Review FAIRY TALE ABOUT FATHER FROST, IVAN & NASTYA Developer: Bohemia Interactive Publisher: Cenega Genre: Adventure Release Date: Currently available in parts of Europe Platform: Review by Michal Necasek December 18, 2003

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The full name of Father Frost is quite a mouthful: Fairy Tale about Father Frost, Ivan and Nastya. It is an English version of a Czech game based on a Russian fairy tale, or rather combining elements from a number of fairy tales. The game is strongly influenced by a 1964 Soviet film called Father Frost, also known as The Frosty or Jack Frost.  In Russia and many Central and Eastern European countries, this is something of a cult movie - because it is rather odd and unusual.  The film is also available in North America, but apparently for many Americans it is just too different to really understand ((Father Frost more recently was immortalized on the Sci-Fi Channel as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 broadcast – Randy).  Possibly because it is mainly a children's movie, as is the Father Frost adventure game.

I remember the Father Frost movie very well from my childhood years and it was interesting to compare it with the game. The influence is unmistakable and several scenes are almost taken straight from the movie. But there are many differences as well - most importantly, the plot of the Fairy Tale About Father Frost, Ivan & Nastya adventure game is more complex and contains a number of subplots that do not appear in the movie.

The hero of Father Frost is, somewhat surprisingly, not Father Frost - he only plays a relatively minor role. There are two main characters, Nastya and Ivan. Nastya lives with her father, stepmother and stepsister. Her father calls her Nastyenka, her stepmother calls her "you wicked witch, you poisonous viper". That about sums up the family relationships - Nastya is the pretty young girl who is hated by her stepmother and has to do all the work around the house. Perhaps a distant relative of Cinderella, only there is no prince.

There is however Ivan. He is in search of a wife. He is young, he is strong, he is good looking, and he is also very proud, self-centered and rude to other people. Because Father Frost is a fairy tale, this sort of behavior actually gets him in trouble. Ivan encounters Father Mushroom, a wizard or a magician with a giant hat strongly resembling a mushroom.  Father Mushroom casts a curse on Ivan as a punishment and to get rid of the curse, Ivan has to help people and be nice to them - a simple yet effective way to improve character.

The game is split into several sections (which could be called chapters but aren't) where you alternately play Nastya and Ivan. Starting out as Nastya, your are given a truckload of chores and an impossible deadline by the evil stepmother. Nevertheless, Nastya is a resourceful girl and she can get everything done in time, even if she has to employ several unusual tricks.

Next you play Ivan, boastful and proud, at least in the beginning.  Cross a river, defeat bandits, get cursed.  Finally Ivan meets Nastya and immediately falls in love with her (it happens in fairy tales and movies - oh wait, most movies are fairy tales too). Unfortunately for him, at this crucial moment, the curse takes hold and Ivan turns into a bear - or at least a human with a bear's head.  Nastya is frightened and runs away.  Ivan is utterly crushed.

Both of our heroes have the work cut out for them - Nastya is given more errands by her wicked stepmother, Ivan needs to become a much better person (or better bear?) to regain his human form and win the heart of Nastya.  Of course it will get even more complicated, but I'm not going to spoil the entire plot.  Let me just say that the title is not a complete scam and Father Frost does in fact appear in the game. There might even be a happy ending!

Let's take a look at what the game looks like and how it plays. The graphics are hand drawn, cartoon style, although the backgrounds are in some cases 3D models turned into cartoons. The effect doesn't look bad, but Father Frost is certainly no competition for Runaway in the graphics department.  The graphics are adequate, but no more.

I liked the soundtrack, which is based on Russian traditional music, and found it pleasant to listen to.  The voice acting wasn't quite as impressive.  The voice of Nastya is especially enjoyable, but some of the minor characters weren't terribly convincing.  In some places it's rather obvious that the game was translated to English from another language - the spoken dialogue is well done, but some of the in-game text (object descriptions etc.) appears rather strange and un-English. Overall, Father Frost looks and sounds like a low budget game (which it most likely is).

The interface is classical point and click, entirely mouse driven, a traditionalist's delight. Puzzles are mostly inventory based though there is one little maze of sorts (do not fret, it is not difficult at all and you can't get lost).  I found the puzzles really easy, but then again this is a game for children.  I finished Father Frost in two afternoons, although I imagine it ought to last you a lot longer if you're a kid.  Maybe the game seemed easy because the puzzles were logical and most of the time I knew exactly what my immediate objective was. Nor was there any pixel hunting.

Perhaps I shouldn't admit it, but I liked Father Frost.  It's not a game that will overtax your brain; then again from time to time it may be nice to play an easy adventure game with nothing more than mild cartoon violence and a fairy tale plot with minimum of stress.  The production values of Father Frost are not overly impressive, but that didn't seem to detract from the game's playability though it would be interesting to hear of a child’s experience with Fairy Tale About Father Frost, Ivan & Nastya.

Final Grade: C+

Fairy Tale About Father Frost, Ivan & Nastya can be ordered directly from Cenega and there is also an English demo of the game available.

Father Frost – the movie upon which the game is based – can be ordered from Amazon.

System Requirements:

• Windows 98/ME/2000
• Pentium 166 MHz
• 32 MB RAMB
• 2 MB video card
• 8 x speed CD-ROM