score, which can range from 0% to 100% based on how much food the player collected in that level. Only by collecting every food item in a level can the player achieve 100% completion for that level. During the levels, the player can see how much food they have collected, along with the total amount of food in the level. Due to the game's high difficulty and tedious structure, it is currently unknown what (if anything) happens once the player achieves 100% completion in every level.
Levels 6 and 9 are driving levels. In these levels, Jon will continuously drive forwards, but the player can steer him in the direction they choose. Unique to these levels is a hunger meter, which steadily decreases over time. If the hunger meter runs out completely, Garfield will lose a life, regardless of how much health he has. Bumping into other cars damages Garfield. Pedestrians (who look identical to Liz) line the sidewalks on either side of the highway. Some pedestrians will carry present boxes, and when Garfield gets close, the contents are revealed. Bombs will damage Garfield and soap will increase Garfield's hunger, but food will decrease it.
In some levels, the bottom of the screen acts as a pit, and Garfield will lose a life if he falls through it. In other levels, it acts as a floor that Garfield can stand on.
Levels[]
While the levels are not given names in-game, they are named in the manual.[1]
- Mice Hunt - Garfield needs to catch all the mice in the house and put them in cages so that Jon will open the front door for him, while avoiding giant bees. He can only carry one mouse at a time. In the after-level cutscene, Garfield agrees to let the Mice go because they tell him that they saw Little Joe, Gerry Ratface, and Scary Pete in the garden with a sack the previous night.
- Garden Ransack - Throughout the level, Garfield has to call for Odie to dig in certain areas to look for Pooky. These areas contain food. If there are enemies nearby, Odie will get distracted by them, so the player must defeat nearby enemies before Odie will dig. The stages end when Garfield reaches the right wall of the stage after having called for Odie in each of the level's digging spots. Garfield must do all of this while avoiding giant butterflies. In the after-level cutscene, Odie digs up a worm who tells Garfield that the previous night, it heard some mice arguing about something they could sell to Eddie, the alley cat. Garfield, thinking that they might have been talking about Pooky, decides to go talk to Eddie.
- Alley Cats - Garfield travels through the town to find Eddie, avoiding falling bricks and Bubba, who throws fishbones. The objective of these stages is simply to reach the right wall of each stage, except for the third stage, which requires you to reach and defeat Eddie in a boss fight. Eddie will try to attack Garfield by clawing at him. In the after-level cutscene, Eddie reveals that he was offered Pooky by the mice, but didn't buy him, and saw the mice sneaking into the mall around the corner.
- Shopping Spree - Garfield eats his way through the mall, making his way to the pawn shop to find Pooky, while avoiding Chef Tony who throws fishbones. The objective of these stages is simply to reach the right wall of each stage. In the after-level cutscene, Garfield finds a caged parrot, who gives him a ransom note on behalf of the mice. Garfield learns that the mice are demanding that Garfield bring 50 pieces of cheese to Jon's attic at midnight, or else Pooky "gets it".
- Mall Escape - Garfield eats his way out of the mall, while avoiding Chef Tony. The objective of these stages is simply to reach the right wall of each stage. In the after-level cutscene, Garfield runs into Jon while leaving the mall. Jon reveals that he has been invited to his parents' farm for dinner, and forces Garfield to come with him.
- Cats On Wheels - This level is the first of two driving levels in the game. The level is completed when Jon reaches the end of the level. In the after-level cutscene, Garfield and Jon arrive at the Arbuckle Farm.
- Home Sweet Home - After arriving at the farm, Jon tells his mother to keep Garfield inside, as he is concerned about Garfield's angry behaviour. Garfield decides to tear up the farmhouse's furniture so that Mrs. Arbuckle will throw him out. He must scratch various armchairs and sofas throughout the level while avoiding giant bees, then make it to the right wall of each stage. In the after-level cutscene, Jon gets fed up with Garfield's behaviour and forces him outside.
- Runaway Chickens - Jon's father explains to him that his chickens have escaped from their cages. Jon agrees to help, but mentions that he has to go home once he's done. Hearing this, Garfield decides to help so that he can get home sooner. Garfield must find the chickens and carry them back to their cages, while avoiding giant bees. He can only carry one chicken at a time. After returning the final chicken to their cage in the third stage, Garfield must return to the far right of the level to fight Doc Boy's rooster in a boss fight. The rooster will try to attack Garfield by charging at him. Upon the rooster's defeat, the level is over. In the after-level cutscene, Jon congratulates Garfield on being useful.
- Hurry Home - This is the second and final driving level in the game, and is nearly identical to the first. The level is completed when Jon reaches the end of the level. In the after-level cutscene, Jon arrives back in town, and Garfield leaps from the car in search of food, as he is apparently still very hungry from the drive.
- China Box Surprise - While walking back home, Garfield laments how hungry he is, and decides to meet up with Eddie for some food. He walks through the alleyways to find Eddie, while avoiding falling bricks and Bubba, who throws fishbones. In the after-level cutscene, Garfield eats from the trash with Eddie, before Eddie is crushed by a falling piano.
- Friendly Neighbours - Jon decides to ask his new neighbour Lisa on a date, and tells Garfield to play in her garden while he does so. Garfield decides not to wait for Jon, and has to feed bones to Lisa's dog so that the dog will open Lisa's gate for him, while avoiding giant butterflies. In the first two stages, he must simply reach the right wall, but in the third, he must collect bones and deposit them next to Lisa's dog's doghouse. Garfield can only carry one bone at a time. Once the dog has been given every bone in the level, he will open the gate and Garfield can complete the stage by reaching the right wall. In the after-level cutscene, Garfield passes by Arlene, and trips over because he is not looking where he is going.
- Hostage Negotiation - Garfield searches Jon's attic for the Mafioso Boss Mouse to get Pooky back, while avoiding giant spiders. To complete the first two stages, Garfield must simply reach the right wall, but at the end of the third stage is the Mafioso Boss Mouse, who must be defeated to complete the level. Upon encountering the boss, the game's only mid-level cutscene will play, in which the Mafioso Boss Mouse demands the 50 pieces of cheese, which Garfield refuses. Strangely, the boss is still active before the cutscene plays, and will actively attack the player, despite the fact that Garfield has not yet refused his deal. The Mafioso Boss Mouse will try to attack Garfield by using a Tommy gun that shoots water. In the after-level cutscene, Garfield lands the final blow on the Mafioso Boss Mouse, takes Pooky back, and returns to his bed where he falls asleep with Pooky next to him.
Characters[]
- Garfield
- Jon Arbuckle
- Odie
- Mice
- Little Joe
- Gerry Ratface
- Scary Pete
- Worm
- Eddie
- Chef Tony
- Bubba
- Parrot
- Liz Wilson
- Mrs. Arbuckle
- Mr. Arbuckle
- Doc Boy's rooster
- Lisa (mentioned)
- Lisa's dog
- Arlene
- Spiders
- Mafioso Boss Mouse (referred to as "Boss Mouse" in the manual)
Reception[]
The game has received criticism for its level design, as the stages are often extremely large, with many blind jumps. This, coupled with the fact that many stages require the player to take items to a drop-off point, with the player able to carry only one of these items at a time, can cause many stages to appear tedious. Every stage in the game makes heavy use of honey, oil and broken glass, which are difficult to avoid and have been described by critics as "more of an annoyance than a genuine obstacle".
Trivia[]
- Some of the sprites have been taken from actual comic strips, although they have not been optimized for use in the game, causing numerous goofs. One notable instance is that the sprite of Jon's mother is about the same size as the Garfield sprite. In another instance during the level 10 after-level cutscene, Garfield's arm is drawn to be nearly three times as long as it usually is.
- The game has a large amount of dialogue, yet much of it appears to be poorly translated. In one notable instance, level 10's objective description is "Find Eddie and go Chinese".
- A glitch causes the music which plays during Hurry Home and the "new password" screen to abruptly transition into China Box Surprise's theme before a full loop of the song can be completed, preventing the entirety of the Hurry Home music from being played in-game.
- In most levels, the number of food items that the player must collect in order to achieve 100% completion is equal to the number of food items that exist in that level, meaning that the player must collect every food item in the level in order to achieve 100% completion for that level. However, in level 2, the number of food items that must be collected does not account for the food items which are unearthed by Odie. Because of this, it is possible to obtain more than the required number of food items, which is not possible in any other level. If the player does this, their completion score for the stage will be erroneously listed as 0%, as if they had collected no food at all.
Gallery[]
